I would trek a box between parallel Salisbury St / Tuam St & parallel Barbadoes St / Madras St, where red zone, steel mesh fence cordons were still guarded by cops & NZDF soldiers. It meant trekking side streets between Barbadoes St & Madras St, transition time between CD & CERA demolitions. Ghosts I passed that day would soon be demolished by CERA contractors.
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake damaged, red stickered, 2 storey house, Manchester St, national state of emergency
I started in morning long shadows & finished after midday. While trekking, other walkers, cyclists, rubberneckers increased, while cars whizzed along southbound Barbadoes St.
Typical ghost houses found in Christchurch:
Bealey Ave: Scaffolded, wood & brick, wood braced ghost.
Manchester St: Red stickered, 2 story, brick & wooden ghost, with quake trashed, stone, garden wall. Grey, wooden, 2 storey, ghost with boarded walls.
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake damaged, wood braced house, Manchester St, national state of emergency
A toppled, blue portaloo lay on Manchester St pavement. There were reports of portaloos being vandalized. If I'd used a portaloo for 2 months I'd be browned off too.
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake, toppled, grey portaloo, Manchester St, national state of emergency
Manchester St, Council bldg I'd seen weeks before, a rubble pile, steel mesh fence cordoned. Across the road, old, toppled, steel mesh fence cordoned, brick, garden wall, same status, autumn leaf trap. Liquefactioned Meridian bldg was braced by concrete blocks & steel poles.
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Sept 4 quake damaged, Feb 22 quake trashed Council bldg, demolition site, Manchester St, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Sept 4 quake & Feb 22 quake damaged Meridian bldg, concrete block & steel pole braced, Manchester St, national state of emergency
Academy NZ / McLean's Mansion: Red stickered, abandoned. Curtains hung outside turret windows. A man chipped mortar off brick rubble in the garden below trees. Wooden structure would enable Academy NZ / McLean's Mansion to survive the quakes.
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake damaged Academy NZ bldg, Manchester St, national state of emergency. Academy NZ bldg survived the quakes
St Mary's: Demolition site, brick rubble lay in school grounds, steel mesh fence cordoned.
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. St Mary's demolition site, Manchester St, national state of emergency
National Library ghost: Steel mesh fence cordoned, abandoned, yellow, spray-painted, USAR / TF graffiti on glass front doors. Leah had borrowed school books there. National Library would be demolished. Leah then had to borrow school books from Wellington National Library & later a Redwood branch of the National Library.
Christchurch Libraries were damaged by quakes: Central Library ghost, Gloucester St : abandoned, strangled by the red zone cordon. (Central Library would soon be demolished for CERA's Blueprint Convention Centre / Te Pae). Only Bishopdale library & South Library kept readers happy for months post quakes, becoming overcrowded. But both those overused libraries were quake damaged, Council only discovered that after inspections. Thereafter, Bishopdale Library closed, South Library walls were steel braced. The latter was continually used post quakes, except for a brief time post 22.02.11 Killer Quake.
Other suburban libraries stayed closed for months. As Council offices were quake damaged, some libraries were used by Council workers as offices. Some libraries relocated to temporary premises, like Linwood Library. Some libraries half-opened months later, like Fendalton Library, serving as part office, part library. Fendalton Library was closed for a while for strengthening. Pity Council engineers weren't so careful between 04.09.10 Darfield Quake & 22.02.11 Killer Quake, when they had time to check bldgs. "Quake Prone Building" entered the lexicon. All NZ bldgs were quake prone! Regarding Quake Prone Buildings, there would be jabbering about building code revisions, amongst NZ govt, Councils, engineers, bldg owners. Post quakes, notices would appear on public building entrances: QUAKE PRONE BUILDING, warning public about the building & its long time-limit for quake strengthening by the bldg owner.
22.04.11. Orange, plastic, fence cordon. National Library, red stickered, USAR / TF graffitied door, Manchester St, national state of emergency. CLEAR meant no bodies. National Library would be demolished
Manchester St / Salisbury St crossing: ROAD CLOSED. Orange, plastic road coned, steel mesh fence cordoned, NZDF soldiers' blue tarp hut, public banned from the CBD red zone. A beige Unimog was parked by the checkpoint, NZDF soldiers milling around, changing guard. During the National State of Emergency, red zone checkpoints were riddled with NZDF soldiers & military vehicles. In the distance I saw serial quake trashed Oxford Tce Baptist Church ghost.
