01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 Quake damaged, brick bldg, Wordsworth St / Waltham Rd, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Red, plastic tape, steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged & wood braced, brick bldg, Wordsworth St / Waltham Rd, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake trashed, brick bldg, Waltham Rd, National State of Emergency
Wordsworth St / Waltham Rd: 08:30, dark enough for cars still to have lights on, daylight-saving a day's hence on Saturday. Wordsworth St: Grey-portaloos on footpaths. Four ghost-shops: two shops, fallen brick-parapets, fallen brick-wall, brick-rubble on footpath, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned. One shop's concrete-brick side-wall, steel-braced & concrete-block-braced. Another two ghost-shops: 1. Fallen brick-parapet. Wood-braced brick-wall. Red-plastic-barrier-tape, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned. 2. 227 Waltham Rd: fallen upper brick-wall. Attic roof-space, roof-trusses & skylight-windows exposed. Brick-rubble on footpath, white-plastic-barrier-taped, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned.
Waltham Rd, part of our family narrative: During the 22 February 2011 quake, Jake's Waltham Rd house-rental behind the Honda chop-shop was flooded by water from a spring, causing him to overwinter with his girlfriend & chemical-toilet in a liquefactioned-garage across town.
01.04.11. Washington Reserve skateboard park, undamaged by Feb 22 quake, Waltham Rd / Moorhouse Ave, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Feb 22 quake damaged AMI Stadium, unuseable for Rugby World Cup 2011, national state of emergency. Seen from Waltham Rd overbridge. Ami Stadium would be demolished 2018-19
01.04.11. Feb 22 quake damaged old brick station, Moorhouse Ave, national state of emergency. Seen from Waltham Rd overbridge. The station would be demolished, August 2012
01.04.11. Sept 4 quake damaged & Feb 22 quake trashed RC Cathedral, Barbadoes St, red zone, national state of emergency. Seen from Waltham Rd overbridge. The RC Cathedral would be part deconstructed & abandoned for 10 years. The RC Cathedral would be demolished, 2021
On Christchurch plains, except for CBD high-rises, the only high points were overbridges. Waltham Rd Overbridge over the railway: A good view of CBD high-rise ruins: old, brick, station clock-tower, Hotel Grand Chancellor, Holiday Inn, other ruins, Christchurch Basilica, Music Centre of Christchurch, AMI Stadium, unusable for Rugby World Cup 2011.
01.04.11. Feb 22 quake trashed Hotel Grand Chancellor hotel, red zone, national state of emergency. Seen from Waltham Rd overbridge. Hotel Grand Chancellor would be demolished
Since the 22 February 2011 quake, I'd driven around AMI stadium-ghost, roads were uneven & liquefactioned. Damage inside AMI stadium, anybody's guess? AMI Stadium would be demolished, 2018-19.
01.04.11. Waltham Rd view, Moorhouse Ave crossing & Barbadoes St checkpoint into the Feb 22 quake red zone, National State of Emergency
Moorhouse Ave / Barbadoes St checkpoint into the CBD red-zone: I asked two cops if I could enter. A female cop scowled, so I said, "I'll go down Madras St by the tech, staying out of your way." They were busy checking traffic entering / leaving Barbadoes St & rearranging orange-plastic-road-cones by their checkpoint wooden-hut. Makeshift, blue tarp / steel-mesh-fence-cordon checkpoint-huts were beginning to be replaced by natty wooden-huts. Transportable wooden-huts, a sign of moveable-checkpoints at CBD-cordons, commenced during CERA's five year regime.
01.04.11. Feb 22 quake trashed RC Cathedral, Barbadoes St, red zone, National State of Emergency. Seen from Moorhouse Ave. The RC Cathedral would be part deconstructed & abandoned for years. Cathedral demolition, 2021
01.04.11. Yellow crane by Music Centre of Christchurch, damaged by Sept 4, Boxing Day & Feb 22 quakes, Barbadoes St / Ferry Rd, red zone, National State of Emergency. Seen from Moorhouse Ave. The Music Centre would be demolished
Moorhouse Ave: Tech carpark's brick-wall was demolished, as well as an old brick-building in the carpark, both of which I'd snapped on the day I encountered the gang-banging cops. Across the carpark was an unimpeded view of Christchurch Basilica ghost, awaiting demolition in 2021. The Station brick-ghost, tower wood-braced, awaited demolition in August 2012.
