Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Killer Quake. Peterborough St Ghosts, EXTREME DANGER KEEP OUT


11.05.11. Dog on Feb 22, quake cracked, Avon River footpath, Cambridge Tce / Peterborough St

Peterborough St focus. Wed 11.05.11. Eleven weeks post 22 Feb, M6.3 Killer Quake, I parked my car, Peterborough St / Cambridge Tce. Weeks before, when I'd trekked that way along parallel Salisbury St, Peterborough St was still in the CBD, NO GO red zone, during the National State of Emergency. The National State of Emergency was over, but the NO GO red zone was still intact, guarded by cops & NZDF soldiers at steel mesh fence cordon checkpoints. Cordon fences had moved inwards, strangling the CBD red zone. Peterborough St, fence cordon, threat signs:

EXTREME
 DANGER
    KEEP
     OUT

From my snaps, I gave lots of quake destruction details in Peterborough St. Multiply that out 1000s of time for an idea of Christchurch destruction. I trekked both sides of Peterborough St, Cambridge Tce to Montreal St return:

Peterborough St: Many red stickered ghosts had DANGER KEEP OUT white, plastic tape across driveways, or gates, or doors, or windows. Those ghosts would be demolished:

*Cnr ghost house: broken steel, garden gates, tilted garage, green portaloo on pavement. Jogger passed. The house would be demolished & rebuilt. Opp the house, a stray fox terrier ran along the cracked, displaced tarseal footpath beside Avon River. Many dogs & cats became strays during quake times.
*Fallen brick porch wall, brick rubble on pavement. More brick rubble heaps on opp pavement.
*Fallen brick chimney & side wall, rooms exposed, brick rubble in driveway, steel mesh fence cordoned, white, plastic taped DANGER KEEP OUT. Texting girl stood on pavement awaiting a lift. The house would be demolished.
*Red stickered, 2 storey, fallen brick side walls, exposed roof space, exposed inner wall & rooms, garage roof conked by fallen bricks, brick rubble in garden, QLD, USAR / TF pink, spray-painted wall. Steel mesh fence cordoned, white, plastic taped DANGER KEEP OUT.
*Red stickered, semi-detached, 2 storey, boarded doors & windows, pink, spray-painted QLD TF1 28/2, steel mesh fenced cordoned, white, plastic taped DANGER KEEP OUT.
*Red stickered house, boarded front door, overgrown garden.
*Yellow stickered house. Boarded front door. White, plastic taped DANGER KEEP OUT.
*Boarded house windows, garage door hanging open, orange, spray-painted, Taiwan 28 Feb. Grey quakemire by garage.
*patrick architecture sign by a front gate, pink, spray-painted USAR / TF graffiti:
                                                   
                                                           NG
                                                      QLD TF1
                                                          28/2
                                                          1721

Pavement green, spray-painted:
                         
                             NZRT2
                                 C
                               24/2   

Four days later, a Queensland USAR / TF team had double-checked a NZRT team.


11.05.11. Jogger, Feb 22 quake damaged house, Cambridge Tce / Peterborough St. The house would be demolished / rebuilt


11.05.11. Green portaloo, Feb 22 quake damaged house, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Cars & Feb 22 quake rubble, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Texting girl, Feb 22 quake damaged house, Peterborough St. The house would be demolished


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged house, Peterborough St. The house would be demolished


11.05.11. Two Feb 22 quake damaged, steel mesh cordoned houses, Peterborough St. The houses would be demolished

Council wanted citizens' input for Council to provide CERA a draft rebuild plan for Christchurch CBD, but citizens were forbidden entry into the CBD red zone, guarded by NZDF soldiers & cops. Citizens were expected to gaze at a website of vicarious quake hell, then provide input how to morph Christchurch CBD into nirvana. Never mind existing in damaged houses, crapping in portaloos & chemical toilets & dodging lumps & cracks on broken roads for months.


