chch.live a suburb, in depth

Sydenham, Christchurch

23,724 council reports since May 2015, the 2nd busiest suburb in the city. 18,688 photographs on record. 6,970 people at the 2023 Census, 2,291 to the square kilometre across 3.0 km².

Reports, all time
23,724
In the year to 13 Oct 2026
3,025
Busiest in Christchurch
2nd
Photographs
18,688

The record also holds about $518 a week to rent 2023 Census snapshot 18,688 photographs 39 old photographs 14 parks 6 places of worship 18 tracks 5 names on the map 39.4% of the outline mapped liquefied graded mostly TC3 in 2011 the record drew water over 1% of the outline noise overlays over 3% of the outline setback strips over 2% of the outline 37% of the outline inside the plan’s density overlays 7,352 SCIRT photographs filed on this ground 34.6 km of cycleway crosses the outline 8 remembered names on this ground 10 drawn rules bind this ground 75 parcels on the dangerous-work register 65 parcels of made ground 16 parcels with a cleanup on file the 2019 model grades this ground mostly medium 12 council structures on the register 10 recreation register records 1,385 trees on the register the plan’s word on this ground 1% of the outline reserved the plan’s exceptions touch 4% of the outline 10 places on the heritage schedule 7 epicentres inside the outline 819 injury crashes 5,564 recorded victimisations 41 bus stops 373 businesses the council’s fix times alcohol ban over nearly all of the outline 10 heritage places 40 documents 4 mentions on the wire

See it on the map Its decade, charted

Living here rent · the ground · the day-to-day

$518/week middle half $430–$541

New bonds here ran at about $518 a week in the April–June 2026 quarter, the middle half of them between $430 and $541, across 99 bonds lodged, up 10% on a year ago. That’s about $32 a week below the city’s own quarter median of $550. Tenancy Services counts these under the Sydenham Central, Sydenham North, Sydenham South, Sydenham West and Lancaster Park areas combined, approximately this suburb.

By dwelling type and bedrooms, April–June 2026 quarter
  • 1-bedroom house, $517 a week · 48 new bonds
  • 2-bedroom house, $529 a week · 15 new bonds
  • 1-bedroom flat/unit, $127 a week · 12 new bonds
  • 3-bedroom house, $550 a week · 9 new bonds
  • 2-bedroom flat/unit, $350 a week · 6 new bonds

Median and quartiles of weekly rents on new private bonds, by quarter; suburb figures are a bond-weighted blend of the areas. New bonds are fresh lodgements, not the whole rental stock; under five bonds the rent is withheld, and counts are randomly rounded. Source: Tenancy Services rental bond data: provisional while the bond system migrates.

The ground: the February 2011 survey drew liquefaction over 39% of it; the 2011 grading filed it mostly TC3, the rest of the watch is drawn further down.

Day to day it holds 14 parks, 6 places of worship, 18 tracks and 41 bus stops, each is counted further down.

Lately the record’s mostly graffiti & vandalism, 3,025 reports in the year to 13 October 2026, the newest 13 October 2026.

One for the quiz, Its busiest day on record was 30 August 2023, 144 reports in a single day.

2023 Census snapshot SA1 areas grouped here

People
6,774
Occupied households
3,084

About 6,774 people and 3,084 occupied private households in the “Lancaster Park”, “Sydenham Central”, “Sydenham North”, “Sydenham West” and “Sydenham South” areas, grouped from 45 SA1 areas. Several statistical areas are combined here, so this is a grouped proxy rather than a count for one suburb boundary.

Stats NZ’s 2023 Census uses fixed random rounding to base 3. Unavailable or confidential cells are left out, not treated as zero. individuals · households · geography · CC BY 4.0.