01.04.11. Old, brick station clock tower, damaged by Sept 4 & Feb 22 quakes, Moorhouse Ave, National State of Emergency. The station would be demolished, August 2012.
01.04.11. White, plastic, tape cordon. Feb 22 quake, liquefactioned pothole on footpath, CPIT, Christchurch Tech, Madras St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Blue portaloo, countdown carpark, Madras St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Mural jokers, countdown carpark, Madras St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.1. USA Search & Rescue graffiti, Madras St wall, red zone, National State of Emergency
Madras St: Liquefaction-puddle & buckled-tarseal on the footpath by the tech. Blue-Portaloo by a countdown carpark wall. Mural on another carpark wall: two workmen jokers, 1st workman: "Is my crack showing?" 2nd workman: "Don't be silly." A 145 Madras St wall was orange spray-painted by USAR / TF graffiti: US-2
28-2
Graffiti showed the date the building was searched, nationality of the USAR TF team & total number of TF searchers inside the building. A spray-painted square around the number showed two TF searchers had searched the building. A spray-painted circle around the squared graffiti showed the two TF searchers had left the building safely. Search-dates were compulsory, search-times were optional on graffiti seen on 1 000s of buildings spray-painted different colours by different USAR / TF teams, many from overseas. Four NZDF-soldiers guarded St Asaph St crossing, so I turned into Southwark St, snapping more ruins.
Countdown would survive the quakes. Sept 2019. Small eateries would line countdown carpark near where "Don't be silly" mural was.
Southwark St: Central City Tyres: fallen brick-parapet, roof-space exposed, brick-rubble on footpath, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned. Another shop: fallen brick-parapet, wood-boarded & wood-braced, brick-rubble on footpath, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned. Three-storey Cokers Backpackers ghost: top roof-space exposed, top-storey brick-wall fallen onto a lower corrugated-iron-roof, brick-rubble on the lower corrugated-iron-roof & footpath, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned. Cokers Backpackers would be demolished. I saw across steel-mesh-fence-cordons to a Manchester St demolition-site: brick rubble-heaps were steel-mesh-fence-cordoned.
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged brick bldg, Southwark St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged brick, Cokers Backpackers, Southwark St / Manchester St, red zone National State of Emergency. Cokers Backpackers would be demolished
01.04.11. Southwark St view, Feb 22 quake damaged & demolished old, brick bldg, Manchester St, red zone, National State of Emergency
St Asaph St: A cop helicopter (borrowed from Auckland) buzzed the CBD while I cut across a carpark by a demolition-site to St Asaph St. A yellow-digger & red-digger-claw were parked in the carpark. Beyond, a green front-end-loader was parked by the backs of several old brick- buildings, facing High St, most undamaged by the 4 September 2010 quake, but ruined by the 22 February 2011 quake, all steel-mesh-fenced, orange-plastic-road-cone-cordoned. McKenzie Willis, three-storey, was badly damaged: fallen brick-parapet, fallen brick-wall, fallen side-wall &fallen back-wall, rooms exposed. The Trading Store by McKenzie Willis: slightly damaged by the 4 September 2010 quake, ruined by the 22 February 2011 quake, fallen brick-parapet, roof-space & rooms exposed, brick-rubble in carpark. Two inspectors wearing orange, Hi-Vis vests, inspected ruins behind the fence-cordon, a common sight post-quakes. The part-demolished, sanitized, High St buildings, seen from St Asaph St, stood fence-cordoned for months, for rubberneckers to gawp, then demolitions resumed.