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged, red stickered, USAR / TF graffitied, 2 storey, brown house, Peterborough St. The house would be demolished


11.05.11. Green portaloo & Feb 22 quake rubble, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged, red stickered, USAR / TF graffitied, 2 storey, semi-detached houses, Peterborough St. The houses would be demolished



The red zone website pics were taken several weeks post Feb 22 Killer Quake in April, poor quality, sanitized pics, someone's idea of what a quake set should be. Whoever paid for the pics was vampired: crap colour, dark pics, sun strike pics, poor resolution, no interpretation of ground level pics, no upper storeys where much damage happened. Some major red zone CBD streets weren't done, like Barbadoes St, Salisbury St, Peterborough St, Oxford Tce, St Asaph St, Montreal St, the four Avenues. (A year later the website would be gone from the internet).


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged house & overgrown garden, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged, DANGER KEEP OUT, white, plastic taped house, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, liquefactioned, USAR / TF graffitied, garage, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged, steel mesh fence cordoned house, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged, architect's gate & USAR / TF graffiti, Peterborough St / Madras St. C meant Clear, no bodies


11.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged, novo bldg, Peterborough St / Madras St. Novo bldg would be demolished


From Peterborough St I watched changing of the orange, Hi-Visted Territorials guard, Madras St / Kilmore St: ROAD CLOSED. Checkpoint hut. NO GO red zone. Several NZDF soldiers swapping over. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Yellow, Hi-Vis jacketed cop hovering. The Poplars, creamy white ghost behind would be demolished. It was just one of many variable checkpoints seen on the CBD cordon. CBD military checkpoints would carry on for 28 months while CERA slowly shrunk the CBD cordon. There were no military checkpoints in the suburbs.


Peterborough St: There was much liquefaction damage, many ghosts, several complete or part demolition sites & a demolition in progress, Peterborough St / Victoria St : gouged Early Childhood Education & Antique World ghost. Colourful pavement portaloos abounded. USAR / TF graffiti on doors, walls, pavements added colour to drab, quaked Peterborough St. Southern Demolition digger wasn't working then, as workmen chucked debris from the Victoria St bldg onto a huge rubble pile, stationery fluttering around. On Victoria St stood a smaller salvage heap of copper. As the bldg was steel mesh fence cordoned, what valuables were slipped into demolishers' pockets? Nice to be able to demolish hundreds of red zoned, cordoned bldgs, protected by DANGER signs, fence cordons, cops & NZDF soldiers, without public & owners' scrutiny.

Months later, The Press published stories of demolishers' denials about flogging "salvage" goods at a Christchurch warehouse. Owners had been assured in writing nothing was salvageable. "Looters" were blamed of course. (The Press 11.10.11, Community House demolition).

Later in a published book, Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce boss Townsend said that CBD red zone business owners had sneaked past the red zone cordon to retrieve business records from their cordoned bldgs. Townsend didn't divulge names nor bldgs. If true, checkpoint cops & soldiers were slack. That made Arie Voorkamp's & mate's March hassling by soldiers & cops as "looters" for stealing light bulbs ridiculous. The pair were gaoled without charge for days. Why didn't cops or NZDF soldiers arrest Townsend's sneaky business owners invading the cordon?

Peterborough St, ghost housing:

*Red stickered house. Overgrown garden. White, plastic taped DANGER KEEP OUT. Orange, spray-painted, Taiwan 28 Feb, on garden fence. Shattered pavement tarseal.
*Crumbled concrete ring foundations. Roof cnr, black tarped. Shattered pavement tarseal.
*Collapsed roof gutters, exposed roof space. Buckled brick side wall. Garden wall, yellow, spray-painted, Taiwan 28 Feb.
*2 storey house, collapsed garage, brick & roof rubble in garden, yellow / black plastic taped.
*Block of flats: Cracked concrete wall, snapped concrete curb on driveway. Orange spray-painted:
                                   Taiwan         
                                    28 Feb
                                    0942
                                    0945
The Taiwan USAR team took 3 minutes to check a block of flats!
*Yellow stickered house. Front door, white, plastic taped, DANGER KEEP OUT. Sign on door:
         Danger
    Do Not enter                        Sign on window:      Danger
                                                                                Live Wires


11.05.11. White, plastic, tape cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged, USAR / TF graffitied, houses, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Yellow, plastic, tape cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged, USAR / TF graffitied housing & liquefactioned driveway, Peterborough St


Peterborough St: Sunk, tilted, crooked ghosts all along Peterborough St: red stickered, plastic, DANGER taped, steel mesh fence cordoned. Overgrown gardens. USAR / TF, spray-painted graffiti on pavements, walls & windows: Taiwan... NSW... QLD...


