Fundraising launched for $10m Arts Centre observatory restoration

Friday, 19 October 2018

The Arts Centre of Christchurch's historic Observatory Tower and Biological Laboratory building could be restored next year.

The Christchurch Arts Centre has launched a $5 million fundraising campaign to help restore their earthquake-damaged observatory building.

The observatory partially collapsed in the February 2011 earthquakes and has been closed ever since.

The collapsed observatory tower in the Christchurch Arts Centre after the 2011 earthquakes.

Arts Centre chief executive Philip Aldridge said a $4.83 million grant had already been secured from the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board for the restoration. That left just over $5m to raise for the $10m project.

'We are hoping many businesses and individuals will support this wonderful cause and help us reinstate this taonga for generations to come,' he said.

The observatory tower in the Arts Centre was built of Oamaru stone in 1896.

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If the fundraising is successful, work could start on the restoration early next year.

The tower will be rebuilt on the original site with largely original materials. It will use the same external plan, but have hidden seismic strengthening.

The restoration will mean the original telescope, which has been restored by the University of Canterbury, will be able to return to its original home. The Townsend Teece Telescope, which is owned by the university, is 154-years-old and in full working order.

University associate professor Karen Pollard said the telescope would be used to teach children about the cosmos.

'Telescopes are very useful vehicles for introducing children to science and teaching them to ask questions about how the world and the universe works. This is why the observatory is so valuable – it was very accessible and was a way of bringing astronomy and science to children and the wider public.'

Almost every building in the Arts Centre was damaged in the February 2011 earthquakes. The restoration programme has a budget of $290 million and is expected to take about 10 years.

The centre is reopening to the public in stages, with 11 of the 23 buildings now in operation.

Donations can be made at the Arts Centre website.