Conservatories

Cuningham House is closed for the next 18 months to two years for heritage restoration.

From legacy to landmark

A jungle was born in the heart of the city when Cuningham House opened in August 1924. Originally known as 'The Winter Gardens', this grand conservatory has captivated visitors with its impressive architecture and lush, tropical greenery ever since.

Cuningham House was built thanks to a generous bequest by Mr Charles Adam Cleverly Cuningham, a local law clerk, world traveller, and avid admirer of the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. On his death in 1915, Mr Cuningham left a bequest for the purpose of building a conservatory.

Cuningham House was designed by the leading architectural firm of its day, Collins and Harman. With its symmetrical façade, Tuscan columns and Italianate balcony balusters, Cuningham House falls firmly into the neoclassical style. Today, the building is listed Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.

The first plants were handpicked by then-curator James Young while on a dedicated plant sourcing trip to Australia. By 1928, the collection boasted tropical and sub-tropical plants from the world over, including orchids, pawpaw, sago palms and new banana cultivars.

Cuningham House c.1925.

Read more about the history of Cuningham House. 

It's usually a jungle in here

Cavendish banana

Today, Cuningham House is a tropical and sub-tropical plant conservatory. While most of the collection comes from the understory of tropical forests, it also showcases sun-loving climbers and palms. Some of the collection includes species of Dieffenbachia, Peperomia, Hoya, Anthurium and Dracaena.

As mentioned before, banana plants have been grown in Cuningham House since they were first donated in 1924 by local nurseryman Robert Nairn. Though they die after fruiting, bananas send out pups, clones of the parent plant, which can be replanted and fruit within 9 to 12 months.

We grow the super sweet ‘Dwarf Cavendish’, which can produce 90 bananas annually. You can see three of these plants in the Visitor Centre while Cuningham House is being restored.

Restoration and renewal

At 100 years young, this is the oldest, largest and most significant of the conservatories at the Botanic Gardens today. To ensure it stays well preserved, we're taking a few years out to restore and upgrade the building so it's at its best. 

To do this, we've had to temporarily remove the majority of the plants from the conservatory. You can see some of this special collection in neighbouring Townend House, which has had a temporary tropical takeover. The rest of our plants are being stored in both our on-site nursery and a commercial off-site nursery.

Four plants have had to remain inside the conservatory and have been wrapped up safely to prevent damage while works are underway.

 These plants are: a Ficus albert-smithii which is possibly the only species of its kind in the country and notoriously difficult to propagate; two rather special Phoenix roebelenii, miniature date palms, which are likely original from opening and very difficult to transplant; a Rhapis excelsa, or broadleaf lady palm, which has formed a large clump over many years and is now too difficult to shift; and a Rhopalostylis sapida, or nīkau, which is already 10 metres tall after just 40 years thanks to the warm moist glasshouse conditions.

Take a look at what we're up to

1. Earthquake strengthening of the entire building, including cross-bracing in the roof and carbon fibre support in the main buttresses.
2. A controlled automated system will be installed for efficient heating, misting, lighting and windows.
3. Heritage refurbishment, which will include steel and surface repairs, cleaning and repainting.
4. New glazing, which will make the building more efficient, will also comply with modern standards.
5. Widening of walkways to improve accessibility for wheelchairs, prams and larger groups. This is also more in keeping with the building's original design.
6. A chimney stack effect will be used to sustainably heat and cool the building. This is a natural process where warm air rises and escapes through the top of the building, drawing in cooler air from the bottom, similar to how smoke rises from a chimney. It is commonly used in heritage buildings as they have less airtight construction.

Check back for more updates

Don't forget to check back in for photographic updates about the restoration:

Scaffolding inside Cuningham House.

Cuningham House after plants were removed.

Reinforcements were added to grooves in external buttresses.

Original-style steel window frames have been reinstated.

In-floor radiator heaters have been installed.

A crane constructs the top most scaffolding.

Garden bed edging has been rebuilt to echo original designs.

The current tropical collection on display.

The original Townend House was purchased and transferred from the grand Christchurch residence of 'Holly Lea' with funds from the estate of Annie Townend, a wealthy Christchurch heiress, who also owned Mona Vale.

The present Townend House was erected in 1955 to 1956 on the site of the former house of the same name.

Townend House is essentially a flowering conservatory where a regular succession of popular greenhouse plants are grown. These include calceolarias, cyclamen, begonias, impatiens and primulas.

While our tropical conservatory, Cuningham House, is undergoing heritage restoration, Townend House is hosting a selection of our tropical collection.

A traditional flowering display in Townend House.

Garrick House was named after Mr M. Garrick, who donated a large collection of cacti and succulents to the Gardens in the late 1950s. 

It contains the most extensive publicly owned collection of cacti and succulents in New Zealand and also includes a diorama painted by Gordon Gee, the sign and label writer for the Botanic Gardens from 1956 to 1974.

The diorama depicts a desert scene representing from South Africa to South America.

Built in the 1960s, Gilpin House is a modest-sized conservatory featuring tropical collections of orchids, tillandsias, bromeliads and carnivorous plants.

The Fern House or Fernery was constructed in 1955 as a result of bequests from Mary Rothney Orr and James Foster.

A narrow meandering path winds through collections of New Zealand ferns, the most significant of these being a New Zealand icon, the silver fern (Cyathea dealbata).

Beneath the path, a gentle stream moves through the house, creating a perfect environment for moisture-loving ferns such as Asplenium and Blechnum.

Foweraker House was named for Jean Foweraker, a Christchurch alpine plant enthusiast and donor of many collections of alpine plants to the Gardens.

The displays of both indigenous and exotic alpine plants frequently change as do the seasons, flowers and foliage.

In addition, there is a permanent display of slow-growing conifers that create a neutral-looking environment in which the alpine plants can be appreciated.