Christchurch Town Hall

100 Kilmore Street and Colombo Street, CHRISTCHURCH

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The internationally acclaimed Christchurch Town Hall at 100 Kilmore Street and Colombo Street, Christchurch, constructed between 1968 and 1972 to the designs of the architectural partnership of Miles Warren and Maurice Mahoney, is an exceptional example of a performing arts complex designed in the Brutalist style associated with post World War Two British modernism. It contains an auditorium of ground breaking architectural and acoustic design significance that is recognised internationally for the excellence of its architectural and acoustic qualities. It is recognised as a design of international significance in the scientific literature on the acoustic design of concert halls and its design has stood the test of time. Accordingly, the building has outstanding aesthetic, architectural, cultural, historical, scientific, social and technological significance or value. Warren and Mahoney’s design was selected from the 58 entries submitted in an architectural competition for the town hall held between July 1965 and February 1966. The acoustic advisor for the design competition, Harold Marshall, became the acoustic consultant for the auditorium as built and played a key role in the success of the building. The auditorium incorporates the results of Marshall’s recognition that laterally reflected sound plays a vital part in the creation of successful concert hall acoustics. The use of computer technology to model sound reflections within the auditorium played an important role in developing the design of the acoustic reflectors within the space and identifying reflective ‘hot-spots’ that were then able to be corrected with sound absorbing materials. The complex of six interconnected structures that makes up the Christchurch Town Hall is recognised for the clarity and elegance of its planning and its integration with its site adjacent to the Avon River and Victoria Square. It is also seen as the culminating expression of the Christchurch School of architecture that emerged in the mid-1950s and extended to the late 1970s. This regional school of modern architecture was recognised as being at the forefront of New Zealand architecture during this period. Unlike the early twentieth-century town halls of Wellington, Auckland and Dunedin, which adopted the traditional shoe box pattern established in Europe by such halls as the Musikverein in Vienna (1870), and the Gewandhaus in Leipzig (1884), the Christchurch Town Hall broke new ground through its elliptical form with the balcony divided into a series of fan-shaped sections beneath suspended sound reflectors. Rather than following established precedent it defined a new model that paved the way for future developments in concert hall design internationally during the last quarter of the twentieth and into the twenty-first century. The quality of the Douglas Lilburn Auditorium’s acoustics have been recognised by performers from New Zealand and around the world and the design of the auditorium is recognised as changing the paradigm of concert hall design from that time onwards. On its completion in 1972 the Town Hall’s architectural excellence was recognised by the award of the New Zealand Institute of Architect’s highest honour, its Gold Medal, to Warren and Mahoney. It was later honoured with the Institute’s Enduring Architecture award in 2000. Although damaged as a result of site liquefaction and lateral spread in the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes the Town Hall was assessed as being repairable and, following a vigorous public campaign to retain the building, the Christchurch City Council decided to strengthen and restore the building in June 2015. It was reopened on 23 February 2019, eight years and one day after its closure.

Christchurch Town Hall, Christchurch. Image courtesy of hawkins.co.nz | 01/04/2019 | Hawkins New Zealand
Christchurch Town Hall, Christchurch. Image courtesy of hawkins.co.nz | 01/04/2019 | Hawkins New Zealand
Christchurch Town Hall, Christchurch. Ferrier Fountain. Image courtesy of www.flickr.com | Bernard Spragg. NZ | 12/07/2020 | Public Domain
Christchurch Town Hall, Christchurch. Image courtesy of hawkins.co.nz | 01/04/2019 | Hawkins New Zealand
Christchurch Town Hall, Christchurch. Image courtesy of hawkins.co.nz | 01/04/2019 | Hawkins New Zealand
Christchurch Town Hall, Christchurch. Image courtesy of hawkins.co.nz | 01/04/2019 | Hawkins New Zealand

Location

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List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 1

Access

Able to Visit

List Number

9817

Date Entered

8th August 2020

Date of Effect

9th September 2020

City/District Council

Christchurch City

Region

Canterbury Region

Extent of List Entry

Extent includes the land described as Pt Sec 1185 Town of Christchurch (RT 27K/842), Pt Sec 1189 Town of Christchurch (RT CB27K/843, NZ Gazette 1968, p. 1707 and 2011, p. 108), Pt Lot 1 DP 17363 and Lot 3 DP 18704 (RT CB681/85), Pt Lot 1 DP 18704 (RT CB681/87), Pt Lot 2 DP 18704 (RT CB681/87), Pt Sec 252 Town of Christchurch and Pt Lot 6 DP 20 (RT CB73/69), Canterbury Land District and the building known as the Christchurch Town Hall thereon, and the following chattels: Red-upholstered bench seats and the book display case and register of donors for the 1968-1972 building phase (Refer to map in Appendix 1 of the List entry report for further information).

Legal description

Pt Sec 1185 Town of Christchurch (RT 27K/842), Pt Sec 1189 Town of Christchurch (RT CB27K/843, NZ Gazette 1968, p. 1707 and 2011, p. 108), Pt Lot 1 DP 17363 and Lot 3 DP 18704 (RT CB681/85), Pt Lot 1 DP 18704 (RT CB681/86), Pt Lot 2 DP 18704 (RT CB681/87), Pt Sec 252 Town of Christchurch and Pt Lot 6 DP 20 (RT CB73/69), Canterbury Land District.

Location Description

The building displays 86 Kilmore Street as its street number. The Christchurch City Council also uses 89 Armagh Street as an alternative address in its Christchurch District Plan heritage schedule.

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