22.04.11. ROAD CLOSED. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon & NZDF soldiers' blue tarp hut. Feb 22 quake, changing of the NZDF guard, red zone checkpoint, Madras St / Peterborough St, national state of emergency. Serial quake trashed Oxford Tce Baptist Church beyond, soon demolished
Salisbury St: Where I'd trekked weeks before to Barbadoes St, liquefactioned as before, no change to damaged bldgs, same old USAR / TF graffiti on pavements & quaked bldgs, more cars parked in street, Asian food warehouse ghost & Briscoes ghost still steel mesh fence cordoned. (Both Asian food warehouse & Briscoes would be demolished, Briscoes rebuilt). Black, plastic, rubbish bin cordon on driveway between quaked flats. Abandoned car trapped in quakemire, Council green stickered windscreen: ABANDONED VEHICLE / VEHICLE WITH EXPIRED OR NO DOCUMENTATION...
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake, USAR / TF graffiti on wall by liquefactioned pavement, Salisbury St, national state of emergency. CLEAR meant no bodies
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake tilted Salisbury Lane flats, Salisbury St, national state of emergency. Roadside block of Salisbury Lane flats would be demolished
22.04.11. Feb 22 liquefaction silted garage, Salisbury St, national state of emergency
22.04.11. White, plastic tape, plastic, rubbish bin cordon between Feb 22 quake damaged flats, Salisbury St, national state of emergency
Madras St: Still quakemired. Some ghost houses I'd snapped weeks before, demolished. Changing of the NZDF guard by Madras St / Peterborough St crossing checkpoint, more than a dozen chatty soldiers, by a beige Unimog transport. Some soldiers were at their blue tarp hut & steel mesh fence cordon. I asked a cordon soldier if Madras St was open to the public? "No!"
Due to CERA's demolitions, northbound Madras St would only reopen to the public a year later. Why did CERA not do 24/7 demolitions enabling the CBD to recover asap?
Salisbury St / Barbadoes St: Quakemired in the gutter & on the pavement. An orange, plastic, road cone stood guard in the mud. Christchurch would be infested with road cones for years. They bred prolifically, after CERA formed SCIRT to replace road infrastructure & would became the bane of motorists' lives, daily detours on SCIRTed roads.
22.04.11. Liquefaction silt, Salisbury St / Barbadoes St, national state of emergency
Barbadoes St / Cambridge Tce: Cleared house demolition site, parked truck, 2 parked diggers behind a new wire fence.
22.04.11. Rubble truck & demolition diggers, house demolition site, Barbadoes St / Cambridge Tce, national state of emergency
Barbadoes St Bridge over Avon River: Quake buckled / cracked where spans & abutments had smashed. All over town quakes had caused bridge spans to bash against abutments, causing buckled tarseal & cracks on roads & pavements. Quakes often caused spans to horizontally rotate, causing span cnrs to stick out or recede a few centimetres at abutment edges. It would be years before SCIRT fixed all damaged bridges. One of the fixings: installation of steel brackets to stop span rotations in future quakes. The brackets could be seen when driving under bridges.
22.04.11. Quake buckling / crack between span & abutment, Barbadoes St Bridge, national state of emergency
Barbadoes St / Oxford Tce: The Bricks: Autumn leaves on Avon River bank. Quake cracked bldg behind.
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake, The Bricks, Oxford Tce, red zone, national state of emergency
Barbadoes St / Kilmore St: ROAD CLOSED. NZ Fire Service HQ Transalpine Region: 4 fire engines parked on Kilmore St, 3 under a white, plastic "cloche," orange / white, plastic bollards cordoning Kilmore St. Cop on chair, fire fighters around. The "cloche" was erected, as the brick fire station was quake damaged. 2019. The fire station would be demolished for a fire station rebuild.
22.04.11. ROAD CLOSED. Orange / white, plastic bollards, steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake, NZ Fire Service HQ Transalpine Region, Kilmore St, red zone, national state of emergency. Fire engines were housed under a white, plastic "cloche" as the fire station was quake damaged. 2019. The fire station would be demolished for a fire station rebuild
Barbadoes St / Kilmore St crossing: 3 Demolition sites at cnrs, steel mesh fence cordoned. A 2 storey ghost, fallen side wall, rubble gone, exposed inner wooden walls, rooms part boarded .
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake demolition sites, Barbadoes St / Kilmore St, national state of emergency
Chester St East towards red zone fence cordon, Madras St: Several ghost houses, various inspection stickers. Trekked past back of New Zealand Fire Service Transalpine Headquarters. Unoccupied NZDF soldiers' blue tarp, cordon hut behind fire station. Ghost house near soldiers' hut: fallen brick parapet, roof space exposed, steel mesh fence cordoned.
W side, Oxford Tce Baptist Church ghost: collapsed brick wall, rubble on grass. House demolition site across Chester St East. Steel mesh fence cordon across Chester St East, stopping access to Madras St. Threat signs: EXTREME DANGER KEEP OUT, ROAD CLOSED.
Behind Oxford Tce Baptist Church, fallen brick, garden wall by yellow stickered, wooden house.