About the suburb

Sydenham is an inner suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, 2 kilometres south of the city centre, on and around the city's main street, Colombo Street. It is a residential, retail and light industrial suburb.

the encyclopaedia’s version · Wikipedia · population: Stats NZ 2023 Census SA2 counts; the area is measured from the suburb outline

As reported 18,688 on record

15B Byron St458 Colombo Street, Sydenham45 Carlyle Street, Sydenham50–86 Kingsley St33–45 Strickland St6 Gilbert Place, Sydenham 18,688 photographs
on the wall →

The suburb, back then 39 in the archive

Standard survey of the Borough of Sydenham, 1883Colombo Road, Sydenham, Christchurch, 1884Storm Water sewers. Colombo and Montreal Streets. Sydenham, 1885Rhodes’ Convalescent Home, Port Hills, Sydenham, 189639 Sandyford Street, Sydenham, 1900St Saviour's Church, Sydenham, 1900St Saviour's Church, Sydenham, 1900Women playing hockey at Sydenham Park, Christchurch, [ca 1900], 1900Sydenham, Christchurch, 1910Sydenham, Christchurch, NZ, 1910 39 photographs
from back when →

Placed by the record’s locality join or the name in its own title, a lead, not a claim each frame stood here.

The record on Sydenham

Lately the newest reports

Pothole, a report photo
Pothole6 Gilbert Place

a range of further potholes largely caused by council trucks tearing up road sharp turning when fixing Rogers stormwater. we were promised a full resurface…

Roads - General, a report photo
Roads - GeneralBruce Rod

Heaps of glass left on the road from recent accident. Scattered for probably about 15 meters, screenshot is poor quality from dashcam and doesn't capture whole…

Water Leak, a report photo
Water Leak87 Tennyson St

Water leak from underneath the tarmac in the shared driveway. It has probably been there for a while as a slow leak and now it got a lot worse and the water…

Reports per year down 16% 2024→2025

What gets reported

Graffiti & vandalism 11,268
Rubbish & dumping 4,123
Roads & footpaths 3,719
Water & drains 2,304
Trees & parks 1,266
Vehicles & parking 498
Everything else 490
Animals & pests 43 Noise 13

Streets that keep coming up each a street page

Every street the archive knows in Sydenham →

Exactly what people say

How fast the council fixes things here 25,065 finished jobs on record

The median council work order pinned in Sydenham took 47 hours to resolve, the city-wide median is 3 days, so this ground runs faster than the city as a whole. The slowest tenth waited 6 weeks or longer. 433 tickets are open here now, the oldest was filed 17 February 2020.

Work orders, not the resident reports above, the council’s MyCouncilTicket stream, and one job can appear in both. A median counts only finished jobs; open ones are named as open, never averaged in. The ticket roll · the whole city’s fix times.

Alcohol rules on this ground one ban zone reaches in

South Colombo. A public drinking ban, at all times, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, covers nearly all of Sydenham.

One sensitive site stands here, St Peter's School Te Kura Haoika, and the Local Alcohol Policy restricts new off-licences within 200 m of it.

The council’s bylaw zones and the Local Alcohol Policy’s buffer list, read from the Regulatory open-data service. A ban rules drinking in public places; it says nothing about whether a premises may sell, that is the licence register’s job.

The suburb today

Schools here

Zoned for Christchurch Adventist School · Christchurch South Karamata Intermediate School · Hillview Christian School · Marian College · Middleton Grange School · St Thomas of Canterbury College · and 10 more zones, the drawn zone is indicative; the Ministry’s written scheme is the legal boundary.

The green here 14

The first eight of 14, Parks and reserves in the council’s open data, a park lands in the suburb its centre falls inside. The whole roll is at /parks.

Where the suburb worships 6

Places of worship in the open map’s record, one lands in the suburb its building stands in. The whole roll is at /worship.

The tracks through here 18

The first eight of 18, Tracks in the council’s open data, a line belongs to every suburb it passes through. The whole network is at /tracks.

The names on this ground 5

The February 2011 survey drew mapped ground failure over 39.4% of this outline, about 120 hectares. A patch is a footprint, not a finding about an address; the count for the whole city is at /liquefaction.

The 2011 grading filed 7.2% of this outline, about 22 hectares, mostly TC3, with TC3 21 ha · TC2 1 ha. A graded area files under the suburb its middle sits in, and a category is a verdict for a patch of ground, not a finding about an address; the grades are drawn at /technical-categories.

The flood record drew water over 1.4% of this outline, across 3 named events. A patch is one event’s observation, not a live hazard finding; the whole record is drawn at /floods.

