The purpose of this site is to collate information about the heritage buildings which have been lost as a result of the Canterbury Earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. Some buildings were protected by District Plans, others were registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT) and some were both registered and protected by District Plans. (In May 2014 NZHPT was renamed Heritage New Zealand and the Register became the List.) The website was developed because of confusion that resulted about the numbers of buildings lost as a result of the two different listing systems. The system of heritage listing adopted by the various Councils is outlined at the beginning of each section.
The Heritage New Zealand List has two categories of Historic Places ( archaeological sites, buildings, memorials):
Category 1 historic places are of special or outstanding historical or cultural significance or value
Category 2 historic places are of historical or cultural significance or value
It also recognises Historic Areas - groups of related historic places such as a geographical area with a number of properties or sites, a heritage precinct or a historical and cultural area
Buildings that have been demolished or destroyed are removed from the Register. The information on these places is retained by NZHPT but no longer available on the Heritage New Zealand website. However digital files have been made available on the UC Quakestudies website. For further information on the Heritage New Zealand List click here.
It is widely believed that classification by Heritage New Zealand protects a building but this is not the case. Heritage Zealand is required to issue (or withhold) archaeological consents for pre-1900 buildings but whether or not a heritage building is protected is governed by the Resource Management Act. This requires that a building be listed in a District Plan in order for it to be protected. The extent to which is protected depends upon the specific provisions of the District Plan. However the CER legislation grants Cera, the government department set up to deal with earthquake recovery, the power to issue section 38 notices to building owners requiring them to either demolish or make safe a building. This overrides the Resource Management process and any right of public input which may exist in relation to a particular building.
Within Christchurch City in particular a great many of the buildings were demolished as a result of s. 38 notices issued by Cera. In the normal course of events a resource consent would have been required from Council for most alterations to, or demolition of heritage items listed in the City Plan, though whether the public was able to have an input into the decision depended on the heritage grouping and location. A number of the demolitions were contentious with Heritage New Zealand and/or the Council Heritage team believing that the buildings were able to be saved. Decisions on many heritage buildings, particularly group 3 and 4 buildings under the City Plan were made without any input from the Council Heritage Team. While many of these notices were issued on the grounds of safety, others have been made without any pretense that a building was unsafe, but simply on the grounds that demolition would aid recovery or restoration was uneconomic. There is little evidence of peer review of these judgments and with no heritage recovery programme in place by mid 2014, it is clear that heritage considerations have been given little or no weight in the decisions to apply s. 38.
The site is arranged by districts. Because many of the buildings have been known by different names over time they have been listed by street address. Most of the images can be enlarged by clicking on them (in some cases it has not been possible to source a high enough quality image to enlarge).
If you believe there are errors on this site or if you have better images that you are willing to share please contact the site administrator : [email protected]
The Heritage New Zealand List has two categories of Historic Places ( archaeological sites, buildings, memorials):
Category 1 historic places are of special or outstanding historical or cultural significance or value
Category 2 historic places are of historical or cultural significance or value
It also recognises Historic Areas - groups of related historic places such as a geographical area with a number of properties or sites, a heritage precinct or a historical and cultural area
Buildings that have been demolished or destroyed are removed from the Register. The information on these places is retained by NZHPT but no longer available on the Heritage New Zealand website. However digital files have been made available on the UC Quakestudies website. For further information on the Heritage New Zealand List click here.
It is widely believed that classification by Heritage New Zealand protects a building but this is not the case. Heritage Zealand is required to issue (or withhold) archaeological consents for pre-1900 buildings but whether or not a heritage building is protected is governed by the Resource Management Act. This requires that a building be listed in a District Plan in order for it to be protected. The extent to which is protected depends upon the specific provisions of the District Plan. However the CER legislation grants Cera, the government department set up to deal with earthquake recovery, the power to issue section 38 notices to building owners requiring them to either demolish or make safe a building. This overrides the Resource Management process and any right of public input which may exist in relation to a particular building.
Within Christchurch City in particular a great many of the buildings were demolished as a result of s. 38 notices issued by Cera. In the normal course of events a resource consent would have been required from Council for most alterations to, or demolition of heritage items listed in the City Plan, though whether the public was able to have an input into the decision depended on the heritage grouping and location. A number of the demolitions were contentious with Heritage New Zealand and/or the Council Heritage team believing that the buildings were able to be saved. Decisions on many heritage buildings, particularly group 3 and 4 buildings under the City Plan were made without any input from the Council Heritage Team. While many of these notices were issued on the grounds of safety, others have been made without any pretense that a building was unsafe, but simply on the grounds that demolition would aid recovery or restoration was uneconomic. There is little evidence of peer review of these judgments and with no heritage recovery programme in place by mid 2014, it is clear that heritage considerations have been given little or no weight in the decisions to apply s. 38.
The site is arranged by districts. Because many of the buildings have been known by different names over time they have been listed by street address. Most of the images can be enlarged by clicking on them (in some cases it has not been possible to source a high enough quality image to enlarge).
If you believe there are errors on this site or if you have better images that you are willing to share please contact the site administrator : [email protected]