Cranmer Centre | |
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![]() Cranmer Centre, 2009 | |
Location within the Christchurch Central City | |
Former names | Christchurch Girls' High School |
General information | |
Type | Former school |
Architectural style | Venetian Gothic architecture |
Location | Christchurch Central City |
Address | 40 Armagh Street |
Town or city | Christchurch |
Country | New Zealand |
Coordinates | 43°31′44″S172°37′48″E / 43.52889°S 172.63000°E |
Completed | September 1881 |
Destroyed | May 2011 |
Owner | Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust |
Technical details | |
Floor count | three |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | William Barnett Armson |
Main contractor | Greig and Hunter |
Renovating team | |
Architect(s) | Collins and Harman |
Designated | 24 February 1994 |
Reference no. | 1849 |
References | |
"Cranmer Centre". New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero. Heritage New Zealand . Retrieved 23 May 2011. |
The Cranmer Centre (originally: Christchurch Girls' High School) was a historic building in Christchurch, New Zealand. Its original use, until 1986, was as the Christchurch Girls' High School, the second high school for girls in the country. Registered with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust as a Category I heritage building, it was purchased by Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust in 2001, and demolished in May 2011 following the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
The centre was located on the south-west corner of Armagh and Montreal Streets by Cranmer Square. [1] On the opposite side was the Christchurch Normal School, later renamed Cranmer Court. [2] The Christchurch heritage tram passed the building on its central city circuit along Armagh Street. [3]
The Cranmer Centre is named after Cranmer Square, which takes its name from Thomas Cranmer, a noted Protestant reformer who shaped the Church of England, and wrote the first edition of the Book of Common Prayer. [4]
Christchurch Girls' High, the second high school for girls in New Zealand, was established in 1877. [1] It was preceded by Otago Girls' High School, which is believed to be the oldest secondary girls' school in the Southern Hemisphere. [5] After a year in temporary accommodation, the girls school moved into new premises on the corner of Hereford Street and Rolleston Avenue designed by Thomas Cane (1830–1905), immediately adjacent to the Canterbury College. That building is these days part of the Arts Centre. [1]
Cane's building soon ran out of room, and William Barnett Armson, who had previously been employed by the provincial council, was commissioned to design a new building in 1879. [1] It is believed that Armson carried out the design work in 1880 [6] and it was built the following year by the firm of Greig and Hunter. The school opened in September 1881. [7]
Additions and renovations were made in 1907 and 1912 by Collins and Harman. Subsequent additions and alterations in 1936–1941 and 1961 were by Collins Architects. [1]
After the Girls' High School moved to its new site in Deans Avenue in 1986, the old building was leased to the Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust on a long-term lease and used for arts, cultural, social service and community groups. The Crown sold the land and buildings to Ngāi Tahu, and in 2001, it was sold to the Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust. [8]
The building was registered under the Historic Places Act 1980, and on 24 February 1994, the structure became registered (No. 1849) with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust as a Category I heritage building. [1]
Following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, the building was damaged and found to contain the toxic substance asbestos. [9] It was demolished in May 2011; all that was remaining for a while was the main entrance portal on Armagh Street, but this was removed some weeks later.
The building was of Venetian Gothic architecture. Concrete foundations and brick masonry walls were used in the original construction as well as the additions of 1907 and 1912. External and internal walls are of brick. The windows had sandstone facing features. The roof was characterised by timber sarking and slate sheathing. Roofing over the hall/library was replaced in 1989 after a fire. [1]
As part of the 1907 addition, the gabled entrance was relocated to the east end of the new building, while it was originally located at the northeast porch area. The entrance has Corinthian pilasters [1] and displays the original crest of Canterbury College above the architrave, demonstrating the links that the school had with the university at its previous site. The crest is inscribed "Ergo tua rura manebunt", meaning "therefore may your fields prosper"; this refers to the then extensive landholdings that the college had been given by the provincial government that were earning it an income. [10]
One of the building's notable feature had been constructural polychromy. [1]
Helen Macmillan Brown (née Connon; wife of John Macmillan Brown), the second woman to graduate from a British university, was Principal of Christchurch Girls' High School from 1882 to 1894. [11]
Two students of the school, Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker, made world news in 1954 when they killed Pauline's mother in Victoria Park. The murder became the basis of several works of literature and film. The most famous of these is Peter Jackson's 1994 film Heavenly Creatures . [12] [13]
TheArts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora is a hub for arts, culture, education, creativity and entrepreneurship in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is located in the Gothic Revival former Canterbury College, Christchurch Boys' High School and Christchurch Girls' High School buildings, many of which were designed by Benjamin Mountfort. The centre is a national landmark and taonga as it is home to New Zealand's largest collection of category one heritage buildings with 21 of the 23 buildings covered by Heritage New Zealand listings.
St Margaret's College is an independent girls' school in Christchurch, New Zealand founded on Anglican Christian values. It offers the dual academic pathway of NCEA and International Baccalaureate.
Christchurch Girls' High School in Christchurch, New Zealand, was established in 1877 and is the second oldest girls-only secondary school in the country, after Otago Girls' High School.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocates for the protection of ancestral sites and heritage buildings in New Zealand. It was set up through the Historic Places Act 1954 with a mission to "...promote the identification, protection, preservation and conservation of the historical and cultural heritage of New Zealand" and is an autonomous Crown entity. Its current enabling legislation is the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014.
