New Regent Street

The countdown is on to the re-opening of New Regent Street. We have in our collection these splendid 1931 New Regent Street plans.

New Zealand Historic Places Trust reports:

New Regent Street  … is lined with two terraces of Spanish Mission style shops. The site now covered by New Regent Street and its terraced shops was once the location of the Colosseum, a building designed by Thomas Cane and erected in 1888. This building was first an ice skating rink, then a boot factory, taxi rank and finally, in 1908, Christchurch’s first picture theatre. In 1929 a company, New Regent Street Limited, was formed to develop the site of the Colosseum. The company’s architect, Francis Willis, who specialised in the design of movie theatres, decided that the street should be built in the Spanish Mission style … buildings in New Regent Street feature some of the classic traits of the style, such as the shaped gables, medallions, tiled window hoods, and barley-twist columns.The street was opened by the mayor of Christchurch on 1 April 1932. Only three of the forty shops were let at that time due to the Depression. The Depression also affected the construction of the street.

See also:

• Search our catalogue for New Regent Street
• Our photos on Flickr
• New Regent Street listing on Rarangi Taonga: the Register of Historic Places, Historic Areas, Wahi Tapu and Wahi Tapu Areas
• New Regent Street on DigitalNZ

 

Drag and drumming – A Farewell to the DIC

The Christchurch branch of the Drapery Importing Company (DIC) began advertising its wares in 1885. The original building burnt down in 1908 and a new one reopened in 1909 (oh for such speed in rebuilding) and it continued operating successfully until 1978 when it merged with the next door Beaths (later Arthur Barnett.)

The DIC used to be one of the triumvirate of big department stores in Cashel Street, the others being Beaths and Ballantynes. My first memory of it as a child is of going into a gloomy high-ceilinged room that was the children’s department. It was all very Are You Being Served, except much darker. High on the shadowy walls, groovy 60s dresses in neon colours were displayed on mannequins. There was something strangely surreal about it.

In my last two years at school I got to see a different side of the building during a holiday job in the accounting department. Hidden from the public and emerging from behind the temporary divisions, I was surprised to see quite a fine building.

My farewell memory to the DIC was in an empty upstairs area of the building which was converted into a performance venue for the duration of an Arts Festival. Here the gloomy interior came into its own. It was the perfect cabaret location.

Following some rather timid local jazz musicians, Gareth Farr burst onto the stage as Lillith LeCroix in a flamboyant red dress and followed his drag act with a world class session of drumming. It was a memorable goodbye to a building which held a lot of memories.

Do you have any memories of the DIC building? Share them here.

• Search for the DIC on Papers Past

 

How green is your mall?

Let’s hear it for mall walking!

“Are you from Milwaukee?” asked the assistant attending to my very early morning coffee needs at a mall near one of my favourite libraries. My brain raced into overdrive – did I look Milwaukeean? Had I in fact been to Milwaukee in this life or a past one and conveniently forgotten?

It was not yet 8:30 – and I could not answer the first question of the day. It looked set to be a challenging twenty four hours. But I got it in the end: “No, I’m not from Mall Walking” I replied, at which my coffee almost doubled in price.

We’re all in the grip of Rebuild Christchurch fever right now. You can’t open The Press nowadays without being hit around the chops with all things green. We want to walk along the Avon, bicycle our thighs into submission and grow vertical gardens.  And the library has the books for you to become something of an authority on this topic:

• Nature All Around Us (A 2013 Guide to Urban Ecology)
• My Green City (Back to Nature with Attitude and Style 2011)
• And my personal pick of the bunch: Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at A Time.

But what about our indoor spaces – how green are they? Winter is on its way and the call of the mall is strong. And this is where mall walking comes in. It’s a popular new trend, with both Northlands Mall and Westfield Mall allowing walkers in from 8am to walk in the safety and comfort of their deserted precincts.

In the interests of local research I joined a Mall Walking Group.  Initially it felt strange to be tramping in such a cavernous space with so many shuttered shops. I allowed myself a James Bond fantasy moment involving Daniel Craig, but was pulled quickly back to earth by the snippets of pensioner conversation that drifted past.