Next door, fallen brick, garage walls, contents & rubble blue tarped. Bent aluminium door & back brick wall stopping garage roof collapse. WE'RE OK spray-painted on white garden wall. Zimmer frame by wall.
Across the road, Newell House. Semi detached, 2 storey, wooden houses: 1 house red stickered, the other yellow stickered by Council! White, plastic, tape cordoned DANGER KEEP OUT. Council stickering caused confusion & EQC, insurance & demolition hassles. Example: Why did Council allow access to a yellow stickered house, yet forbid access to a red stickered, attached house next door? Never mind the common firewall ready to collapse into either house. How did demolishers demolish a red stickered house, when the attached house next door was yellow stickered? Council's nonsense stickering caused delays by EQC & insurers having to do their own inspections.
Oxford Tce Baptist Church would be demolished, just a church sign & empty lot left. For months the 185 Empty Chairs Memorial to quake dead would stand on the Baptist Church demolition site. The church would be rebuilt modern style after the 185 Empty Chairs Memorial moved to Madras St / Cashel St.
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake, Chester St East view, green, plastic, sewage tank, Oxford Tce, red zone, national state of emergency. Quake damaged back of Oxford Tce Baptist Church right. Oxford Tce Baptist Church would be demolished, a new church rebuilt
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake damaged, red stickered house & back of Oxford Tce Baptist Church left, Chester St East, red zone, national state of emergency. The church would be demolished, a new church rebuilt
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake, back of NZ Fire Service HQ Transalpine Region, Chester St East, red zone, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Grey portaloo, unoccupied, NZDF soldiers' blue tarp, cordon hut, behind NZ Fire Service HQ, Chester St East, red zone, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged house & FOR RENT sign, Chester St East, red zone, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Grey portaloo & parked cars, liquefaction silted Chester St East, red zone, national state of emergency
No NZDF soldiers in sight. View of Crighton B & B & quake trashed, The Poplars Apartments ghost beyond the steel mesh fence cordon. The Poplars would soon be demolished. Big, green, plastic, sewage tank on Avon River bank, Oxford Tce. Those roadside sewage tanks could be seen all over Christchurch.
22.04.11. Rubble by Feb 22 quake damaged, 2 storey house, Barbadoes St, national state of emergency
Barbadoes St: Sept 4 Darfield Quake damaged, Feb 22 Killer Quake trashed old, brick & wooden ghost house: buckled, corrugated iron roof, fallen brick parapet & brick facade, exposed roof space, exposed rooms. Opp, a quake damaged, yellow, 2 storey ghost house, brick rubble heap alongside.
22.04.11. Sept 4 quake damaged, Feb 22 quake trashed, old, brick house, Barbadoes St, national state of emergency
Barbadoes St / Armagh St: Fish & Chips ghost shop behind a steel mesh fence cordon. Clean demolition site next door. Trashed bldg behind Fish & Chips shop: fallen brick parapet, fallen brick wall, exposed rooms & contents, brick rubble behind steel mesh fence cordon.
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordoned, Fish & Chips shop & demolition site, Barbadoes St / Armagh St, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake demolition site, Barbadoes St / Armagh St, national state of emergency
Armagh St towards red zone, steel mesh fence cordon, Madras St: Quake damaged, liquefactioned, old houses. Lime green portaloo on pavement. Orange, plastic, road cones towards cordon. Yellow, Hi-Vis jacketed cop & NZDF soldiers at their checkpoint wooden hut. High rise ghosts beyond, incl Forsyth Barr, where stairwell steps had collapsed in the Feb 22 Killer Quake. ROAD CLOSED sign on fence cordon. Blue CHECK POINT sign on road.
Armagh St / Madras St: Red zoned, Amicus House ghost, Feb 22 Killer Quake tilted. Amicus House would soon be demolished. Broken windows at abandoned, 5 storey Harcourts ghost next door. Harcourts would soon be demolished. Opp cnr, trade union ghost would soon be demolished. A blue Fulton Hogan, water tanker sprayed water, laying quakemire dust & demolition dust at the crossing. NZDF checkpoint guards inside the cordon were protected from dust. Citizens outside the cordon, not.
22.04.11. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake, green portaloo, Armagh St / Madras St checkpoint, red zone, national state of emergency. Quake trashed Amicus House left, would soon be demolished. Pacific Tower & Forsyth Barr high rises behind. Trade union bldg right would soon be demolished
22.04.11. ROAD CLOSED. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake, Armagh St / Madras St checkpoint. Fulton Hogan truck spraying water, laid demolition & liquefaction silt dust, red zone, national state of emergency. Quake trashed, Amicus House left would soon be demolished. Forsyth Barr high rise beyond would survive the quakes & be refurbished as Crowne Plaza Hotel
Gloucester St to red zoned Latimer Sq & Madras St: I cut through quakemired Wilson carpark from Armagh St to Gloucester St by Latimer Sq. Parked orange digger by 2 demolition sites near carpark: Charlie B's Backpackers ghost & Securities House ghost, Gloucester St / Madras St, were demolished. Another demolition site on Gloucester St by TVNZ bldg. There were soon to be demolished ghosts & demolition wastelands in Christchurch red zone CBD, as far as I could see.