11.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake, liquefactioned Shipleys Audiovisual, Peterborough St. Shipleys Audiovisual would be demolished



11.05.11. USAR / TF graffiti & Feb 22 quake damaged staircase, Shipleys Audiovisual, Peterborough St. Shipleys Audiovisual would be demolished


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, grey liquefaction muddied Knit World, Peterborough St


One quake tilted block of 8 flats was evacuated with grey quakemire a foot deep in places, gates flung aside, garden furniture in deep silt, walls skew, paving stones buckled. Looking into a ground floor flat: jumbled, rotting furniture, mould, scum & green seedlings grew in grey silt on the rotting, lounge carpet. The 8 flats would survive the quakes.

City Oasis Motel ghost: Signs of quick evacuation: pots, pans, bottles, crockery, glasses, bedding, mail strewn. Those bldgs were dangerous & health hazards. City Oasis Motel would be demolished.


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged, water pipe, pavement & green portaloo, Peterborough St

Peterborough St, ghost housing:

*Block of flats: Crooked concrete block gate post. Muddy pavement, broken tarseal.
*Red stickered house. Brick rubble in garden. Front door, stained glass windows intact. Tilted garage walls. Green portaloo on pavement.
*Red stickered, 2 storey house, boarded front door, tilted wooden porch, displaced louvre window panes, steel mesh fence cordoned, white, plastic taped DANGER KEEP OUT.
*Red stickered house.
*Peterborough St / Manchester St ghost flats. Fallen gables & walls, exposed rooms & roof spaces, gable boards & brick rubble in garden & driveway. The flats would be demolished.



11.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged garage, gatepost & pavement, Peterborough St


11.05.11. White, plastic, tape cordon. Feb 22 quake, red stickered house, stained glass windows & quake rubble, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, rubbish bins, green portaloo, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake tilted garage, Peterborough St


11.05.11. White, plastic tape, steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake, red stickered, USAR / TF graffitied, double storey, white house, Peterborough St



Peterborough St, ghost businesses, spooked me:

*Knit World: Deep grey silt outside, doors open, silt on floors, office furniture straightened.
*Shipleys Audiovisual: Liquefaction damaged, abandoned, door open, broken staircase inside.
*Travel Agency: Fallen brochures & poster.


11.05.11. White, plastic, tape cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged flats, Peterborough St. The left bldgs would be demolished



11.05.11. Sept 4 quake damaged, Feb 22 quake trashed bldg, Peterborough St. The bldgs would be demolished


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, red stickers, Burgundy portaloo & USAR / TF graffiti, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, red stickers, Burgundy portaloo & Peterborough St view, quake trashed St Lukes Anglican Church transept. St Lukes would be demolished


11.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged St Lukes Close, Peterborough St / Manchester St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, Peterborough St view, steel mesh fence cordoned, NO GO red zone, Manchester St. St Lukes Anglican Church left would be demolished


11.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake, Peterborough St view, St Lukes Anglican Church, quake damaged transept & nave, Manchester St. St Lukes would be demolished


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, liquefactioned Advantage Finance, Peterborough St / Manchester St. Advantage Finance would be demolished. 2019. Peterborough Urban Farm would grow produce on site


11.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged, double garages & 2 storey house,  Peterborough St / Manchester St. The bldgs would be demolished


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake damage, City Oasis Motel, Peterborough St. City Oasis would be demolished


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, abandoned pots & saucepans, City Oasis Motel, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, liquefactioned, tilted flats, Peterborough St. The flats would survive the quakes