After a few laps I stopped for my legitimately earned reduced-price coffee. I thought how easy it would be to snidely deride the mall walkers. Yet were I in a foreign city watching early morning Tai Chi in a mall, I would be raising my cappuccino in support, whilst penning tetchy Letters to the Editor on the greening of our malls!

But, how about you - how green is your mall and will you be striding through it any time soon?

 

Recent necrology, December 2012

A list of well-known people who have died recently:

• Gerry Anderson, 1929-2012
  Creator of the futuristic 1960s television puppet series Thunderbirds, Stingray and Fireball XL5 that entertained generations of British children
• Richard Rodney Bennett, 1936-2012
  Composer whose work ranged from film scores and jazz to symphonies and the avant-garde
• Dave Brubeck, 1920-2012
  Composer, pianist and leader of the Dave Brubeck Quartet who had a million-selling hit with Take Five
• Lisa Della Casa, 1919-2012
  Swiss-born soprano who combined beauty, legato and a silvery timbre to bewitch audiences
• Jonathan Harvey, 1939-2012
  Composer who explored spiritual themes through electronic sound to great acclaim, if not wide recognition
• Jack Klugman, 1922-2012
  Actor who starred as television’s crimebusting coroner Quincy and the slobbish Oscar in The odd couple
• Patrick Moore, 1923-2012
  Popular astronomer who explored and explained the wonders of the Sky at Night in unique style over 50 years
• Oscar Niemeyer, 1907-2012
  Architect whose futuristic design for Brasilia pushed the use of free-form concrete to the limits
• William Rees-Mogg, 1928-2012
  Donnish editior of The Times and Chairman of the Arts Council who relished his status as a pillar of the Establishment
• Charles Rosen, 1927-2012
  American pianist and writer on music
• Norman Schwarzkopf, 1934-2012
  Commander of the coalition forces that drove Iraqi troops out of Kuwait during the Gulf War
• Ravi Shankar, 1920-2012
  Maestro of the sitar who dazzled George Harrison and Yehudi Menuhin in his mission to bring Indian music to the West
• Galina Vishnevskaia, 1926-2012
  Soprano who married Rostropovich and captivated Britten, but became a non-person in USSR
• Jim Weir, 1922-2012
  Former NZ diplomat and author

 

Psst! – hidden treasures #5

So far, while exploring, I’ve mainly talked about old stuff in our Aotearoa New Zealand Collection. This time around I want to let you in on a little secret:  whenever our library selectors buy New Zealand titles for the libraries, they buy a special copy for the Aotearoa New Zealand Collection. Just like its brothers and sisters out circulating in the community libraries, it gets processed and organised and added to the records, but after that it (most often) makes its way here to Tuam Street, where it is freely available to read, as long as you don’t leave the room!  Seriously, don’t make me chase you …

Remember that these books are reference only, and not to borrow, so unfortunately if you are number 72 on the list for a popular recent release, you can’t jump the queue; but if you truly are DESPERATE to get a head start on the latest must-read, Central Library Tuam and the ANZC are a great place to visit. Poking round the shelves this morning turned up these treasures:

• Julie Le Clerc’s Favourite Cakes (for when you need something yummy)
• Dennis Greville’s Easy on the Pocket Vegetable Growing (in case you spent all your money buying those cake ingredients)
• Witi Ihimaera’s The Parihaka Woman, and Paula Morris’ Rangatira, both recent novels by two of our most well-known writers
• Joanne Drayton’s The Search for Anne Perry (for those who saw, or didn’t see, Joanne at The Press Christchurch Writers’ Festival)
• and a series of large and hauntingly beautiful books featuring the photographic work of Doc Ross. I was particularly moved by the 2012 title Quietus: Observations of an Altered City, a large white-covered book recording the changing face of Christchurch, with a mixture of black and white, and colour photos, and script by Andrew Paul Wood. This is one of only 50 copies printed, and it is a real privilege to have a copy here on the shelf at Tuam Street to be read and admired by all.

 

Hidden treasures # 4: Creative Canterbury 1965

One of the things I am loving about our ANZC resources is the sheer breadth of what is collected there.  From the 1850′s almanack that I talked about last time, to the most recently published books from contemporary NZ writers, there’s something for everyone.