In future, I would receive emails from a lawyer owner of one of those old, High St, brick, two-storey buildings wanting me to supply date & times of my pics of his building so he could win his court-case against his Lloyds insurer, delaying his payout. Complicating insurance payout, a cowboy-demolisher, during the National State-of-Emergency, caused bricks from next-door to fall on the lawyer's building, damaging his High St building more than just quake-damages. An example of future trouble caused by delayed insurer-payouts to 1 000s of citizen claimants. And NZ National government did nothing to speed up claims payouts, delayed by local & overseas insurers sitting on premiums & reinsurance funds invested for shareholders. Never mind the lawyer's entitled nagging & demanding free info from me!
Sept 2019. Most of those High St two-storey brick-buildings would survive the quakes, revamped as shops / office buildings in the renamed Salt District, backed by a St Asaph St carpark. Salt District name would be invented by post-quake developers for old & new buildings within parallel St Asaph St, Lichfield St & Tuam Street.
Views from St Asaph St red-zone-cordon showed massive, CBD-destruction: Broken-buildings, fallen brick-rubble between buildings & on footpaths, rubble-heaps on demolition-sites. Business-furniture & rubbish was heaped in a carpark.
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Red digger claw & yellow digger, Feb 22 quake damaged old, brick bldgs, St Asaph St, red zone National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Furniture & quake rubbish in carpark, St Asaph St, red zone, National State of Emergency
St Asaph St / Manchester St: Boxing Day quake & 22 February 2011 quake damaged, two-storey, Theme Basics ghost. Fallen brick-parapet, brick-rubble & fallen verandah-awning was cleared & steel-mesh-fence-cordoned. Why was Theme Basics not demolished post 4 September quake? Post 22 February 2011 quake, the top-storey was demolished to make the old brick-building safe. The ruin would eventually be demolished. By October, a coffee-caravan would briefly trade on the demolition-site, then move to a better trading-site on Cambridge Tce.
St Asaph St / Manchester St crossing view: Next to the drawing room building teetered several old, brick, two-storey ruins. They were damaged by the 4 September 2010 quake, & ruined by the 22 February 2011 quake on Manchester St: Fallen bricks, fallen facade-walls, roof- spaces & rooms exposed, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned. The brick-buildings would be demolished. North along Manchester St, two-storey, brick, Majestic Theatre ruin, would be demolished. Only the facade would remain. High-rise ghosts, Holiday Inn & tilted Hotel Grand Chancellor behind would be demolished. Pre-quakes engineers & builders had a road running under one side of Hotel Grand Chancellor. High-rise Rendezvous Hotel / Pacific Tower would survive the 2010-11 quakes. The drawing room too. (During quake-times some survivor-buildings would change names, so I used the slash / punctuation mark to show old / new name of the building. Similarly, I used the slash punctuation mark to show street corner roads).
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. St Asaph St view, Feb 22 quake trashed old, brick bldgs, Manchester St, red zone, National State of Emergency. The bldgs would be demolished
Five RNZAF-soldiers guarded St Asaph St / Manchester St crossing. Changing the guard, they were picked up by a beige Unimog. The red-zone-CBD was riddled with cops & NZDF-soldiers, banning citizens entering the CBD-cordon. Military-occupation & civilian-bannings would continue for 28 months, while CD then CERA demolished CBD-buildings.
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. RNZAF soldier, St Asaph St / Manchester St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Yellow, Hi-Vis vested soldiers. Unimog transport for changing of the guard, Feb 22 quake cordon, St Asaph St / Manchester St, red zone, National State of Emergency
Manchester St red-zone: Compared to the 4 September 2010 quake, I saw many more old brick-ruins trashed by the 22 February 2011 quake. St Asaph St / Manchester St: A yellow-digger heaped demolition brick-rubble. A detached red-digger-claw, shop-rubbish, carpets & a plastic model's head lay on the footpath. Manchester St / Tuam St, old, brick Peaches & Cream ghost stood firm. Other buildings were worse: fallen-parapets, fallen bricks-walls & exposed rooms, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned. But all those old, brick-ruins including Peaches & Cream would be demolished. Manchester St was cleaned, rubble removed, but many buildings still needed demolitions. Some top-storeys were removed making them safe. That was before CERA demolished more buildings. Post-quakes, Manchester St's red-light-strip would not survive, due to CERA's demolitions & CERA's Blueprint East Frame Rauora Park.