75 parcels inside this outline sit on the hazardous-activities register, mostly chemical manufacture, application and bulk storage, cemeteries and waste recycling, treatment and disposal, vehicle refuelling, service and repair, 39 still doing the work. A listing records the work, not a soil test; the whole register is drawn at /hazards.

The files record 65 parcels of made or characterised ground inside this outline, about 13 hectares, mostly mixed fill with rubbish, gravel, sand, 20 carry fill the file can’t vouch for. A record is the file’s word on what was laid, not a fresh survey; the whole layer is drawn at /fill.

16 parcels inside this outline carry a cleanup on the file. A cleanup on the file is the register’s word, not a clearance; the whole register is drawn at /remediated.

The 2019 liquefaction study put 81% of this outline in the medium class, and 2 assessed areas here carry the free-face flag for possible lateral spreading. A class is the model’s verdict on a patch of ground, not a finding about an address; the whole study is drawn at /vulnerability.

The council’s structure register stands 12 assets on this ground, 8 sets of steps, 3 bridges, 1 ramp, sited at Jacksons Creek, Sydenham Community Centre, Housing Lancewood Courts, Cameron Reserve. The register’s site names are its own labels for the ground an asset stands in; the layer is drawn at the map.

The recreation register keeps 10 records inside this outline, bookable surfaces for 5 cricket, 2 rugby, 1 hockey, 1 skateboard. Seasons and surfaces are the register’s record, not this week’s draw; the layer is drawn at the map.

The register counts 1,385 living trees inside this outline, 31 veterans among them, 43 carrying a protection, mostly Silver Birch, Kobushi Magnolia, Pin Oak. The file remembers 660 trees felled here. A tree record is the register’s word on what stands or stood; the whole canopy is drawn at /trees.

The plan files 33% of this outline under Medium density residential zone, 40% residential, the rest mostly Industrial General 22%, Transport 20%. A zone is a permission, not a description, the mix is read from a sampled join of the plan’s polygons; the whole district is drawn at /zones.

The plan reserves about 1 hectares of this outline, 1%, under 1 designation, mostly movement. A designation is a claim on the ground, not a build date, the mix is read from a sampled join; the whole register is drawn at /designations.

The plan’s exceptions touch 4% of this outline, 8 qualifying matters, mostly residential, heritage, utilities. A matter narrows how the density rule applies, it does not forbid; the mix is read from a sampled join, and the cultural-significance areas are the plan’s own unnamed ones. The whole register is drawn at /matters.

The plan’s heritage schedule protects 10 places by name in this suburb, Dwelling and Setting, Dwelling and Setting, Dwelling and Setting among them. And the street itself is listed, the Shelley/Forbes Street heritage area lies here, protected as a street rather than house by house. A setting is the ground the item stands in, each files under the suburb holding its centroid; the whole schedule is at /heritage.

No high-hazard flood area covers this outline. The broader flood-management watch covers 34% of it, Bells Creek, Heathcote River. Shares read from a sampled join; a model’s map, not a promise. The waiting water is drawn at /flood-hazard.

The plan’s noise overlays cover 3% of this outline, about 10 hectares across 1 mapped overlay. Shares read from a sampled join; a planning line, not a meter’s reading. The quiet lines are drawn at /noise.

The plan’s water-margin layers cross this outline, 32 classified reaches, the plan calling Jacksons Creek Upper and Heathcote / Opawaho River by name, 2% of it inside the setback strips, the widest holding 30 m off the bank. The margin is the plan’s drawing, not a survey of the bank; the reaches, strips and held edges are mapped at /water-margin.

The plan’s allowed shape holds this outline, 37% of it inside the residential overlays, the densest standing Medium Density, inside the central city’s walking catchment. The shape is the plan’s permission, not a survey of what stands; the allowed shape is drawn at /density.

The rebuild’s cameras filed 7,352 photographs on this ground, 2009–2017, stormwater work mostly. Each frame is a receipt the dig left behind, a work log, not a survey of what stands now; the whole record is drawn at /rebuild.

The pedal network threads this ground, 34.6 km of cycleway crosses the outline, 3.0 km of it separated from the traffic, Quarryman's Trail, Southern Lights, Ōpāwaho River. A segment counts under every suburb its path enters; the whole network is drawn at /cycleways.