SW across Latimer Sq: A Feb 22 Killer Quake collapsed bldg in the steel mesh fence cordoned red zone. Another Fulton Hogan tanker passed in the red zone, spraying water, laying dust around Latimer Sq. In future, many CBD ghosts I saw in the red zone behind the cordon fence would be demolished by CERA. As citizens would be banned from the red zone for 28 months, CERA would occupy the red zone, protected by NZDF checkpoint soldiers. They all had natty little huts & porta-cabins in the red zone during their NZDF / CERA occupation, while CERA demolished the CBD. Quake catastrophe, then CERA demolitions.
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake, Fulton Hogan tanker spraying water to lay demolition & liquefaction silt dust, Latimer Sq, red zone, national state of emergency. Quake trashed St John's Anglican Church beyond would soon be demolished & replaced by Shigaru Ban's Cardboard Cathedral.
22.04.11. Gloucester St / Latimer Sq view, Feb 22 quake demolitions, Latimer Sq / Hereford St, red zone, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake trashed bldg (soon demolished) Gloucester St, nr Latimer Sq, red zone, national state of emergency. Pacific Tower / Rendezvous Hotel beyond survived the quakes
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake, Wilson carpark view, Charlie B's Backpackers & Securities House demolition sites, Gloucester St / Madras St. Latimer Sq left, red zone, national state of emergency. The high rise would be demolished, enabling CERA's Blueprint E Frame
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Latimer Sq / Gloucester St view, Feb 22 quake, demolition sites & red zone high rises, national state of emergency. All the bldgs would soon be demolished. Wilson carpark on Charlie B's Backpackers demolition site right
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake, parked orange digger, Wilson carpark, between Armagh St & Gloucester St, red zone, national state of emergency. Charlie B's Backpackers demolition site & Latimer Sq behind. All bldgs would be demolished
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake, between Gloucester St & Armagh St, Wilson St carpark view of Madras St demolition sites, Charlie B's Backpackers & Securities House & CBD high rises, red zone, national state of emergency. Most bldgs would be demolished
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake, Charlie B's Backpackers demolition site & quake trashed Harcourts, windows shattered (soon demolished) Madras St, red zone, national state of emergency. All bldgs would be demolished
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake trashed Harcourts (soon demolished) Madras St, seen from Wilson carpark, red zone, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake trashed house, by trade union bldg, Armagh St, seen from Wilson carpark, Madras St, red zone national state of emergency. The bldgs would be demolished
22.04.11. White, plastic, tape cordon. Orange, Hi-Vis vested, bldg inspector. Feb 22 quake bent, double storey, wooden house (soon demolished) Gloucester St, red zone, national state of emergency
Gloucester St: Feb 22 quake bent, red stickered, 2 storey, wooden ghost house (soon demolished). Orange, Hi-Vi vested, bldg inspector with clipboard made notes.
Barbadoes St: Traffic increased. Quake cracked, yellow stickered, boarded, 2 storey ghost house, would soon demolished.
22.04.11. Quake cracked, yellow stickered, boarded ghost house (soon demolished) Barbadoes St, national state of emergency
Barbadoes St / Worcester St: Demolition site. Opp cnr, brick, 2 storey ghost, badly damaged, would soon be demolished.
22.04.11. NO EXIT. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake, demolition site, Barbadoes St / Worcester St, red zone, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake trashed, old, 2 storey, brick house, Worcester St / Barbadoes St, red zone, national state of emergency. The house would be demolished
Worcester St to red zone, steel mesh fence cordoned Latimer Sq: Ghost houses: 1 storey house, fallen brick side wall, rooms exposed. 2 storey house, buckled iron roof, fallen brick wall, 3 exposed rooms, brick rubble in garden. Another 1 storey ghost house, part fallen, brick side wall, exposed roof space, exposed inner wooden lathe wall.
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake damaged bldg, Worcester St, red zone, national state of emergency
Seen behind the steel mesh fence cordon, 5 demolition sites around Latimer Sq, mostly W side, Latimer Sq: 1. Sept 4 Darfield Quake demolition site, Latimer Sq / Worcester St. 2. Demolition rubble behind Morley House ghost. 3. Demolition site down Worcester St behind Christ Church Cathedral ghost. 4. Christchurch Club on Worcester St cnr, damaged in Sept 4 Darfield Quake & Feb 22 Killer Quake, wood heap next door. 5. Hereford St, huge rubble pile, with broken Arches Cafe & Bar sign.