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged old, brick bldg, St Asaph St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Feb 22 quake, orange, plastic, road cone cordoned St Asaph St, pre quake very busy, seen from Colombo St crossing, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Olive military vehicle, Bike HQ, St Asaph St / Colombo St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Orange, plastic, road cone, steel mesh fence cordoned St Asaph St, pre quake very busy, seen from Colombo St crossing, red zone, National State of Emergency
St Asaph St: I trekked west, past ruins: loose brick-parapets & loose brick-chimneys, brick-rubble between buildings, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned, to St Asaph St / Colombo St crossing, a hell-hole: brick-dust, collapsed-buildings, demolished-buildings. Southwards: on the corner, a yellow-painted Dick Smith survived the 22 February 2011 quake, so too northwards the opposite corner building, Anderson & Hill Sports Power, under which NZDF-soldiers in a makeshift blue-tarp-hut guarded the steel-mesh-fence-cordon. Southwards on Colombo St, behind Dick Smith, a yellow-digger on top of demolition-rubble dumped rubble into a truck, orange-plastic-road-coned, steel- mesh-fence-cordoned.
Fourteen months later, dusty Dick Smith & Sports Power would still be closed, surviving quick demolitions, but slow CBD-recovery during CERA's occupation.
01.04.11. Orange, plastic, road cone, steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake abandoned Dick Smith, St Asaph St / Colombo St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Feb 22 quake broken window, St Asaph St / Colombo St, red zone, National State of Emergency
St Asaph St / Colombo St: South, diagonally opposite the NZDF-soldiers' hut, an olive military-vehicle passed Bike HQ, another quake-survivor. Next-door, a fallen window & broken glass & NO ENTRY yellow spray-painted on the footpath. North, a steel mesh-fence-cordon across Colombo St where four NZDF-soldiers hovered. West, opposite the soldiers' makeshift blue-tarp hut were two-storey, corner brick-ruins, which continued north past Mollett St for a whole block to Tuam St. There were fallen brick-walls with rooms, contents & roof-spaces exposed. Demolished buildings left brick-rubble & building-contents on the footpath & road. There were masses of ruined buildings & demolished buildings on Colombo St. North along Colombo St: beyond the no-access red-zone-cordon, there were ruins & demolished buildings to the airbridge by The Crossing.
u
21.05.11. After the coroner released all names of the 182 dead [later increased to 185] & cops released details where people died, The Press would report that after the 18 PGC multi-storey deaths & 115 CTV multi-storey deaths in the CBD, the north section of Colombo St from St Asaph St to just beyond Tuam St was the next deadliest: 16 dead, including eight dead on the red bus, number 702.
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. NZDF soldiers' blue tarp hut, N view, Feb 22 quake destroyed & demolished bldgs down Colombo St from St Asaph St to Tuam St crossings, & beyond to The Crossing, red zone, national state of emergency. 16 people died there.
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. NZDF soldiers' blue tarp hut, Colombo St / St Asaph St, red zone, National State of Emergency. Quake trashed bldgs would be demolished
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. NZDF cordon soldiers, St Asaph St / Colombo St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged, old, brick bldgs, Colombo St, by Tuam St & Lichfield St crossings, seen from St Asaph St cordon, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake destroyed & demolished bldgs, Colombo St from St Asaph St to Tuam St crossings & beyond, red zone, National State of Emergency. 16 people died there
01.04.11. Feb 22 quake, St Asaph St cordon view down Colombo St: Tuam St, Lichfield St, Cashel St crossings, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged, old, brick shops & flats, Colombo St / St Asaph St, red zone, National State of Emergency. The ruins would be demolished
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. St Asaph St view, Feb 22 quake destruction of backs of bldgs at Colombo St / St Asaph St crossing, red zone, National State of Emergency. The ruins would be demolished
West along St Asaph St to Durham St Sth: Red-stickered St John HQ: DANGER KEEP CLEAR yellow spray-painted on a wall, orange- plastic-road-coned, steel mesh-fence-cordoned. Bad news for St John, as it relied on charity donations. I turned back east along St Asaph St, as I'd already walked Durham St Sth in zone 1. I wanted to snap Madras St crossing & new angles of the ruins & demolitions I'd just passed.