The remembered names stand on this ground, 8 inscribed plaques, Sydenham School Memorial, Sydenham Park, Rail Workers Memorial among the grounds. The plaque is the register’s pin, not a surveyed spot; the whole roll is kept at /plaques.

The rulebook binds this ground, 10 drawn instruments, 2 of them dog rules, 2 alcohol bans, 1 camping zone, a certified self-contained van can stay the night at Christchurch Urban Restricted Area, 5 bottle-store buffers; the outline sits inside the takiwā of Te Ngai Tuahuriri Runanga. The bylaw is the instrument, this the map of it, the whole rulebook is drawn at /rules.

GeoNet’s catalogue puts 7 magnitude-3+ epicentres inside this outline since the sequence opened, the biggest a M4.7 in 2010. An epicentre is where the instruments placed the break, not a measure of the shaking here; the whole catalogue is counted at /sequence, the live record is /quakes, and the story in plain language is the earthquakes explainer.

The named waterways, bays, headlands, monuments, summits and old sites OpenStreetMap puts inside this outline, a pin is the mapper’s own; a waterway belongs to every suburb it crosses. Every roll, counted: /geography.

The crash record 819 injury crashes

819 crashes that hurt somebody on record inside Sydenham's outline, 11 people killed, 139 seriously hurt.

The corner that keeps appearing: Moorhouse Avenue at Manchester Street, 29 injury crashes.

the suburb’s crashes on the map →

The crime record 5,564 recorded victimisations

5,564 victimisations on the Police record inside Sydenham’s outline, September 2022–August 2026, mostly theft, about 205 a year per 1,000 residents. Down 4% on the year before. Reported is not all, how much never reaches the record depends on the offence.

the suburb on the crime map →

The buses through it 41 stops

41 Metro stops inside Sydenham's outline, in ECan’s stop record, served by route 1, route 8, route 140, route 27, route 44, route 84, route 85, route 95.

Every route in the record →

Businesses here 373 in the directory

373 premises in Sydenham across 92 kinds, from OpenStreetMap, the council’s licensed-premises register and its 2024 Find Christchurch directory. Each kind below opens at this suburb’s shelf.

Among them, the ones the record says most about:

The whole directory →

Before any of that

On the register here

  1. Dwelling and Setting12 Drummond Street
  2. Dwelling and Setting52 Longfellow Street
  3. Dwelling and Setting5 Shelley Street
  4. Dwelling and Setting6 Shelley Street
  5. Dwelling and Setting61A Tennyson Street
  6. Former Dwellings and Setting, Blackheath Place71 Durham Street South
  7. Former MED Substation and Setting259 Milton Street
  8. King Edward VII Coronation Memorial Lamp and Drinking Fountain and Setting
  9. MED Substation and Setting99A Gasson Street
  10. MED Substation and Setting19E Millar Street

The register’s own page for Sydenham →

Documents 40

What the archive’s sources say about Sydenham, titled for it, turned up by a search for one of its places, or carrying its name in the text. These are leads and citations: the originals live at the provider, linked from each row.