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake, Latimer Sq demolition behind Morley House, red zone, national state of emergency
Like all military, CD warped language for NZDF soldiers & cops, turning Christchurch CBD roads into "zones," demolitions into "deconstructions," earthquakes into "events". Never mind that citizens had lived & worked in CBD streets with real names for generations & had survived 1 000s of quakes, not events.
During the National State of Emergency, in the media, Council briefings & notices, citizens were patronized, like children needing protection. Cops roamed cordons in their squad cars & NZDF soldiers skulked inside fence cordons in their little, blue tarp huts, or wooden huts, with portaloos, confined to zones, while restricting citizens' access to cordoned zones. Freedom of movement gone.
Yet celebrities, like clerics, film star Russel Crowe, prince William, were taken into the CBD red zone for photo ops with local sycophants, while citizens stood like dogs at fence cordons. At confined checkpoints, as cops & NZDF soldiers were spending so much taxpayers' money stopping taxpayers going into the CBD red zone, that left many places for "looters" to sneak into the red zone, day & night, to "loot," like their own business records. Never mind red zone looting by inside-jobbers allowed into the red zone at checkpoints. During my trekking past cordon checkpoints, I saw clipboard, paper shuffling, but never saw any person or vehicle searched at checkpoints.
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake, Latimer Sq view, Worcester St demolition behind Christ Church Cathedral, red zone, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Latimer Sq view, part demolished Christchurch Club, red zone, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Yellow digger. Liquefactioned Latimer Sq view, Feb 22 quake demolition, Latimer Sq / Hereford St, red zone, national state of emergency
Hereford St / Madras St: Sept 4 Darfield Quake damaged, Feb 22 Killer Quake trashed Arrow House ghost. Post Sept 4 Darfield Quake & Boxing Day Quake, whenever I'd snapped from Arrow House doorway, opp quake trashed St John's Anglican Church, I was spooked. Hindsight, foresight too, as CTV multi-storey was next door.
22.04.11. Sept 4 quake damaged & Feb 22 quake trashed Arrow House, Madras St / Hereford St / Latimer Sq, red zone, national state of emergency. Most bldgs in the pic would soon be demolished
Latimer Sq: St John's Anglican Church ghost: Trashed in Sept 4 Darfield Quake & Feb 22 Killer Quake, piles of greystones. St John's would soon be demolished. After serial, quake trashed, Christ Church Cathedral ghost was deconsecrated in 2012, Anglicans would build Shigeru Ban's Cardboard Cathedral on St John's demolition site.
Barbadoes St: Demolished house site. Another ghost house, fallen brick firewall, exposed inner lathe lining. Brick rubble in garden. Orange, spray-painted threat sign on firewall: NO GO. Orange spray-painted threat sign on garage door, KEEP CLEAR, on garage brick wall, DANGER UNSTABLE.
22.04.11. NO GO. USAR / TF threat sign, Feb 22 quake damaged house, Barbadoes St, national state of emergency
Barbadoes St / Hereford St: NO EXIT. Steel mesh fence cordoned, Flower Whisper ghost shop. NO EXIT sign on Hereford St.
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged Flower Whisper bldg, Barbadoes St / Hereford St, national state of emergency
22.04.11. DANGER KEEP OUT. White, plastic, tape cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged, brick, 2 storey house, Hereford St, national state of emergency. The house would be demolished
22.04.11. Quake damaged, wood braced, brick house, Hereford St, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged, boarded, brick house, Hereford St, national state of emergency
Hereford St to red zone, fence cordoned Latimer Sq: Old, brick, ghost housing, Feb 22 Killer Quake trashed: 1. Cracked, brick, 2 storey house, bent side brick wall, curtain hanging out of top storey window, window sill rubble in garden, steel gate, white, plastic, tape cordoned, DANGER DO NOT ENTER. 2. Useless steel bracing on brick parapet, useless wood bracing on brick side wall, fallen brick parapet & side wall, brick rubble in garden. 3. Fallen side wall of garage, wall boarded, window, brick rubble in garden. 4. Cracked brick wall by a window, glass panes broken. 5. Red stickered, Hereford House, 2 storey, cracked brick walls, upper room exposed due to fallen brick wall, smashed wooden bracing above a door. 6. Beaufort House, 2 storey, holes in upper storey, brick wall, exposed rooms, brick rubble behind a steel gate, DO NOT DEMOLISH heritage bldg sign on gate, cordoned by a shipping container. Hereford House & Beaufort House would soon be demolished.
