Provincial Chambers open for first time in more than decade

Monday, 8 May 2023

The Provincial Council Chambers in central Christchurch have been closed since they were damaged in the 2011 earthquakes.

Members of the public were allowed back inside the historic Canterbury Provincial Council buildings over the weekend for the first time since 2011.

People were given tours of the 19 century building, which has been closed since it was damaged in the earthquakes, as part of the Open Christchurch festival.

The Provincial Council Chambers were completed in the 1860s.

Restoration of the heritage building could begin sooner than originally planned. Work could begin this year after Christchurch City Council, which owns the building, brought proposed restoration funding forward from 2027.

The draft 2023/24 council budget, which will be voted on by councillors in June, includes $2.1m for restoration of the building. The funding was originally scheduled for 2029 and then was moved to 2027.

Council head of vertical capital delivery, Darren Moses, said in March that the building needed attention.

The building was open to public tours as part of the Open Christchurch festival.

“Bringing forward the restoration work will help to prevent any further deterioration and preserve the buildings.”

The stone and timber buildings, designed by Benjamin Mountfort and completed in the 1860s, are the only purpose-built provincial government buildings still standing in New Zealand.

The Open Christchurch festival allows people to see inside some of the city’s most fascinating buildings.

This year, 52 buildings of different ages, styles and uses were open for the public to explore. Thousands of people visited Christchurch buildings across the weekend.

The Lyttelton Studio Monastery was one of many buildings open to the public as part of Open Christchurch.

Festival volunteer Nikki McAlistera said many people came from outside Christchurch to attend the event.

“A man came over from Sydney for this, to see the post-quake city.

“Two sisters came up from Dunedin – they made it a holiday and were having a great time, as did a family of five who came down from Auckland.”

The line-up included a host of classics by architecture giants Sir Miles Warren and Maurice Mahoney, as well as a range of other buildings like the Christ Church Cathedral and New Brighton Surf Life Saving Club.

Warren and Mahoney formed an architectural practice together in the 1950s, designed dozens of the city’s most recognisable buildings and forged a new form of brutalist architecture known as the Christchurch Modern.

Members of the public were able to explore private homes designed by the pair, along with other well known buildings they designed like the Christchurch Town Hall and College House at the University of Canterbury.