EXTREME DANGER KEEP OUT. Some ghosts, Like St Lukes Anglican Church, Manchester St / Kilmore St, damaged in the Sept 4 Darfield Quake, were trashed in the Feb 22 Killer Quake. Fallen transept wall & fallen W nave wall seen from Peterborough St. I saw right through St Lukes transept from one open gable to the other, wooden roof arches OK. St Lukes would be demolished. Burgundy portaloo on pavement. Orange, spray-painted, USAR graffiti on St Lukes Close wall:
                       N
                  Taiwan
                   28 Feb
                   1015
                   1058
           WHOLE COM
43 minutes' squizz, St Lukes Close, by Taiwan USAR. (Imagine being cordoned from your home or business & your possessions riffled by dirty strangers. That happened thousands of times in cordoned, lockdown Christchurch by USAR / TF & RT searchers. Little rescuing went on, as home & business owners had fled their properties during quakes).
Grey quakemire was still in carparks, driveways, roadsides. Pavements were cracked, buckled or humped, burst water pipes trickled in places.

Peterborough St, more ghost housing:

*Advantage Finance: yellow stickered, carpets in liquefactioned garden, padlocked front gate, steel mesh fence cordoned. 2019. The demo site & neighbouring demo sites would be used to grow produce for Peterborough Urban Farm. (See Coda).
*2 storey house, cracked tilted garage, steel mesh fence cordoned. Beige portaloo on pavement. The house would be demolished.
*3 storey house, boarded wall, blue tarp covered demolished chimney space. Cracked, tilted brick garden wall, white, plastic tape cordoned.
*Red stickered, 2 storey house, fallen brick parapet, fallen brick walls, exposed rooms, rubble in garden, white, plastic tape cordoned.
*Red stickered house, fallen brick chimney, broken, stone garden wall, white, plastic tape cordoned. Garden wall stones & Burgundy portaloo on pavement.
*Red stickered, 2 storey wooden house, fallen brick firewall, brick rubble in garden, tilted lower bay window, weakest point, broken bay window, leaded glass, steel mesh fence cordoned. The house would be demolished.


11.05.11. White, plastic, tape cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged, boarded house, Peterborough St





11.05.11. White, plastic, tape cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged, 2 storey house, Peterborough St. The house would be demolished


 



 11.05.11. Quake damaged house, Burgundy portaloo, Peterborough St
 
 11.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged housing, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged, 2 storey house, Peterborough St. I saw several such 2 storey houses, lower storey bent under the weight of the upper storey, bay window weakest point & crooked. The house would be demolished




Two North Islander blokes asked how to see Christ Church Cathedral. "The nearest you'll get is a zoom view southwards down Colombo St from the red zone cordon," I said. "Or go to Worcester St Bridge by Cambridge Tce for a view of Christ Church Cathedral obscured by a red zone, steel mesh fence cordon & autumn trees."

It would be months before Anglicans deconsecrated Christ Church Cathedral & CERA allowed citizens to part view cordoned Christ Church Cathedral. Thereafter Heritage hailers would cry, "Save the Cathedral!" And obstructing court cases by retired politicians Jim Anderton & Philip Burdon would retard the rebuild of Cathedral Sq, while Christ Church Cathedral ghost rotted for years.


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, Peterborough St view, No Go, red zone: PWC left (to be demolished) Forsyth Barr centre (to be refurbished as Crowne Plaza Hotel) Natcoll right, would be demolished, 2012

Peterborough St, more ghosts:

*2 storey tilted house, steel mesh fence cordoned.
*7 storey Natcoll, boarded windows, steel mesh fence cordoned, fence sign:
                                                   EXTREME DANGER                                                                                                                               KEEP OUT
Jake had done tertiary studies at Natcoll, which would be demolished.
*6 storey MEDLAB, steel mesh fence cordoned. MEDLAB BLOOD TEST OPEN sign, pink, spray-pained by USAR / TF graffiti. CBD red zoned, abandoned PWC, Town Hall, Forsyth Barr & collapsed 2 storey, brick bldg behind: collapsed roof space, exposed rooms, brick & concrete rubble in carpark.
*Office furniture & equipment salvaged in an open, house garage. Green portaloo on pavement.
*2 storey wooden house, side wall collapsed, brick & wood rubble & collapsed scaffolding heaped in garden, rooms exposed, steel mesh fence cordoned. The house would be demolished. Beige portaloo on pavement.
*2 storey wooden house, collapsed roof, collapsed, upper brick walls, broken window panes, exposed rooms, rubble in garden, steel mesh fence cordoned. The house would be demolished.
*Red stickered, Pegasus Rental Cars: boarded front door, fallen brick wall, brick rubble on concrete pad, steel mesh fence cordoned.