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake damaged Hereford House (soon demolished) Hereford St, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake damaged Beaufort House, Hereford St, national state of emergency. Beaufort House would be demolished
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Sept 4 quake damaged, Feb 22 quake trashed St John's Anglican Church, Hereford St / Latimer Sq, national state of emergency. St John's would be demolished for Shigaru Ban's Cardboard Cathedral
Beyond Latimer Sq: Demolition sites further down Hereford St, incl Arrow House, soon demolished. Top storey collapsed, Arrow House was next to CTV demolition site, where 115 people died when CTV multi-storey collapsed & burned in the 22.02.11 Killer Quake. Red zone, steel mesh fence cordon, threat sign:
EXTREME
DANGER
KEEP
OUT
Like I'd recently seen on my Victoria St trek, EXTREME DANGER threat signs proliferated.
22.04.11. EXTREME DANGER. KEEP OUT. Steel mesh fence cordon. Red zone fence cordon, Hereford St / Madras St / Latimer Sq, national state of emergency. Arrow House left. Most bldgs in the pic would be demolished.
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged bldgs, Hereford St / Latimer Sq, red zone, national state of emergency. Arrow House left. Most bldgs in the pic would be demolished
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Demolition site, SW Latimer Sq, red zone, national state of emergency
Barbadoes St: From TelstraClear, CBD views of quake damaged, old, brick bldg & high rise ghosts, incl Holiday Inn, trashed Hotel Grand Chancellor, collapsed CTV.
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Barbadoes St view, Feb 22 quake destroyed, fire scorched CTV bldg & Hotel Grand Chancellor, red zone, national state of emergency. CTV ruin & Hotel Grand Chancellor would be demolished. 115 people died when the CTV bldg collapsed & burned
Barbadoes St / Cashel St: Fishing Tackle ghost, Feb 22 Killer Quake trashed, fallen brick parapet & gable, attic exposed, steel mesh fence cordoned, soon demolished. Opp cnr, Provincial Hotel, already demolished, rubble heap, steel mesh fence cordoned.
22.04.11. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged, Fishing Tackle, Barbadoes St / Cashel St, national state of emergency. Fishing Tackle would be demolished
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Provincial Hotel demolition site, Cashel St / Barbadoes St, national state of emergency
Cashel St to red zone, steel mesh fence cordoned Madras St: Car dealer ghosts.
22.04.11. Cashel St W view: Holden Blackwells right, Inland Revenue left, Feb 22 quake trashed Hotel Grand Chancellor centre (to be demolished) & Feb 22 quake trashed CTV ruin right, red zone, national state of emergency. 115 people died when the CTV bldg collapsed & burned. CTV ruin would be demolished. Holden Blackwells would be demolished. IR stood abandoned for years
Cashel St / Madras St: St Paul's Trinity Pacific Presbyterian Church was demolished, a muddy foundation hole, stone foundations of nave & apse seen by a heap of tangled scaffolding. Roof beams & Oamaru whitestone, column drums were salvaged. S view, steel mesh fence cordoned, Madras St: Brick ghosts soon to be demolished, brick rubble on pavement: Old Stables, Apex car hire, Edward Gibbon. Beyond, 2 storey, CPIT Music School would survive the quakes. Pre quakes, Luke had attended music functions there.
22.04.11. Abandoned Inland Revenue bldg, Cashel St / Madras St, red zone, national state of emergency. IR bldg would survive the quakes
22.04.11. Oamaru whitestone, column drums, Sept 4 quake damaged, Feb 22 quake trashed, demolished St Paul's Trinity Pacific Presbyterian Church, Cashel St, red zone, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Sept 4 quake & Boxing Day quake damaged & Feb 22 quake trashed old, brick stable (soon demolished) Madras St / Bedford Row, red zone, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Tangled scaffolding view of Feb 22 quake destroyed CTV ruin, Cashel St / Madras St, red zone, national state of emergency. CTV ruin would be demolished
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake, St Paul's Trinity Pacific Presbyterian Church demolition site view, CTV ruin demolition site, Madras St / Cashel St, red zone, national state of emergency. CTV ruin would be demolished
22.04.11. Flowers, 2 toy bears tributes to 115 dead, CTV ruin demolition site, Cashel St / Madras St, red zone, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake, concrete rubble, CTV ruin demolition site, Cashel St / Madras St, red zone, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Graffiti & USAR / TF graffiti, CTV ruin demolition site, Madras St, red zone, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake destroyed CTV ruin, Cashel St / Madras St, red zone, national state of emergency. CTV ruin would be demolished
Cashel St / Madras St: Opp 7 storey IRD: 7 storey, fire scorched, CTV, mostly demolished. Some concrete rubble left & a heap of flower tributes. Old graffiti & USAR / TF graffiti polluted brick walls below CTV's scorched skeleton. CTV would soon be completely demolished. Several people viewed St Paul's Trinity Pacific Presbyterian Church demolition site & CTV from behind Madras St steel mesh fence cordon. There was no NZDF soldiers, nor cops. IRD multi-storey would survive the quakes, but was abandoned for years.
