Sunday, March 16, 2014

Christchurch Heritage - Part 2

Following on from last weeks post, I popped into town yesterday to take photos of the remaining buildings from my earlier post documenting some of the buildings which survived the September earthquake. While I was there I also did a spot of shopping at the Tava pop-up shop and Bridget's two hour shop, both in Cathedral Junction.

This time I took printouts of the old photos with me, so I could try and line up a similar shot.

This lovely old building on the corner of Hereford and High Streets suffered a lot of damage in the February earthquake and was subsequently demolished. This photograph was quite hard to line up, with only one building from the original photo still remaining.

This is the old Post office building in the Square with Telecom behind it. I'm not sure what the fate of it is. The scene is a bit lopsided now, with both buildings on the right now gone. I think the turret from the old Regent Theatre (?) has been saved, and is sitting on a property near Linwood Ave, visible from the road and looking slightly out of place!

This photo is largely unchanged from the original. The Old Government building has been restored and reopened by the Heritage Hotel. There is a swimming pool in the basement gym which I learned to swim in at the ripe old age of 22.

New Regent Street has also been restored and reopened. You'll note a common theme among these photos - most of tall buildings in the background have gone. I don't really miss them, I don't like skyscrapers that much. Don't like being up high inside them, and don't like their behemoth presence from the outside.

I enjoy going into the city centre. It is getting it's buzz back with more people around, with things to see and places to go. I'm looking forward to seeing the new buildings and initiatives that groups like Gap Filler keep dreaming up. The Pallet Pavilion, an event space they set up is being deconstructed next month. One of the final events there is the Monster March Market, 22 March from 10am - 3pm. You'll find us there, for our first market this year. We'll be bringing all our current candles along with a selection of clearance candles.

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