Uninspiring Architecture by Kakapo2
-You will not find a lot of appealing buildings in Queenstown. I have to think hard to remember more than Eichardt?s Private Hotel at the lakefront, and St. Peter?s, a little Anglican stone church which unfortunately has been squeezed from all sides in the last some years. When I first was in Queenstown in the early nineties, there was space around the church, and people were lying on the lawn and taking a sunbath.
When you come back from a cruise on the Earnslaw you get an impressive view of the dreadful architecture along the lakefront, multi-storey apartment- and hotel buildings of cheapish look, like piled prison cells. It is clear that you will have fantastic views from all those boxes, especially from the balconies, and life inside the boxes can be very pleasing, as the interiors seem luxurious in many of the buildings. But just the look is not much better than blocks of social housing developments.
The only street look I really like is The Mall, Queenstown?s main (pedestrian) shopping and restaurant street. Along Marine Parade ? alongside Eichardt?s Private Hotel - they are trying to recreate a kind of old charm. Looking out to the lake from The Mall, past the W.G. Rees statue, is quite nice. But architecturally, nothing in and around the town centre would excite me. The opposite is the case, when you venture further outside and pass at the multi-million dollar mansions.
The big rest reflects Queenstown?s big business approach towards tourism. One booking agency beside the other, for example, in Shotover Street which runs parallel to Beach Street/Lake Esplanade, shop windows covered in posters and some other advertising items.