22.04.11. EXTREME DANGER KEEP OUT. Red zone, steel mesh fence cordon view down Feb 22 quake damaged Lichfield St, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. W view, red zone, Lichfield St from red zone, Madras St / Lichfield St crossing, national state of emergency. Post 2010-2011 quakes, most bldgs in the pic would be demolished
EXTREME DANGER KEEP OUT. Lichfield St to red zone, steel mesh fence cordoned Madras St: 3 old brick bldgs, all 2 storeys, incl NG Art Gallery, OK, beyond Wilson carpark. 3 workmen, wearing yellow, Hi-Vis vests & hard hats, removed scaffolding from a brick bldg next to NG Art Gallery, after window repair. Next door bldg, upper storey collapsed, exposing rooms, bldg being demolished. The abandoned white facade of that bldg would pollute Madras St for years. A digger operator, wearing an orange, Hi-Vis vest, yellow hard hat & white dust mask, cleaned a digger filter & yellow digger by the Lichfield St demolition site. Broken glass on pavement by fabric house.
2022. After more than a decade of legal bickering between authorities & NG Art Gallery owners, NG Art Gallery would be demolished to make way for CERA's Blueprint Stadium.
Lichfield St / Madras St: Rubble heap, steel mesh fence cordoned, opp fabric house. Sept 4 Darfield Quake & Feb 22 Killer Quake damaged Lichfield St bldgs in red zone beyond, by Poplar St & Lichfield Lanes. Most of the bldgs would be demolished.
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Yellow digger demolishing a Feb 22 quake damaged, old, brick bldg, Lichfield St / Madras St, red zone, national state of emergency. Quake trashed Hotel Grand Chancellor behind right awaited demolition
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Back of NG Gallery next to Feb 22 quake trashed brick bldg, Wilson carpark, Lichfield St, red zone, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Yellow, Hi-Vis vested workmen removing scaffold from back of NG Gallery, Wilson carpark, between Lichfield St & Tuam St, red zone, national state of emergency
Lichfield St: John Burns & Co was gone, demolished post Sept 4 & Boxing Day quakes. A smaller Feb 22 Killer Quaked bldg, behind John Burns site, awaited demolition, walls & iron roof part collapsed, exposing workshop, roof trusses & roof space, rubble on the carpark. Wilson carpark was full of concrete rubble, rusty rebars, twisted like spaghetti, diggers & digger parts, like steel buckets. I used a portaloo on Lichfield St pavement, then cut across Wilson carpark on Turners & Growers site to Tuam St.
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake damaged bldg by John Burns & Co demolition site, Lichfield St, red zone, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake, concrete rubble, Wilson carpark, Turners & Growers site, between Lichfield St & Tuam St, red zone, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Bobcat digger & digger buckets, Wilson carpark, Turners & Growers site, between Lichfield St & Tuam St, red zone, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Wilson carpark, Turners & Growers site view, demolition site, Madras St & Feb 22 quake damaged Edward Gibbon, Madras St, red zone, national state of emergency. Feb 22 quake trashed Hotel Grand Chancellor behind & Edward Gibbon would be demolished post June 13 quake. NG Gallery right
Tuam St / Madras St crossing: By Mobil garage, between a blue tarp hut & a wooden hut, 2 cops & 2 NZDF soldiers chatted at a steel mesh fence cordon checkpoint. 2 cop cars parked behind the checkpoint fence cordon. Feb 22 Killer Quake damaged, 2 storey, Edward Gibbon on cnr, gables & upper bricks fallen, rooms & roof spaces exposed, brick rubble on the pavement, steel mesh fence cordoned. Demolition site opp Edward Gibbon, Tuam St / Madras St. Edward Gibbon would be demolished post June 13 Quake. More bldgs Sept 4 Darfield Quake & Feb 22 Killer Quake damaged on Madras St. Shipping container cordon by a quaked bldg beyond McDonald's in red zone, Tuam St. The street was wet, as a tanker sprayed water, again laying demolition dust for cops & soldiers inside the cordon, but not bothering to lay demo dust for citizens outside the cordon.
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Red zone checkpoint, NZDF soldiers' blue tarp hut & cops' wooden hut, Tuam St / Madras St crossing, national state of emergency
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. NZDF soldiers & cops, Tuam St / Madras St crossing checkpoint, national state of emergency
Behind Edward Gibbon, there were several Feb 22 Killer Quake damaged, 2-3 storey, old brick bldgs in Tuam St, near Poplar St, where Jake had flatted on the third floor of old, brick, firetrap, Poplar Mews. There had been many old, brick bldgs in the CBD, cheap rentals & slumlords touting rentals / leases unfit for purpose. Over pre-quake years, Jake had rented several poorly maintained rentals in the CBD & suburbs. CBD red zone slumlords would've made a killing dealing with CERA & insurance companies. Poplar Mews & most Poplar St bldgs would be demolished.