01.04.11. Orange, plastic, coad cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged St John, St Asaph St / Durham St South, red zone, National State of Emergency
St Asaph St: NZDF-soldiers at crossings, several workmen in Hi-Vis vests. Two CD, NZRT workers, wearing blue / red overalls & hard-hats, took pics, while escorting two engineer building-inspectors wearing black-overalls & hard-hats. One inspector wore a dust-mask. Sparse traffic weaved past orange-plastic-road-cones & steel-mesh-fence-cordons. Few pedestrians. Businesses were abandoned.
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. NZRT taking pics while escorting a bldg inspector, St Asaph St, red zone, National State of Emergency
I looked into a deep excavation where a huge pipe & smaller connections were being fixed. It was about 1m diameter, buried about 4m under St Asaph St. That fence-cordoned excavation obstructed traffic since the 4 September 2010 quake. It would continue obstructing traffic until early 2012.
Further on, behind a steel-mesh-fence-cordon: old Tuam St Council multi-storey ghost, many windows smashed. Months later the windows would be boarded. The old Council multi-storey would be demolished for the new Bus Interchange.
01.04.11. Red digger claw, Feb 22 quake, Manchester St demolition site, seen from cnr St Asaph St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Yellow digger demolishing a bldg, Feb 22 quake trashed, old brick bldgs, Manchester St, between St Asaph St & Welles St crossings. The bldgs would be demolished
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence codon. Orange, Hi-Vis vested workman, yellow digger demolishing a brick bldg, St Asaph St / Manchester St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Model head on rubbish carpets & quake rubble, Manchester St, demolished Red Light area, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Feb 22 quake trashed bldgs, Manchester St, red zone, National State of Emergency. The bldgs would be demolished
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. 2 NZRTs, 2 bldg inspectors, St Asaph St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged bldgs, St Asaph St, red zone, National State of Emergency. Old PO / Alice in Videoland & IRD bldg behind
St Asaph St / High St / Madras St crossing, deserted views: High St to high-rise ghosts, including Hotel Grand Chancellor; Madras St to ghosts trashed in the 4 September 2010 quake & Boxing Day quake then ruined in the 22 February 2011 quake. The CBD had that creepy-feel again. Unsettled dust, death too close. Haunted ruins teetered in aftershocks. CERA demolishers were coming!
01.04.11. Yellow digger, demolition site, St Asaph St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Orange, Hi-Vis vested, bldg inspectors, St Asaph St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.1. Steel mesh fence cordon. Yellow digger, demolition site, St Asaph St / Madras St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. S view, Madras St from St Asaph St / Madras St crossing, red zone, National State of Emergency. Port Hills behind
01.04.11. White, plastic, tape cordon. CPIT, Christchurch Polytechnic, St Asaph St / Madras St, red zone, National State of Emergency
Rubberneckers wandered that gloomy, drizzly morning: two old men at Manchester St cordon; a woman videoing at Madras St cordon; a male cyclist & another man at High St cordon, staring at High St junk. All at CBD red-zone crossings, little traffic. I stood in the middle of crossings (pre 22 February 2011 teeming) taking all-round snaps. Pre 22 February 2011 quake I would've been run-over! My red-zone lasting impressions: creepy-feelings; ruins; ghost-streets behind ROAD CLOSED NO ENTRY steel-mesh-fence-cordons, guarded by NZDF-soldiers & cops.
