13 Apr 2017

After six years in the cold, Lyttelton’s museum could return to a new, prime location if a Council proposal wins public support.

The museum’s former building on Gladstone Quay was demolished after it was badly damaged in the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes leaving the museum homeless.

Lyttelton Historical Museum Society Chairman Peter Rough.

Lyttelton Historical Museum Society Chairman Peter Rough at the site where the new museum is proposed to be built.

At a meeting today Christchurch City Council supported in principal a proposal to gift a Council-owned site at 33 and 35 London Street to the Lyttelton Historical Museum Society. The land would be used as the location for a new museum building.

The proposal will now need to go through community consultation. Following the consultation process another report will be brought to the Council on whether the gifting plan should go ahead.

The Council has backed the proposal because it believes it would bring significant cultural and benefits to the people of Lyttelton and provide a unique tourism attraction.

A mechanism would be put in place to ensure the land would be transferred back to Council ownership in the future if it is no longer needed by the museum.

Lyttelton Historical Museum Society Chairman Peter Rough is delighted that progress is being made towards a new museum for Lyttelton. The society had put a request to Banks Peninsula Community Board for the London Street site because it was ideal for a new museum, placing it at the heart of its community and creating a hub with other nearby community facilities such as the Lyttelton Library and Albion Square. 

It has already chosen Christchurch architects Warren and Mahoney to design a new museum building which could have three or four levels. Mr Rough hopes a final decision on the land will be made within a months because the goal is to have a new museum ready for opening in 2019. It has $600,000 for the project but estimates it will need to raise another $5.3 million to construct the building and help with operational costs.

The Banks Peninsula Community Board has given its support to the Council gifting the land. At present the 316 sqm section is empty, but it previously housed a Council Service Centre that had to be demolished.

In the meantime, the society, which is a registered charity, will work with Warren and Mahoney on a building brief. “We’re at the start of that process,” Mr Rough says. “Before the architects can begin to design a building for us, they need to understand what our practical requirements are, as well as how we want to use the spaces.”

More than 8500 museum items have been catalogued and are currently in storage including significant artefacts from maritime, military and naval history . The society expects more than 10,000 people a year would visit a new museum. 

Fiona Short, one of the architects who will be working on the museum project, said it had the opportunity to be a real catalyst in Lyttelton’s cultural landscape.

“I want the museum to be more than a building which stores and exhibits objects – it can engage with the community to share and celebrate their stories.”