*Peterborough St / Colombo St: Red stickered, cnr bldg, boarded ground floor windows. Empty demolition site across Colombo St, parked orange digger. 2 storey bldg next door, awaited demolition: ground floor windows gone, exposed shop, fallen brick gable, an old, black-painted ad on a brick side wall:
                 [H]OUSEHOLD
                         AXON
*Diag opp cnr: Abandoned Office Max, fallen office furniture, shelving, stationery, nothing in place, liquefaction dust everywhere.
*Steel mesh fence cordoned, Colombo St, S view: Town Hall would be restored. Opp Convention Centre ghost would be demolished. Abandoned shops, workmen in hard hats & orange, Hi-Vis vests by orange digger & demolition rubble trucks. 3 high rise ghosts, to be demolished: PWC, tilted Hotel Grand Chancellor, Copthorne Hotel. Forsyth Barr, to be restored as Crowne Plaza Hotel. Christ Church Cathedral to be reinstated from 2021...) fallen tower, stone rubble heap in Cathedral Sq. Steel "Battering Ram" supported the W wall by the rose window.


11.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake bent, 2 storey house, Peterborough St. Natcoll behind would be demolished, 2012


11.05.11. EXTREME DANGER KEEP OUT steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake, Natcoll in No Go, red zone & CBD high rises, Peterborough St. PWC & Forsyth Barr right. Natcoll & PWC would be demolished, 2012. PWC demolished for the new RC Cathedral precinct. Forsyth Barr would be refurbished as Crowne Plaza Hotel


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, liquefactioned MEDLAB bldg, NO GO, red zone, Peterborough St. MEDLAB would be demolished, 2012


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, Peterborough St view, collapsed bldg in No Go, red zone, Kilmore St / Colombo St. Christchurch quake damaged Town Hall behind. The bldg would be demolished. Town Hall would be repaired


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, green portaloo & garage storage, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake, beige portaloo, rubbish bin, quake damaged house, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, part demolition, 2 quake trashed houses, Peterborough St. The houses would be demolished


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, blitzed Pegasus Rental Cars & trashed house, Peterborough St. Pegasus Rental Cars would be demolished


Peterborough St: Concrete curbs & iron drain covers by Cranmer Court ghost were broken, buckled. Opp was a concrete slab scoured by digger tracks, where a hotel once stood. Nearby a storage garage stood wide open. By another garage, 3 adults wrestled a crooked door open. Cranmer Court was damaged in the Sept 4 Darfield Quake, trashed in the Feb 22 Killer Quake, stone rubble everywhere, Montreal St / Kilmore St sides. After more damage in the June 13 Quake & Xmas Quake, 2011, Cranmer Court would be demolished after protests. 2023. Cranmer Terraces would be built on site.

Behind damaged Jubilee Clock Tower, grey Victoria Mansions ghost: Cracked back & front walls, wiggly lines of pink, spray-paint on ground level walls, checking for liquefaction settlement. Victoria Mansions would survive the quakes, abandoned for years.


11.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged bldgs, faux pissoir, Peterborough St / Colombo St. The cnr bldg would be demolished, replaced by a cnr park, then a new office bldg



11.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake, faux pissoir, quake damaged, brick bldg, Peterborough St / Colombo St. Brick "Axon" brick bldg would be demolished


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, Peterborough St cordon view, NO GO, red zone, Colombo St. Brick "Axon" bldg would be demolished, also bldgs both sides of street beyond "Axon," except blue, high rise, Forsyth Barr which would be refurbished as Crowne Plaza Hotel


11.05.11. Orange, plastic, road cone cordon. Demolition site, Colombo St, seen from Peterborough St cordon. Old bldgs right would be demolished too. Quake trashed Town Hall behind right would be repaired. Forsyth Barr high rise, Feb 22 quake damaged, stairwell steps collapsed, would be refurbished as Crowne Plaza Hotel