toCleanings of News. FROM ENGLISH PAPERS TO 16TH DECEMBER. (Colonist, 30 March 1858)…rs of the great moralist are now safely housed in the north wing of the great building at sydenham vice-admiral sir maurice berkeley has had a clearing out sale of a good deal of the antiquarian lumbe…Colonist · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held
Page 5 Advertisements Column 1 (Lyttelton Times, 02 March 1861)…ale in casks of 4 dozen quarts h e alport nu 4 v r market place christchurch march 11861 sydenham house a rrived per fnce alfred grapes1 oranges f passion fruit apples pears and pine apples prince da…Lyttelton Times · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held
Page 8 Advertisements Column 4 (Lyttelton Times, 13 April 1861)…bistchitbch china glass parian earthenware store geo hawkins late from the crystal palace sydenham rickman brothers brewers and spirit merchants general commission agents and valuers kaiapoi and rangi…Lyttelton Times · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held
Page 5 Advertisements Column 2 (Lyttelton Times, 13 April 1861)…tland store will be punctually attended to papanui road april 121861 grapes grapes grapes sydenham house colombo street prince da we grapes grapes grapes the above are now on sale in splendid conditio…Lyttelton Times · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held
Page 8 Advertisements Column 4 (Lyttelton Times, 17 April 1861)…chbistchubch chinaglass parian earthenware store geo hawkins late from the crystal palace sydenham rickman brothers brewers and spirit merchants general commission agents and valuers kaiapoi and rangi…Lyttelton Times · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held
Page 8 Advertisements Column 4 (Lyttelton Times, 24 April 1861)…stchubch chinaglass parian earthenware s t 0 r e geo hawkins late from the crystal palace sydenham w meddings photographic artist papanui hotel papanui correct likenesses and views taken between the h…Lyttelton Times · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held
Page 8 Advertisements Column 4 (Lyttelton Times, 01 May 1861)…chbistchubch chinaglass parian earthenware store geo hawkins late from the crystal palace sydenham w meddings photographic artist papanui hotel papanui correct likenesses and views taken between the h…Lyttelton Times · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held
Page 8 Advertisements Column 4 (Lyttelton Times, 04 May 1861)…bistchubch chinaglass parian earthenware stor e geo hawkins gb from the crystal p a l ace sydenham w meddings photographic artist papanui hotel papanui rickman brothers brewers and spirit merchants ge…Lyttelton Times · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held
Page 8 Advertisements Column 4 (Lyttelton Times, 08 May 1861)…istchubch china glass parian earthenware store g io haw kins late from the crystal palace sydenham w meddings photographic artist papanui hotel papanui correct likenesses and viewa taken between the h…Lyttelton Times · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held
Page 8 Advertisements Column 4 (Lyttelton Times, 15 May 1861)…hbistchubch china glass parian earthenware store geo hawkins late from the crystal palace sydenham w meddings photographic artist papanui hotel papanui correct likenesses and views taken between the h…Lyttelton Times · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held

The rest are a search away, the whole shelf, for the name →

The wire on Sydenham 4 lately

Magpie Tiger Moths seen — Waltham Rd near Coleridge St, Sydenham, Christchurch 8023, New ZealandiNaturalist · sigourney_juneau ·
Megatominae seen — Waltham Rd near Hastings St E, Sydenham, Christchurch 8023, New ZealandiNaturalist · sigourney_juneau ·
Where to eat in Sydenham, Christchurch – an insider’s guideThe news · The Spinoff ·
Was listening to his track and a memory popped up that he played here at Sydenham Underpass, on a weekday. Hadnt gone cos I had work in the next day. How was the gig, sound setup etc.? Keen to know :)r/chch · Outrageous-Evening13 ·

The whole wire →

161 more documents came up in searches for Sydenham's places and have not been read yet, a lead is a search result, not a fact, until somebody reads it.

Next door

WalthamSaint MartinsBeckenhamChristchurch Central CityAddingtonSomerfield

Compare Sydenham with Waltham · Saint Martins · Beckenham · Christchurch Central City · Addington · Somerfield, same record, side by side.

Questions, answered briefly

What is Sydenham?

Sydenham is an inner suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, 2 kilometres south of the city centre, on and around the city's main street, Colombo Street. The public record holds 23,724 council reports for it, the first filed in May 2015.

How many people live in Sydenham?

6,970 people at the 2023 Census, 2,291 per square kilometre across 3.0 km².

How many people does the 2023 Census count for Sydenham?

About 6,774 people and 3,084 occupied private households (combined SA2s): grouped from Stats NZ SA1 areas through this site’s suburb join. Indicative, not a LIM.

What gets reported in Sydenham?

23,724 reports on record, most often graffiti & vandalism (11,268), rubbish & dumping (4,123), roads & footpaths (3,719). 3,025 of them in the year to 13 October 2026.

How many crashes has Sydenham had?

819 injury crashes on the police record inside the suburb’s outline, 11 people killed, 139 seriously hurt. The suburb’s crashes, mapped →

Did earthquakes strike under Sydenham?

GeoNet’s catalogue puts 7 magnitude-3+ epicentres inside the suburb’s mapped outline since the September 2010 mainshock, the biggest a M4.7 in 2010. An epicentre is where the instruments placed the break, not a measure of the shaking felt here. The whole sequence, counted → · The story, in plain language →

Every suburb in Christchurch → · Its decade, charted → · the whole A–Z →