I’ve just spent the last 20 minutes flicking through a book that’s only a year older than me.  It’s been vastly entertaining, although possibly not in the way the publishers intended.  Page 9, for example, contains one of the most amusingly badly written articles about our region that I’ve ever read.  There are an overabundance of exclamation marks!, several sprinklings of unlikely “speech marks, and a series of rather mysterious utterances:

From the Hurunui River in the north to the Waitaki, where it marches with North Otago in the south, [Canterbury] is expendable and expandable.

Whatever that means, this wee magazine was surely meant to inspire and inform.  A joint publication between Breckell & Nicholls Ltd, and the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association, Creative Canterbury 1965 features a series of mini-articles showcasing everything from the Extremely Bouyant (sp.!) Building Industry to Skellerup’s brand new rotocure machine, opening a new field for rubber flooring.

Those who are drawn to old machinery will love the black-and-white illustrations (see p. 98-99 for Mace Engineering and more toolroom slotters, universal grinders and horizontal borers than you can shake a stick at), while history buffs and all of us who have watched our city disappearing in front of us will feel quite surprisingly moved at the articles about brand new buildings like the BNZ on Colombo Street, and features on the Christchurch Railway Station and the Lyttelton Tunnel.

I’ll leave you with a summary of what Canterbury can offer that’s surely better than anything I could have come up with myself:

There is a habit of saying, “There’s room to move in Canterbury”. Perhaps that is the true secret of its appeal. There is room for initiative and enterprise, there is room for recreation and relaxation, there is room to build a home, not alone from bricks and mortar but from those ingredients which in fact make life.

Be you newcomer or tourist, there’s room for you in Canterbury – and a welcome on the mat!  Come on in!

 

Twelve years in Canterbury: Hidden treasure #2

My second visit to ANZC, and I have unearthed this wee gem, with possibly the longest title in the world:  Twelve years in Canterbury, New Zealand, with visits to the other provinces, and reminiscences of the route home through Australia, etc. (from a lady’s journal), by Mrs. Charles Thomson.

I have fallen deeply in love with this book, and have a strong desire to take it home and sleep with it under my pillow, but alas, it too is part of our heritage and reference collection and can only be read here at Tuam Street.  So I will continue to sit and read in the ANZC area, and use words like alas! a lot.

In early December, 1852, Mrs Thomson tells us that she boarded “the good ship Hampshire at Gravesend, bound direct for the Canterbury settlement.”  Her journal goes on to describe the sea voyage (noting that although there are many fine people aboard, with good hearts and minds, there are also – !!! – many opportunities for sin!)

There are charming anecdotes – she tells the story of a family who brought out an English carriage:  “It was of course utterly useless, and served only for a laughing-stock, so ridiculously out of place did it appear”.  In attempting to land the carriage safely on shore, it instead ended up sunk in the harbour, and after the unfortunate vehicle had been fished up, it was promptly sent off to Sydney instead.

And some references to the early pilgrims’ reaction to what we see as our beautiful landscape:

It is not easy for the early Canterbury pilgrims to forget the desolate appearance presented to their gaze by the plains, when … they stood on top of the hill and looked down and beyond in the distance upon the site of their intended city. Few spots in nature could look more dreary or ugly; they could only comfort themselves by the assurance that it was healthy, and the hope that they might in time become accustomed to its ugliness; and then they looked upon the ever-grand and majestic mountains that bounded the view, and felt that in them, there was a magnificence that could never fail, and that in beholding them, the eye could never tire.

This book is a true treasure, and I can only urge you to go find it yourselves, and perhaps at the same time find your own Canterbury treasures to explore.  I will leave you with Mrs Thompson’s own words

[The author] trusts that the information she has been able to collect may prove useful to those who contemplate a visit to the Antipodes, interesting to those who stay at home, and may, perhaps, tend to open the eyes of all to the many advantages and blessings to be reaped by those who, with strong hearts and willing minds, seek distant shores, to create for themselves, under God’s favour, new homes, new fortunes and new health.

 

Railways, Recalcitrants and Rave-ups

When I bought my house in Addington, the real estate guru assured me it was an ‘up and coming suburb’. Of course, they all say such things, and it wasn’t the main reason for buying my house, but who would know it would take the earthquakes to push it into the status of  “the funkiest and most exciting post-earthquake neighbourhood”, according to the latest Lonely Planet Guide to New Zealand.