11.05.11. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Orange, Hi-Vis vested workmen. Feb 22 quake, Peterborough St view, Colombo St, collapsed tower, Christ Church Cathedral, NO GO, red zone. Only current view of Christ Church Cathedral, collapsed tower, citizens banned


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, Peterborough St view, Colombo St demolition site. Behind: PWC & quake tilted Hotel Grand Chancellor. Both would be demolished. Copthorne Hotel & Forsyth Barr right, in CBD NO GO, red zone. Copthorne Hotel would be demolished. Forsyth Barr would be refurbished as Crowne Plaza Hotel


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake trashed travel agency, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake trashed Office Max showroom, Peterborough St / Colombo St



Peterborough St / Durham St Nth: By Christchurch Casino, 2 NZDF soldiers, wearing orange, Hi-Vis vests, checkpointed the red zone CBD by their wooden hut, steel mesh fence cordoned.

Peterborough St / Victoria St: Damaged Christchurch Casino, basement flooded, water pumping, closed. Damaged Crowne Plaza Hotel ghost & another Copthorne Hotel ghost, the latter two in the red zone. Victoria St by Christchurch Casino, no traffic, deserted, a cold wind funnel. Crowne Plaza Hotel & Copthorne Hotel would be demolished.

A yellow sticker, dated 2/3/11, on a Christchurch Casino door read: MINOR DAMAGE TO BASEMENT LEVEL COLLMNS (sic). Why did CD, then CERA allow Christchurch Casino to survive demolitions, while many other Peterborough St bldgs would be demolished? Having read that sticker, you wouldn't catch me visiting Christchurch Casino. How many more soggy, cover ups happened in the forbidden, CBD red zone?

Victoria St: Opp the Casino, closed shops, restaurants, all pink, green, orange, QLD TF1 28/2 spray-painted graffiti on glass doors & windows. PAWNSHOP, an Asian woman packed her car full of boxes. Closed restaurant, broken glasses strewn on the patio, empty bottles & glasses on a flower tub, abandoned 11 weeks before.

Opp the Casino, Early Childhood Education & Antique World demolition in progress. (Described above). Next door, clean demolition site, concrete slab, workman fixing underground cables. New DJCA Sidekick would be built on Early Childhood Centre site.


11.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged bldg, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake junk, USAR / TF graffiti, Peterborough St. CLEAR meant no bodies


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, UNDEFEATED faux pissoir, quake damaged Convention Centre, Peterborough St. Convention Centre would be demolished. 2018-20. CERA's Blueprint Convention Centre / Te Pae would be build by Cathedral Sq

11.05.11. Council conferred with citizens, (Expo) before making a CBD draft rebuild plan for CERA. NZ National govt & EQC awaited geotech reports about land stability, while insurers counted shekels & passed the buck.

13.05.11 letter we received from our FinTel insurer:

"...You should be aware that for those claims involving EQC, we are unable to finalize these until EQC have made their decision. For properties where the damage is considerable, the work is likely to take months to plan, implement and complete. If your property is in an area severely impacted by the liquefaction issues, EQC and local government response to rectification of these land issues will play a central role in our scheduling of work..."

Peterborough St: Returning to my car, more ghosts, jumbled order, as I zig-zagged:

*Behind steel mesh fence cordon, several faux pissoirs, posters yelling: UNDEFEATED
*The Est@blishment, 8 storey, concrete tilt slab bldg, damaged at 2 cnrs, boarded door, steel mesh fence cordoned. The Est@blishment would be demolished. Graffito on pavement, steel SEWER cover:
                                 FONTERRA
                             STOP SHITTING
                             IN OUR RIVERS
*3 storey office bldg, fallen upper 2 storey, outer brick wall, windows intact, patched with black plastic where bricks had fallen between windows, brick rubble & fallen, plastic, rubbish bins in carpark next door, steel mesh fence cordoned. In the front garden a crumpled sign on a table: STRAWBERRY FARE.
*Next door offices, salvaged office furniture, pink, spray-painted NSW TF1 graffiti on office wall.
*ARCHIVES bldg, glass door, pink, spray-painted, NSW TF1 graffiti on glass doors, salvaged office furniture, equipment & rubbish in carpark.
*Salvation Army Divisional HQ, CMS House, Valuers McCormack & McKellar, Aoraki House, Guardian Trust all pink, spray-painted NSW TF1 graffiti on windows & glass doors. Hand written message on Salvation Army HQ glass door: WE ARE STILL OPERATING
                                                                                                        PLEASE PHONE...
CMS House & Guardian Trust would survive the quakes.


