Corner, 1,3 Hereford Street and Rolleston Avenue and corner 26 Rolleston Avenue and 2-28 Worcester Boulevard, CHRISTCHURCH
Register
Number:
7301
Registration Type:
Historic Place - Category I
Region:
Canterbury Region
Date
Registered:
15/2/90
City/District
Council:
Christchurch City Council
Location Description:
Corner, Rolleston Avenue and Worcester Boulevard up to and including 28 Worcester Boulevard, and corner, Rolleston Avenue and Hereford Street up to and including Section 432 on Hereford Street.
Brief History:
The Arts Centre in Christchurch is a collection of fine Gothic Revival buildings, formerly used by the Canterbury University College (now the University of Canterbury) and two of the city's secondary schools. Construction on the buildings for the Canterbury University College, which later became the University of Canterbury, began with the building of the Clock Tower block. This building, which opened in 1877 and was designed by Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort, was the first building in New Zealand to be designed specifically for a university. The Girls' High School building opened in the following year, designed by Thomas Cane, and two years later the Boys' High School on Worcester St was built. Other buildings followed as the University expanded. Both schools moved off the site, in 1881 and 1926 respectively, and their buildings were taken over by the university. North and south quadrangles were established with the building of the library in 1914-16. As part of Samuel Hurst Seager's scheme to link the disparate buildings of the University, cloisters and arcades were built to link the various buildings, with the library dividing the two quads. The last stone building to be built was the Engineering Block, now the Court Theatre, in 1923.
By the 1950s it was obvious that the town site was too small for the university and plans were made to move the University out to the suburb of Ilam. The Fine Arts department was the first to move in 1957 with Engineering following from 1959. By 1975 the entire University had migrated and the fate of the town buildings was under debate. Eventually the entire block of buildings were transferred to the Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust Board and are now used for a variety of arts-related activities.
Overall the style of the buildings is essentially High Victorian Collegiate Gothic and was based on old English college traditions. The buildings are significant in that they represent aspects of New Zealand's educational history, both tertiary and secondary. They illustrate the intention of the Canterbury settlers to create a colonial equivalent to Oxford and Cambridge. The buildings are also linked to significant developments in the arts and sciences. Ernest Rutherford, for example, was a student at Canterbury College and is now remembered by 'Rutherford's Den' in the Arts Centre. Many well-known New Zealand artists also trained at Canterbury including Evelyn Page, Rita Angus and William Sutton. Apirana Turupa Ngata, Ngati Porou leader and Member of Parliament, studied for his Bachelor of Arts at Canterbury from 1890 - 1893 and was the first Maori to complete a degree at a New Zealand university.
The Arts Centre complex was registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust/Pouhere Taonga, as a group in 1990 in order to recognise the historical and architectural importance of not just the individual buildings but the importance of the complex as a whole. It is significant as the site of one of the earliest of New Zealand's university colleges and as a splendid collection of Gothic Revival buildings designed by a variety of Canterbury architects. It now has an important role in Christchurch as a focal point for the city's art and crafts community.
Current
Use:
Civic facilities and recreation - Art Centre Retail and Commercial - Restaurant/cafe/tearoom
Former
Uses:
Education - School Education - University
Notable
Features:
Clock Tower Block, Great Hall, Hight Block, Old Art School, Old Chemistry Block, Collins Block, Centre Gallery, Scott Block, Engineering Block, Old Physics Block, Old Botany Block, Observatory Block, Academy Theatre, Old Boys High School, the Cloisters.
Construction
Dates:
Original Construction - First building, the Clock Tower, designed by Mountfort: 1877
Information on
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