Apartment tower among ideas for Christchurch's Victoria Mansions

Thursday, 23 January 2020

A fifth storey with two penthouses will be added to Christchurch's historic Victoria Mansions.

A 14-storey apartment building could spring up next to Christchurch's historic Victoria Mansions.

The heritage-listed building, owned by Ceres NZ, will be restored, with a second development on vacated space at 91 Victoria St also planned.

Building consent for the Victoria Mansions was approved at the end of 2018, and the plans show Ceres NZ will add a fifth-storey with two penthouses and convert the ground floor to retail space.

Ceres New Zealand project engineer Swaroop Gowda said overall plans for the site were still being finalised, and no consents had been sought for the second development.

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The Victoria Mansions will be restored with retail spaces on the ground floor, twelve apartments, and an added floor with two penthouses.

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'We envisage approximately three to four months to finalise the plans,' he said.

The company had a 'number of concept plans' but nothing had been finalised.

Ceres had engaged a consultant to advise on the resource management process.

One of the concepts for the second development was a stepped-back tower with 36 apartments designed by architect Roger Walker.

The Victoria Mansions are on the corner of Victoria St and Montreal St, just in front of the heritage-listed Victoria Clock Tower.

'We've had about three meetings with council officers as the scheme's developed and it has been generally supported,' Walker said.

He said he believed the project was 'on hold' at the moment.

Although Walker's tower was only a concept at this stage, his architecture firm had completed designs for restoring the Victoria Mansions, a category-two heritage building.

A concept drawing by architect Roger Walker shows his idea for a stepped-back 14-storey apartment tower behind the restored Victoria Mansions.

'It's a lovely building, it's very prominent located behind the clock tower,' he said.

Concept art showed Walker intended to paint the Victoria Mansions with pastel colours derived from other heritage sites in Christchurch, such as New Regent St.

He said the colours would 'enchance the art deco nature of the building'.

The approved building consents showed the restored mansions would have four retail spaces, 12 apartments, and two penthouses.

The Victoria Mansions were damaged in the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes.

Eight of the apartments would have three bedrooms, while the other four would have two bedrooms.

The Victoria Mansions were built between 1935 and 1936 as a large flat complex.

The building was damaged in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.

In 2017, it was listed on the 'dirty 30' list of barrier sites by the Christchurch City Council that were deemed to be holding back the redevelopment of the central city.

The building was previously reported as being in an insurance dispute.

A heritage grant of $900,000 was approved for the building by the Christchurch City Council in 2014, but had since lapsed.

The council's head of urban regeneration, Carolyn Ingles, said there had been on-going contact with Ceres NZ about the repair works, 'but no further grant funds have been sought'.