Riccarton House is now a restaurant and function centre, and conducts regular tours.

[6] The Deans brothers, John and William, named the suburb after the parish in Ayrshire, Scotland, in which they were born.

A large property with 279 rooms and once described as "one of the finest in Christchurch and vicinity", it has been left to decay despite a Category II listing with Heritage New Zealand.

The Māori word Pūtaringamotu means either 'the place of an echo' or 'the severed ear'.

It is one of only four remnants of the original forest that covered the Canterbury plains, escaping the huge fires that swept across the province during the moa hunter period.

In 1848, Scots brothers John and William Deans signed an agreement with the New Zealand Company to protect what was originally about 22 hectares of the kahikatea forest at Pūtaringamotu.

In 1914, the 6.4 hectares that remained of Deans Bush was formally protected, with the passing of the Riccarton Bush Act 1914, spearheaded by prominent citizens of Christchurch, including Harry Ell and botanist Dr. Leonard Cockayne.

Riccarton Bush has played an important role in the history of New Zealand entomology.

Thirty nine families of Lepidoptera are found in New Zealand; 27 of these occur in Riccarton Bush.

It is said that the ghost of former licensee Donald Fraser walks the corridors of the hotel looking for his killer.

In 1933, Fraser was murdered in the dead of night in his bedroom, where his wife was sleeping, by two blasts from a double-barrelled shotgun.

[20] In the following local government election held in October 2022, she was replaced by speaker, consultant, and basketball coach Tyla Harrison-Hunt.

The most recent of these took place in 2009, with the addition of a second floor and new carpark building, while plans for further expansions into neighbouring property are within the design process.

[29] Due to its proximity to the University of Canterbury, Riccarton is also home to many Christchurch students.

[29] After English, the next most common languages spoken are Tagalog, Sinitic, Northern Chinese and te reo Māori.

[29] Places of worship cover a variety of faiths, including Christian churches, the Yolin Assemblies of God Korean Church, the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist temple, a Sikh temple on Kilmarnock St,[32][33] and the Al Noor Mosque.

Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 47.1% had no religion, 29.4% were Christian, and 11.8% were Buddhist.