01.04.11. NO ENTRY. Orange, plastic, road cone cordon. W view, St Asaph St to Manchester St crossing, seen from Madras St / High St crossing, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. St Asaph St / Madras St crossing view, High St red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. St Asaph St / High St / Madras St, red zone, National State of Emergency. N view to cordoned Tuam St & Lichfield St
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. NZDF soldiers' blue tarp hut, red zone cordon, NZDF soldier directing girls, St Asaph St / Madras St, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. ROAD CLOSED. White / orange, plastic bollards, steel mesh fence cordon. St Asaph St, yellow vehicle wash, to remove dust, near Ferry Rd fork, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. White, plastic bollards, steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged bldg, St Asaph St near Ferry Rd fork, red zone, National State of Emergency
Madras St: Ghost-street, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned, ruins. Workman, wearing a Hi-Vis jacket in the red-zone, fixed telephone-cables. Edward Gibbon: two-storey, fallen brick-parapet, fallen upper brick-wall, rooms & roof-space exposed. Madras St / Tuam St, opposite Mobil garage ghost & another two-storey: fallen brick-parapets & fallen brick-facade, rooms & contents exposed, brick-rubble on footpath, steel- mesh-fence-cordoned. North up Madras St: Nurse Maude, a brick two-storey, two layers of shipping-containers stopped the brick-facade falling.
East along St Asaph St: I trekked past a yellow vehicle-wash (removed toxic-dust) in the middle of the road. I walked past closed tech buildings, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned, guarded by a NZDF-soldier directing three girls by his blue-tarp-hut.
St Asaph St / Ferry Rd fork: More brick-ruins: Council, blue-painted brick-ruin, fallen brick-facade, collapsed-roof, rubble on the carpark, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned. Yellow-stickered! Next-door, two-storey, white-painted brick-ruin, cracked brick-walls, fallen top-storey, corner-walls, brick-rubble on footpath, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned. Orange HAMBURG SUD container, next to a side-wall, stopped collapse. A white Bobcat digger & two bigger yellow-diggers completed demolishing a brick-ruin in clouds of dust opposite the tech. Fearing asbestos-dust, I strode past two red-overalled, NZRT blokes to Barbadoes St.
Steel-mesh-fence-cordon, demolition-site-sign:
DANGER
ASBESTOS REMOVAL IN
PROGRESS
KEEP OUT...
01.04.11 DANGER. Asbestos threat sign, steel mesh fence cordon. Demolition site, St Asaph St & Ferry Rd fork, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Council yellow sticker on steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake collapsed, brick bldg, St Asaph St by Ferry Rd fork, red zone, National State of Emergency. The bldg would be demolished
01.04.11. Yellow digger demolishing a brick bldg, St Asaph St / Ferry Rd fork, red zone, National State of Emergency. Quake trashed, RC Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament backdrop. The dome would be removed by crane, the cathedral part deconstructed & abandoned for 10 years until 2021 demolition
01.04.11. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Red overalled NZRT, St Asaph St, nr Barbadoes St crossing, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. N view, Barbadoes St, from St Asaph St / Barbadoes St crossing, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. NZDF cordon soldiers guarding SW cnr St Asaph St / Barbadoes St, red zone, National State of Emergency
St Asaph St / Barbadoes St crossing: GIVE WAY. Two-storey, brick, Community of the Sacred Name, an Anglican Convent, serial trashed by the 4 September 2010 quake & Boxing Day quake. It was collapsible post 22 February 2011 quake: Fallen brick-parapets & fallen gables. Fallen brick-walls, front & sides & back, exposed roof-spaces & attics. Brick-rubble lay on footpaths, orange-plastic-road-coned, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned. Two red-overalled, NZRT blokes gawped in the middle of the crossing, while three NZDF-soldiers & a yellow, Hi-Vis jacketed cop moved road-cones, guarding the crossing. The Convent would be demolished post 13 June 2011 quake. Why did authorities take so long? Post-quakes, a surviving Convent, brick-building would become the Good Habit cafe. We would frequent that cafe for anniversary meals, celebrating birthdays & weddings.
Diagonally opposite the crossing, a demolition-site grew weeds post 4 September 2010 quake & Boxing Day quake. The Maroon Judo dojo, wood- braced, survived the 22 February 2011 quake, but would be demolished.