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake junk, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, Mini, USAR / TF graffiti, pedestrian, Peterborough St. CLEAR meant no bodies


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, rubbish bins, USAR / TF graffiti, Peterborough St. CLEAR meant no bodies


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, Peterborough St view, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Copthorne Hotel in NO GO, red zone. Both hotels would be demolished


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, Peterborough St view, Salvation Army HQ right, Christchurch Casino left, Durham St Nth


11.05.11. Peterborough St. CMS House, McCormack & McKeller Auctioneers would survive the quakes

11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, Aoraki House, Peterborough St. Quake trashed, Crowne Plaza Hotel behind would be demolished



11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, Guardian Trust, USAR / TF graffitied, Peterborough St / Durham St Nth. Copthorne Hotel right would be demolished. Guardian Trust bldg would survive the quakes


11.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Orange, Hi-Vis vested, NZDF soldiers by their wooden, cordon hut. Feb 22 quake, Durham St Nth, NO GO red zone checkpoint. Copthorne Hotel would be demolished


11.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake, Durham St Nth, NO GO red zone. Orange, Hi-Vis vested, NZDF soldier, checkpoint. Quake damaged Crowne Plaza Hotel, awaited demolition


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged Christchurch Casino, Peterborough St / Durham St Nth. The Est@blishment bldg behind would be demolished


11.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake, yellow digger demolishing Early Childhood Education & Antique World, Peterborough St / Victoria St. DJCA Sidekick would be built on site




11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, yellow stickered, Christchurch Casino back door, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, Christchurch Casino signs, Peterborough St / Victoria St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, deserted Victoria St, Christchurch Casino left & view of quake damaged Crowne Plaza Hotel in cordoned, NO GO red zone. Crowne Plaza Hotel would be demolished


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake closed Christchurch Casino, Victoria St


11.05.11. ROAD CLOSED. EXTREME DANGER KEEP OUT steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake deserted Crowne Plaza Hotel in NO GO red zone, Victoria St / Kilmore St, Christchurch. Crowne Plaza Hotel would be demolished


11.05.11. EXTREME DANGER KEEP OUT. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake deserted Copthorne Hotel & Riverlands House in NO GO red zone, Victoria St / Kilmore St, Christchurch. Copthorne Hotel & Riverlands House would be demolished, Riverlands House rebuilt


11.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged, Riverlands House & closed shops, deserted Victoria St. Riverlands House would be demolished & rebuilt




11.05.11. Feb 22 quake skip, UNDEFEATED faux pissoir, closed shops, Peterborough St / Victoria St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake demolition site view, orange, Hi-Vis vested workman, quake damaged bldg, Victoria St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, storage garage & demolition site view, Early Childhood Education demolition site, Victoria St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake, liquefaction damaged curb & footpath, Peterborough St


11.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged THE EST@BLISHMENT, Peterborough St. A concrete tilt slab bldg. I saw lots of tilt slab bldgs with quake damaged cnrs & slab joins. The Est@blishment would be demolished


11.10.11. Victoria St view, The Est@blishment demolition, Peterborough St. Copthorne Hotel left would also be demolished



11.05.11. Feb 22 quake damaged Cranmer Court, Peterborough St / Montreal St. Cranmer Court would be demolished after protests


11.05.11. Steel mesh fence cordon. Feb 22 quake damaged The Peterborough, Peterborough St / Montreal St. The Peterborough would survive the quakes

*Trekked Peterborough St, Victoria St. 226 snaps.

Coda:

Sept 2019. I would trek Peterborough St again. Many ghosts were demolished, most replaced by new office blocks, new housing, new flats.

Peterborough St / Manchester St: Peterborough Urban Farm grew produce on demolition sites. Info board:

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Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

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