The review goes on to say,

“Previously sleepy Addington is now being transformed with new cafes, restaurants, theatres and live-music venues.”

I have noticed quite radical changes, with old buildings torn down (many I admit I was not sad to see go), and many new cafes and restaurants bars opened that are the places to be seen, but the older less salubrious parts still remain. Huge new office spaces are being built and the Court Theatre  is doing very well in its new digs by the railway line. The suburb though is also developing a down side with increased drunkeness, and need for police presence on weekend evenings.

My Grandad worked at the Addington railway yards, fitting out the coaches for people to relax in on their journeys. I used to so love going to the Industries Fair they held as part of the A&P Show. This was held, weirdly, exactly on the spot my house is now. I feel as if I have come full circle in more than one way as my parents’ first flat after they married was a few blocks from where I live too.

The Addington Jail, was built 1874, in the gothic revival style so favoured in our city under the guidance of Benjamin W Mountfort. It has survived recent events, partly due to its 60cm solid concrete walls. It previously served as home to sentenced and remand prisoners, a women’s prison and  a military camp. Closed in 1999, it is now run  as a rather unique backpackers. New post quakes uses have been found for the former Woods Brothers flour mill in Wise Street. The Christchurch City Council has approved funding for restoration work, and the plan is to turn the wonderful brick building into an entertainment and social hub, further enhancing the suburbs growing reputation.

So I think I’ll stay for a while, and see what becomes of my hood. What changes are happening in your neighbourhood? Good, bad or sad?

 

Christchurch sketchbook: Hidden treasure #1

One man’s trash, another man’s treasure  – words that keep echoing in my head every time I go into the Aotearoa New Zealand area here at Central Library Tuam. I talked a couple of weeks ago about the ‘old stuff’ that we have here and how mesmerising and distracting it can be. I thought I’d illustrate this some more as we focus in October on the theme of Rediscovering Christchurch.  So in this spirit of rediscovery I am venturing back into the shelves in search of more treasure.

Today’s find: a little green volume called Christchurch Sketchbook, published in 1968.  A collection of pen and ink drawings by Unk White, with accompanying text by MH Holcroft, this is a wee gem that made me laugh, describing the Antigua boatsheds as a place where:

Icecream and soft drinks are sold briskly to customers in short pants.

and cry (remembering the heartbreak of watching the Provincial Chambers fall)

And then there could be seen in Durham Street a remarkable sight – a Gothic structure with arches, buttresses, windows and a magnificent entrance … viewed across a landscape of tussock, flax bushes, and a few lonely willows.

and feel proud to be a librarian

 … in all this time the [old Public] library continued quietly to grow … and under good librarians has made a fine contribution to a city whose people have always been fond of books.

Watch this space for more hidden treasures to be discovered!

 

Kia ora to Aranui Library

The new Aranui Library was officially opened by Mayor Bob Parker on Saturday 8 September 2012 at 11am with about 100 Aranui residents there to celebrate.

The mayor invited local children to help him cut the ribbon including ‘our newest politician’ – a young girl who cornered the Mayor as he arrived, and asked to cut the ribbon with him.

Several speakers spoke of the Aranui community and the benefits of a new library including James Robinson for Te Ngāi Tūāhuriri Runanga, and Sandy Kaa, Kuamatua of ACTIS.

A waiata and blessing of the building took place and then the doors opened to the public. People loved the chance to take a look at their newest asset, and to browse the sparkling collection of new material.

The library has 500 square metres of floor space, ten free computers and a collection of 14,000 books as well as magazines, CDs and DVDs. Six new digital cameras and six iPods are available.

Baby times and Story times will be available for babies, kids and their whanau.

The library provides spaces for meetings and is set to become a centrepiece of the Aranui community.

Come along and visit – Aranui Library is located on 109 Aldershot Street, next to Wainoni Park.

• Find out more about Aranui Library
• See more photos of the opening
• View our Aranui Library photos
• Read Te Karaka’s blog post on the opening A community blossoms
• Read Aranui Library opened on stuff.co.nz