01.04.11. GIVE WAY. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Cop & 3 NZDF soldiers manning St Asaph St / Madras St crossing checkpoint, red zone, National State of Emergency. Brick, Community of the Sacred Name, Anglican Convent, damaged by the Sept 4 & Boxing Day quakes, trashed by the Feb 22 quakes, would be demolished post June 13 quake
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake trashed brick bldg, henry's carpark, Barbadoes St / St Asaph St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Feb 22 quake bricked car, henry's carpark, between St Asaph St & Tuam St, red zone, National State of Emergency
I cut through an alley by henry's carpark to Tuam St past two brick-ruins: fallen brick-parapets, fallen brick-wall, brick-rubble in the carpark, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned. Henry's was partially repaired. A white was car parked outside, windscreen smashed, DO NOT TOW was printed on the scrunched bonnet. When I'd passed a couple of weeks before from Fitzgerald Ave, Tuam St was undulated, silt-dust flying.
01.04.11. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Tuam St / Barbadoes St cordon view, Feb 22 quake trashed Hotel Grand Chancellor. Westpac & Holiday Inn left, red zone, National State of Emergency. The high rises would be demolished
01.04.11. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Olive military vehicle behind cordon fence, Tuam St / Barbadoes St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordons. Zone 2, post Feb 22 quake repairs, Tuam St, National State of Emergency. For weeks post Feb 22 quake Tuam St undulated, due to liquefaction damage, silt dust whipped up by winds. E view, seen from red zone, Tuam St / Barbadoes St crossing
01.04.11. Olive military vehicle passing a Feb 22 quake trashed, demolished Provincial Hotel, Barbadoes St / Cashel St, seen from Tuam St / Barbadoes St crossing, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Tuam St / Barbadoes St, W view, Feb 22 quake trashed Tuam St bldgs, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Tuam St / Barbadoes St view, Feb 22 quake trashed Madras St bldg, red zone, National State of Emergency. Edward Gibbon would be demolished
Tuam St / Barbadoes St: ROAD CLOSED. Red-zone fence-cordon on Tuam St, by a garage open-for-business, no clients yet. I viewed Barbadoes St, only an olive military-vehicle patrolled. Madras St : Edward Gibbon plumbing: fallen brick-parapet & fallen facade, roof- spaces exposed. Tuam St: Two-storey brick-ruin: fallen gable & fallen brick-facade, ceilings & rooms exposed. Across a Barbadoes St steel-mesh-fence-cordoned carpark, CBD high-rise ruins: Collapsed, burnt-out CTV where 115 people died. (My first view of the CTV-ruin since the 22 February 2011 quake, due to the National State-of-Emergency forbidding citizen access to Christchurch-CBD). Behind, more CBD high-rises: Pacific Tower / Rendezvous Hotel, PWC, Newstalk ZB. Opposite CTV-ruin: scaffolded, St Pauls Pacific Presbyterian Church ruin. CTV, PWC & St Pauls would be demolished. Newstalk ZB would be imploded, August 2012. Pacific Tower / Rendezvous Hotel would survive the quakes.
01.04.11. Barbadoes St view, red zone CBD: scaffolded, St Pauls Pacific Presbyterian Church, collapsed, burnt out, CTV bldg. Behind, Pacific Tower / Rendezvous Hotel, PWC, Newstalk ZB. All except Pacific Tower would be demolished
Back at Barbadoes St / St Asaph St cordon-crossing, riddled with NZDF-soldiers & military-vehicles, I asked a squint-eyed Maori cop if I could walk south down Barbadoes St, as my car was parked at Wordsworth St. He agreed, unnerving, staring at me, looking away simultaneously. Chameleon. Post-quake years, from 2025 Luke would be employed by a joinery firm in Wordsworth St.