About 1 000 commercial & residential bldgs would be demolished in the red zone CBD, evidence of not only liquefaction / quake damages, but rotten, old bldgs, which Council should've checked & condemned years before the quakes. An indictment of Council & engineers' bldg codes, revised pre quakes, but ineffective, as bldg owners were given decades by Council to strengthen rotten, old bldgs a fraction up to code. The post quakes, demolition wasteland which Christchurch CBD would become was testament to pre quakes, unreinforced brick & stone bldgs, inept Council, weak bldg codes, slack engineers, greedy slumlords & property managers neglecting Quake Prone Buildings below code.
Jake's old Poplar Mews flat, Poplar St, was a couple of blocks away from where CTV had collapsed.
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordoned red zone, Tuam St / Madras St, national state of emergency. CPIT Music School right, St Asaph St / High St
22.04.11. W view, Feb 22 quake damaged Tuam St, seen from Madras St / Tuam St checkpoint, red zone, national state of emergency. Cops' / NZDF soldiers' wooden checkpoint hut left
22.04.11. Feb 22 quake damaged Edward Gibbon, seen from Madras St / Tuam St checkpoint, red zone, national state of emergency. Edward Gibbon would be demolished post June 13 quake
22.04.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged bldgs, Tuam St, seen from Tuam St / Madras St checkpoint, red zone, national state of emergency. Edward Gibbon & neighbouring bldgs would be demolished post June 13 quake
Two months post Feb 22 Killer Quake, Christchurch red zone, cordoned CBD was extremely dangerous. Many demolitions & years of quake-safe rebuilds would happen before people would be attracted back to the broken, silted, sewaged CBD.
22.04.11. Auckland sewage truck, Bealey Ave, national state of emergency
Bealey Ave: Driving home to Burnside, I stopped to snap a sewage sucker truck. White printed ads on the blue tanker sides:
Drilling Waste Removal
Cesspit, Pond & Septic Cleaning
Phone...
Hydro Jetting
Vacuum Combo
Drain Cleaning /
Unblocking
Cesspits
For years post quakes, sewage sucker trucks were ubiquitous in Christchurch. "Unblocking Cesspits" said it all.
*Trekked Manchester St, Peterborough St, Madras St, Salisbury St, Barbadoes St, Chester St East, Armagh St, Latimer Sq, Gloucester St, Worcester St, Hereford St, Cashel St, Lichfield St, Tuam St, Bealey Ave. 169 snaps.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
looking forward to some pics...
ReplyDeletewe did Barbadoes/ Lichfield/Tuam the other day.
You said - "View of high rises beyond cordon, Madras St white high rise, roof damaged. Big, green, plastic sewage tank on Avon River bank, Oxford Tce." - My son worked at The Poplars and sounds like it will be red stickered... might have been this as it is on Madeas/Chester cnr on river -
The white high rise was directly opposite the intersection Fi, dunno if your son's? Will work on pics soon, big job, then you can check.
ReplyDeleteThe Poplar's yes, beside what is now a community health information centre building at 80 Chester Street East and directly opposite the smallish clocktower. 80 Chester used to be CBL computers back in the late 70's early 80's and it's here i started my first job in 1978 after leaving school. CBL morphed into what is now Datacom :) ... great Oaks from small acorns...as they say.
ReplyDeleteThose Victorian houses on the corner of Chester St East and Madras that are shown - one [or possibly both] used to be owned [and appear still to be] by Anna Crighton, City Councillor and Historic Places Trust Board member
http://www.nz-holiday.co.nz/crighton/index.html
Great post again Mark
Cheers
Sandy
Very interesting thanks Sandy. Will be interesting to see if those old houses survive demolishers. Chester St East was very quiet when I wandered by, had it to myself.
ReplyDeleteSmall world. I even went for a sub editing job interview for medical mags in one of the nearby Oxford Tce bldgs over 10 yrs ago. Turned the temp job down, low pay. Go well.
Fi, your comment about your son reminded me that my eldest son had flatted in Poplar St off Lichfield St for about a year when it was being revamped as pub land / Lichfield Lanes. Always felt the 3 storey, old brick bldg was a fire trap, gave me the creeps whenever I went in. Only 2 blocks from the CTV bldg.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to get more into the red zone to see if Poplar St survived, as long cordon views down Lichfield St & Tuam St showed nearby bldgs all damaged. Poplar St boutique shops & pubs survived Sept 4 & Boxing Day quakes well.
Most of Poplar St was demolished.
ReplyDelete