The Cathedral Grammar School is an independent, Anglican preparatory day school in Christchurch, New Zealand. The school is situated on a site covering two blocks in mid-Christchurch next to the Avon River and adjacent to Hagley Park, which it uses for its playing fields. It is in close proximity to Christ's College, the Canterbury Museum, the Christchurch Art Gallery and the Christchurch CBD.
Christchurch Central City or Christchurch City Centre is the geographical centre and the heart of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is defined as the area within the Four Avenues and thus includes the densely built up central city, some less dense surrounding areas of residential, educational and industrial usage, and green space including Hagley Park, the Christchurch Botanic Gardens and the Barbadoes Street Cemetery.
The Canterbury Society of Arts Gallery, was an art gallery in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It consisted of two buildings built in the late 1800s. The buildings were demolished in 2012 due to damage from the Canterbury earthquakes.
The Press Building, located in Cathedral Square in Christchurch, was the home of The Press between 1909 and February 2011. The building, designed in the Perpendicular Gothic style, was registered with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust as a Category I heritage item, with the registration number 302. It suffered significant damage in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, with one staff member killed in the collapsed top floor. The building was demolished in July and August of 2011.
The Citizens' War Memorial in Cathedral Square, Christchurch, is one of the two major memorials in the city to World War I. It is located immediately north of ChristChurch Cathedral. The annual Anzac Day service was held there until the February 2011 earthquake; since then the memorial has been behind the fence around the cathedral. It is a Category I heritage structure registered with Heritage New Zealand. Between 2021 and 2022, the memorial was repaired and shifted 50 metres (160 ft) to the west. The Citizens' War Memorial was used for the 2023 ANZAC day dawn service in Christchurch.
The Peterborough Centre, the former Teachers' College Building, is located on the corner of Peterborough and Montreal Streets in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is a Category II heritage building. As a result of the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, it suffered NZ$12 million in damage.
The Guthrey Centre at 126 Cashel Street, Christchurch Central City, originally the offices of Andersons Foundry and later 'Andersons Ltd, was a Category I heritage building registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. The building was demolished following severe damage from the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
William Barnett Armson was an architect, surveyor, engineer in colonial New Zealand. A co-founder of the Canterbury Association of Architects, and an architect to the provincial government, he established the architectural firm of Armson, Collins and Harman in 1870, which remained active until 1993. It was one of the two oldest architectural firms in New Zealand. His most important work was the Bank of New Zealand building in Dunedin.
The Lyttelton Road Tunnel Administration Building was built in the mid-1960s as an operational building for the Lyttelton road tunnel in Christchurch, New Zealand. The building was designed by architect Peter Beaven and is seen as significant in the development of New Zealand architecture.
TheTrinity Church or Trinity Congregational Church designed by Benjamin Mountfort, later called the State Trinity Centre, is a Category I heritage building listed with Heritage New Zealand. Damaged in the 2010 Canterbury earthquake and red-stickered after the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, the building was threatened with demolition like most other central city heritage buildings. In June 2012, it was announced that the building would be saved, repaired and earthquake strengthened. The building, post its church status, has housed some commercial operations, including the State Trinity Centre; 'The Octagon' (2006–2010); and later, following earthquake repairs, a business called 'The Church Brew Pub' (2023–present).
Samuel Charles Farr was a 19th-century builder and architect in Christchurch, New Zealand. He intended to emigrate from England to Auckland, but significant shipping problems saw him end up in Akaroa in 1850 instead. From 1862, he lived in Christchurch. Farr has a number of firsts against his name: the first marriage in Canterbury, he designed Akaroa's first church, designed New Zealand's first iron verandahs, and he started Sunday schools in Canterbury. As a leading member of the Acclimatisation Society, he stocked almost every lake and river in Canterbury with fish and was instrumental in introducing the bumblebee to New Zealand. His most notable building was Cranmer Court, the former Normal School, in the Christchurch Central City; this building was demolished following the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
Cranmer Court, the former Christchurch Normal School, was one of the most significant heritage buildings in Christchurch, New Zealand. Its demolition, due to some damage in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, was controversial.
Cranmer Square is an urban park in central Christchurch, New Zealand. It is located 800 metres (870 yd) northwest of the city's centre, Cathedral Square. The major arterial route of Montreal Street skirts the edge of the square. The square is grassed and crossed by concrete paths and edged by mature trees. It covers an area of 1.9 hectares.
New Regent Street is a pedestrian mall in Christchurch. Built as a private development in the early 1930s with 40 shops in Spanish Mission architectural style, it is one of the city's major tourist attractions. Providing a number of small shops as a comprehensive development was an advanced idea at the time, and New Regent Street is regarded as a forerunner to modern shopping malls. Due to its coherent architectural character, the buildings in the streets are listed as Category I heritage items by Heritage New Zealand, and in addition, the entire street has a historic area listing. The street was pedestrianised in 1994 in preparation for the introduction of the Christchurch heritage tram, which began operation in February 1995. Damaged in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, the street and buildings reopened in April 2013, and the tram returned from November of that year. Following the 2016 Valentine's Day earthquake, five of the buildings that had not been repaired after the previous earthquakes had been cordoned off, which stopped the tram from operating on its original heritage loop until May.
Worcester Street is a road in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It runs from the intersection of Rolleston Avenue in the west, and terminates in the east at the intersection of Woodham Road in Linwood. Between Rolleston Avenue and Cambridge Terrace, it is known as Worcester Boulevard.
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