01.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Quake damaged bldg, St Asaph St, backdropped by quake damaged RC Cathedral & Music Centre of Christchurch, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Steel fence cordon. Quake damaged, wood braced, Martial Arts School, Barbadoes St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Orange, plastic, road cone cordon. 2 cranes. 3 NZDF soldiers yomping to CBD cordon duty, Ferry Rd / Barbadoes St, red zone, National State of Emergency. Quake trashed RC Cathedral left
01.04.11. Orange, plastic fence, steel mesh fence cordon, Barbadoes St, red zone, National State of Emergency. The Music Centre would be demolished
Barbadoes St: three NZDF-soldiers yomped north to do cordon-duty. Red-stickered Music Centre of Christchurch: fallen brick-parapets & fallen gables, exposed roof-spaces, black & blue-tarped, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned. Music Centre would be demolished.
Christchurch Basilica ruin: Cracked concrete-bricks, Oamaru whitestone clad; copper-dome base cracked; collapsed twin-towers, exposed tower-rooms. Brown shipping-containers, yellow crane-truck, orange-plastic-road-coned, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned, parked in front of Christchurch Basilica. During the 22 February 2011 quake, in a room below the collapsed north-tower, a Virgin Mary statue turned 180 degrees, facing a Barbadoes St window. Miracle? Christchurch Basilica dome would be removed by crane, stumps of the two collapsed-towers & ruined-transepts would be braced by stacked shipping-containers, while Christchurch Basilica was part deconstructed. Stacked shipping-containers would prop Christchurch Basilica for 10 years, until 2021 demolition.
01.04.11. RC Cathedral, damaged by the Sept 4 quake, trashed by the Feb 22 quake, Barbadoes St, red zone, National State of Emergency. The dome would be removed by crane, the RC Cathedral deconstructed, then abandoned for 10 years, propped by layered containers, until 2021 demolition
01.04.11. Virgin Mary statue turned 180 degrees during the Feb 22 quake, facing Barbadoes St, when the RC Cathedral tower collapsed above the statue, red zone, National State of Emergency
Back at Barbadoes St / Moorhouse Ave crossing, I greeted the yellow, Hi-Vis jacketed cop, beside her wooden-hut & four blue-portaloos. "I've done the full circuit."
"Now you know," she replied.
01.04.11. Orange, plastic, road cone cordon. Checkpoint, wooden cop hut, 4 blue portaloos, Barbadoes St / Moorhouse Ave, red zone, National State of Emergency
CBD red-zone: Five weeks post 22 February 2011 quake, during the National State-of-Emergency, few citizens were allowed into the red-zone. Once the National State-of-Emergency was over, CERA would take over from CD, continuing demolishing Christchurch red-zone CBD-ruins till little was left.
01.04.11. Barbadoes St cnr view, gridlock traffic, Moorhouse Ave, National State of Emergency. Old brick station & clock tower, damaged by Sept 4 & Feb 22 quakes. The station would be demolished, August 2012
CBD residents & CBD business-owners were hassled by cops & NZDF-soldiers at cordon-checkpoints, needing permission to access their own homes & businesses in the red-zone, which was banned & sanitized during the National State-of-Emergency by prohibitions, demolitions, rubble-haulage, road-clearing, quakemire-clearing, steel-mesh-fence-cordons, orange-plastic-road-cone-cordons, white or red or yellow plastic-barrier-tape-cordons & red-plastic-bollard-barricades or white-plastic-bollard-barricades. Post CD-occupation, a plethora of new road-signs & CERA-signs at cordon-checkpoints would pollute the red-zone-CBD during 28 months of CERA / military-occupation. Initially, shocked citizens would accept CBD-bannings, before dissent in 2012 street-protests.
01.04.11. Orange, plastic, road cone cordon. Yellow, Hi-Vis jacketed cop at cordon checkpoint, wooden hut, Moorhouse Ave / Barbadoes St, red zone, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Grey portaloo. Steel mesh fence cordon, obstructing traffic, Waltham Rd, National State of Emergency
01.04.11. Waltham Rd view, quake braced bldg, Wordsworth St, National State of Emergency
*Trekked Wordsworth St, Waltham Rd, Barbadoes St, Moorhouse Ave, Madras St, Southwark St, St Asaph St, Tuam St. 195 snaps.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
