As we move closer to that date and look forward to the move into the fifth Civic Offices in August, it is good to think about our place in history, the important role the Council plays within the community and the overall achievements of the Council since it was first established. We have occupied a number of buildings over that time and this display focuses specifically on the main buildings that have been home to the Civic Offices.
1862 – 1887: The Christchurch Land Office, Corner Oxford Terrace and Worcester Boulevard
Christchurch Land Office, 1852. Artist unknown. Christchurch City Council Archives, CH 430 (Folder 26)
[ larger view ]
Christchurch was founded in 1850 by the arrival of about 800 settlers onboard the first ships organised by the Canterbury Association from England. For many of these early settlers they had never seen, let along been onboard, a ship. The route taken was the longest and most treacherous of any of the emigrant routes travelling through the Atlantic Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope – the south-west corner of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa – before turning eastward for New Zealand. The emigrant ships crossed the Indian Ocean and sailed below Australia before travelling up the east coast of the South Island to reach Canterbury. Those onboard suffered both the extreme heat of the tropics and the cold temperatures of the southern latitudes.
According to Morrison (1948:8) “The first impression of the majority was one of deep disillusionment as to this land of their dreams. They remained because they could not return….They laughed, a little ruefully perhaps, with Crosbie Ward and the rest of the Canterbury rhymer’s, and it was not long before they set to work to improve their depressing environment….Crosbie Ward wrote ….Oh! The town of Christchurch is an elegant mixture of roads and pasture and swamp and sand…”
Christchurch became New Zealand’s first city in 1856 and “…in its first stage as a town – some slight semblance of streets, scattered wooden houses and huts; the flat plain, in its primaeval state of tussock grass, forms its suburbs” (Morrison, 1948:15). The first meeting of the Christchurch Municipal Council was held on 3 March 1862 (later that year became the Christchurch City Council). Meetings were held in the first public building erected in Christchurch on the banks of the Avon River in Worchester Street. This had first been used as the Land Office in 1851 and was used for various purposes including government buildings, survey office, resident magistrate’s court, Supreme Court and library as well as municipal chambers.
1887 – 1924: Municipal Chambers (built on the same site as the Christchurch Land Office, Corner Oxford Terrace and Worcester Boulevard)
This is the only building that has been purpose built for the Christchurch City Council. Every other building that has housed the Council has been an existing building modified to suit the Council’s requirements. This building was designed by local architect Samuel Hurst Seager and was erected on the cleared site of the old Land Office. It was completed on 24 March 1887 and the first meeting took place 4 April 1887.
Please note: this building still exists today, Our City O-Tautahi occupy the building which is a feature within the City for its stunning architectural features.
1924 – 1980: The Canterbury Hall, Manchester Street (now known as The Civic)
By 1919, the Municipal Chambers had become too small and the Council began the search for a new home. In 1920 the Council purchased what remained of the Canterbury Hall Company on Manchester Street after fire gutted the building in 1917. The new offices were opened 1 September 1924 and the Council met for the first time a week later. This building, now known as The Civic, served the Christchurch City Council and its staff for 56 years.
1980 – 2010 (present): The Civic Offices, Tuam Street (formerly known as Millers)
The functions of the Council expanded after World War II with consequent increase in staff. Overflow offices were either bought or leased and by 1978 the staff occupied all or part of nine separate buildings. In 1979 the Council purchased our current Civic Office building, formerly the home of Millers and was officially opened by the Duchess of Kent in December 1980
August 2010 – New Civic on Hereford Street
The seven-storey building will house in the one location Council staff who are currently working from five locations within the Central Business District. This will enable Council to improve the efficiency of its service delivery and strengthen the One Organisation approach.
The overall feeling of the working environment is light and spacious; the building having been awarded a 6 Green Star rating and a record 83 points, making it the greenest building in New Zealand. The new Civic Building is the first renovated building and only second building in New Zealand to achieve 6 Green Star.
A New Zealand-first innovation in the new Civic Building is the tri-generation plant. This will enable the new Civic Building to generate its own electricity, heating and cooling from a renewable source – biogas. This is piped from the Council's Burwood landfill site – and in future years from the City's Wastewater Treatment Plant – and converted into electricity. Heat from this process is used to both heat and then by a process of heat conversion, cool the building.
