Architecture, Christchurch

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Favorite thing: As with most cities there are a number of icons, murals and sculptures hidden in and around Christchurch. All through Hagley Park and the Botanic gardens there are a large number of iconic sculptures and bits of iron and marble worked into fancy shapes. In the middle of town there is everything from carvings within the Bridge of Remembrance to a sculpture outside the Central Fire station in memory of the help the Christchurch Fire boys did to help after the 11 September mess in New York, USA.

Favorite thing: The original Christchurch Girls' High School was opened on 13 Sept. 1877 and originally occupied a building on the corner of Hereford Street and Rolleston Avenue. In 1878 plans were submitted for a new building in Cranmer Square and in late 1881 the new building was opened. Extensions were made along Armagh Street and along Montreal Street over a period of 40 or so years. The school is the second oldest girls’ secondary school in New Zealand.

Girls' High moved to a new site in Deans Avenue, Riccarton, in mid 1986, with the official opening on 10 Nov. 1986. The Cranmer Square building, which you see if ther photo, was bought by the Arts Centre in July 2001. The first building in Hereford Street became the School of Art until it moved to Ilam in 1957. It was then used as an extension to the University Library until the whole University moved to Ilam, when it became part of the Arts Centre of Christchurch.

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Sometimes you just cannot believe how the City Council is wasting ratepayers’ money. You get the impression they are spending days and hours thinking for which silly purpose they could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, just for the sake of changing something and making something new.

I have given up to understand the purpose of inner city planning, as they demolish historic buildings, and renew other things that are perfectly fine. What I find offending, however, is that they lie to the public in the attempt to justify the latest craziness. They tell the people of Christchurch that the overseas trend in city centres is to get the traffic back into the centre and reduce the area of pedestrian zones. The opposite is the case as we got confirmed on our last trip to Germany. What, I wonder, is overseas? Is Germany not overseas in the eyes of Christchurch City’s Councillors?

The story behind my anger is that they have made City Mall and Cashel Mall worse. Some business owners have not tired to tell us that it is necessary to get car traffic back into the pedestrian zone because people want to park right in front of the shops, and only by such mixed use of the streets people would come back to the city centre for their shopping and not go to the big malls in the outer suburbs where parking is free and convenient.

So they have started their work of destruction. Stage one has been finished around Christmas 2007, and the result is horrible. The pedestrian part of High Street – a diagonal road starting at the corner of Colombo and Hereford Streets – has just got the new grey-in-grey look. At the start there is a one-lane service road – but as this is only for a possible future use – it is blocked by two planter boxes.

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Some stainless steel benches invite the people to sit down. They are at the site of a former colourful tiled fountain, a real big piece of art, the tiles designed by children of Christchurch. The edges of the fountain served as seats, and in summer you could see many people sit around it and chat. Well, as the New Zealand Natural ice-cream shop right at this corner is just going to be replaced by a St. Pierre sushi shop we do not need such an nice, inviting and relaxing place to sit down anymore… ;-) Just dreadful!

The second masterpiece of planning was to demolish a pedestrian overbridge over High Street. By using this you could walk to the Bus Exchange in heavy rain without the need to step out into the rain. The second overbridge, linking the two sides of Cashel Street, is still standing but will also be demolished in the next stage of the so-called revival process of the inner city. Right now, there are many hanging baskets attached to this overbridge, and the plants give the place a lively feeling, and people are sitting on the seats under the pillar of the overbridge. But sure, a service lane is much more important in the middle of a pedestrian mall than nice seats and flowers.

And really, who would want to walk leisurely through Cashel Mall if the nightmare becomes true and cars are driving there in circles on the search of parking spaces? I wonder if they will even fell the nice trees in the second half of Cashel Mall, between Colombo Street and Oxford Terrace… Right now, this part of the mall is home to many buskers during the World Buskers Festival in January. What a piece of ignorance!

I for my part will boycott the shops which have actively supported the construction of the service lane.

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Favorite thing: The Art Centre, which was once the University of Canterbury, is a wonderful place to savour the architectural heritage of Christchurch. I think the correct term for the style of architecture here is Gothic Revival. The archways and green lawns of the intimate quads are beautiful. If you are walking down Worcester Ave, just wander into the Art Centre and have a look around. Even if you don't want to look in the little arts and crafts shops that fill the buildings now, the architecture is worthy of a visit.

Favorite thing: Once upon a time New Zealand had a federal system of government. The Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings, dating from 1858 are the only remaining original provincial government buildings in the country. Tourists can get tours of the building up to 3.30pm each weekday. I really wanted to go into these buildings when I was in Christchurch, but I just didn't have time! The rear of this complex backs onto the Avon River and some of the stone buildings there are very picturesque.

Favorite thing: The new art gallery between Gloucester and Worcester Streets is an example of pleasing modern architecture in Christchurch. Sadly, most of the commercial buildings in the CBD are a bit of a blot on the landscape, especially considering how buildings could have been designed to fit in with the pre-existing rich heritage buildings of this graceful old city. Luckily, whoever designed the new art gallery, did a good job. This isn't my favourite building in Christchurch, but it is my favourite modern building.

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Favorite thing: Christchurch is full of architectural gems - small ones admittedly, you won't find any of the "Great Buildings of the World" here, but what you will find is a harmonious collection of mostly Victorian buildings, built from local materials and in sympathy with each other and the community at large. There's lots of grey stone neo-Gothic - the Arts Centre, Cathedral, Provincial Council Buildings, Canterbury Museum, Victoria Street Clock Tower, Christ's College are all good examples, but some attractive red brick can be found too, often finished with white quoins and ornamentation of varying degrees of elaborateness - the old Central Post Office and The Press buildings on Cathedral Square and the former Municipal Chambers by the Worcester Street Bridge are particularly notable.

Smaller in scale but favourites of mine are The Antigua Street Boatsheds, which make a very pretty picture with their striped paintwork and colourful boats nestling under the willows by the river, and the cute llittle (wee in Kiwi-speak) Shands Emporium in Hereford Street - a tiny little green wooden building that has been doing business here since 1860.

Looking up brings rewards too - there are some lovely towers to be seen atop some of the city's buildings, as well as coats of arms and other features.

Good modern buildings are harder to find though the new art Gallery's a stunning addition to the city.

Favorite thing: The tram runs down Worchester Boulevard with the Arts Centre an its left and the fine old buildings of the Canterbury Museum at the end of the street. The museum opened in 1870 under the directorship of Dr Julius von Haast, the distinguished explorer who was also the provincial geologist - and whose idea it was to build the museum.

Fondest memory: Daily 9AM-5:30PM summer, 9AM-5PM winter. Includes colonial, Maori and natural history sections, Antarctic exploration display, and visiting exhibitions. Admission free to main exhibits (but donation appreciated), $2 for Discovery children's section

http://www.cantmus.govt.nz/