South Street Nelson

South Street was laid out in 1863 and built with small single-storey cottages for working people - carpenters, labourers, tradesmen - in a period when most such housing was thrown up and replaced within a generation. These were not: the whole street survived, and it is generally described as the oldest preserved street of workers' cottages in New Zealand, registered as a historic area. What makes it worth the five-minute detour is that it was never turned into a museum. People live in the cottages, the gardens are private, and the street is a functioning residential lane a couple of minutes from Nelson's cathedral steps - so it is looked at from the footpath and nothing more. Several cottages are let as holiday accommodation, which is the only way to see inside one. It takes fifteen minutes to walk and photograph, and it sits naturally on a walk round central Nelson.

The main sights

• The 1863 cottages - the intact row of workers' housing.
• The residential use - lived in, not preserved as a display.
• The scale - single-storey and small, as such housing was.
• The central position - minutes from the cathedral steps.

When to go

Any time, in daylight. It is a fifteen-minute walk-past, best combined with the cathedral and the central Nelson streets.

Practical notes

People live here - view from the footpath, do not enter gardens or photograph into windows. There is nothing to go into. Fifteen minutes covers it.

Nearby

Christ Church Cathedral and the Queen's Gardens are minutes away; the Centre of New Zealand walk starts nearby.