Pallet Pavilion, Victoria Sq, Street Art Around Christ Church Cathedral Ruin

Pallet Pavilion, Victoria Sq, Cathedral Sq, Street Art focus. Saturday afternoon, 06.07.13. Leah & I wanted to hear live music & see Street Art in Cathedral Sq. Since NZDF-soldiers left the red-zone cordon last week, after occupying Christchurch CBD for 28 months post 22 February 2011 Quake & although there were still many cordon fences around buildings & across streets in the CBD, citizens went back to the CBD to see demolition-sites & ruins & Restart Cashel Mall shops & some reopened New Regent St shops. The remaining CBD was a Zombie land with a few shops & bars opened on old CBD borders.

06.07.13. Colombo St / Peterborough St view: Faux pissoir for ads, abandoned Copthorne Hotel awaited demolition for the new RC Cathedral precinct. Forsyth Barr / Crowne Plaza Hotel behind awaited repairs

Like last weekend, we wanted to trek Colombo St Bridge to Victoria Sq. But we experiencec NO ENTRY SMF-cordons across Colombo St  which blocked our way near abandoned Town Hall. So much for CERA's trumpeted removal of cordon fencing!

06.07.13. NO ENTRY. Orange, plastic, road cones, steel mesh fence cordon. Colombo St / Kilmore St view, Colombo St Bridge. Abandoned Copthorne Hotel awaited demolition for the new RC Cathedral precinct. Forsyth Barr / Crowne Plaza Hotel beyond awaited repairs

We trekked Kilmore St to Pallet Pavilion. Leah stood in front of Town Hall's front door for the first time since the 22 February 2011 Quake. Town Hall was still SMF-cordoned, awaiting repairs, but the shipping container barriers were gone.

06.07.13. Steel mesh fence cordoned, abandoned, Christchurch Town Hall awaited repairs, Kilmore St

06.07.13. Shipping container, kitchen / shop, Crowne Plaza Hotel demolition site, Kilmore St. Abandoned Christchurch Town Hall left awaited repairs

06.07.13. Crowne Plaza Hotel demolition site, Kilmore St. The Arcades & Pallet Pavilion on site. Victoria Square apartments awaited demolition left behind for NZ govt's / CERA's Blueprint Convention Centre / Te Pae. Open Court House, Durham St Nth middle behind. 2022. Court House would be Huadu International Management Group, Huadu Education included

06.07.13. Crowne Plaza Hotel demolition site, Kilmore St. Abandoned Town Hall left awaited repairs. Gap Filler hut left. Mini Golf, The Arcades middle. Abandoned Forsyth Barr / Crowne Plaza Hotel behind left awaited repairs. Behind The Arcades, Victoria Square apartments awaited demolition for NZ Govt's / CERA's Blueprint Convention Centre / Te Pae

06.07.13. The Arcades, Pallet Pavilion, Crowne Plaza Hotel demolition site, Kilmore St. Abandoned Forsyth Barr / Crowne Plaza Hotel behind awaited repairs

06.07.13. Steel / orange, plastic, fence cordon. The Arcades, Pallet Pavilion, Crowne Plaza Hotel demolition site, Kilmore St. Abandoned Forsyth Barr / Crowne Plaza Hotel behind awaited repairs. Victoria Square apartments behind right awaited demolition for NZ govt's / CERA's Blueprint Convention Centre / Te Pae

06.07.13. Flea market, Pallet Pavilion, Kilmore St. Abandoned Forsyth Barr / Crowne Plaza Hotel behind left awaited repairs. Victoria Square apartments behind right awaited demolition for NZ govt's / CERA's Blueprint Convention centre / Te Pae

06.07.13. Flea market, Pallet Pavilion, Kilmore St. Abandoned Spicers behind awaited demolition for new lawyers' offices, Durham St Nth

Kilmore St / Durham St Nth: We saw a flea market trading at Pallet Pavilion. Stacked blue pallets were a wind-break for customers sitting on pallets while chomping food & drinks bought from a refreshment stall & trailer shops. Leah liked the new, wooden, relocatable Arcades going to Victoria Sq.
 

06.07.13. Pallet Pavilion, food trailers, Kilmore St. Abandoned Forsyth Barr / Crowne Plaza Hotel behind left awaited repairs. Victoria Square apartments middle awaited demolition for NZ govt's / CERA's Blueprint Convention Centre / Te Pae. Court House behind right. 2022. Court House would be Huadu International Management Group, incl Huadu Education

06.07.13. Steel / orange, plastic, fence cordon. The Arcades, Crowne Plaza Hotel demolition site, Kilmore St. Christchurch Casino right

We trekked to Victoria Sq & saw abandoned Town Hall was still SMF-cordoned awaiting repairs. We saw the floral clock again, 28 months post-quake, but the minute arm jerked, still unrepaired!.

06.07.13. Floral Clock, Victoria Sq. Open Court House behind

We stood on Victoria Bridge (repaired 2016) & looked at downstream Avon River to Colombo St Bridge , still SMF-cordoned. We looked upstream to Armagh St Bridge which was open for pedestrian traffic.

Bordering Victoria Sq: multi-storey Craigs House was gone, demolished. Multi-storey Victoria Square apartments still awaited demolition for CCDU's Blueprint Convention Centre / Te Pae. Multi-storey Copthorne Hotel awaited demolition. Multi-storey Forsyth Barr awaited repairs for the "new" Crowne Plaza Hotel. The National Bank / Isaac House, opposite Forsyth Barr, would be the new Convention Centre's / Te Pae's neighbour. Ghost hotels, like Millennium Hotel / Distinction Hotel stayed in the CBD, hoping tourism would restart.

The longer the Anglican Church delayed repairing Christ Church Cathedral & the longer the Crown delayed building CCDU's Convention Centre / Te Pae, the longer it would take for hotels to flourish. As CBD hotels would benefit from Christ Church Cathedral tourism & Convention Centre / Te Pae clients, why didn't CBD hotels contribute to restoring Christ Church Cathedral & contribute to the Convention Centre / Te Pae rebuild?

Gloucester St:  NO THROUGH ROUTE FOLLOW DETOUR. The western part of the street was closed near abandoned Central Library awaiting demolition for CCDU's Blueprint Convention Centre / Te Pae. CERA's & SCIRT's street closures & detours happened all over Christchurch. One week a street was open, the next closed!br />

06.07.13. NO THROUGH ROUTE. Orange, plastic, road cones. Gloucester St by Cathedral Sq left. Abandoned Central Library right awaited demolition for NZ govt's / CCDU's Blueprint Convention Centre / Te Pae

06.07.13. Steel mesh fence cordon. Serial quake trashed, Christ Church Cathedral, Cathedral Sq

06.07.13. Godley statue plinth left, Cathedral Sq. Godley statue fell in the 22.20.11 quake. Abandoned Rydges Hotel behind right. 2021. Rydges Hotel was still abandoned together with the multi-storey carpark below

06.07.13. Junk art on fence cordon, ruined Christ Church Cathedral, Cathedral Sq. Abandoned Millennium Hotel / Distinction Hotel right

06.07.13. Junk art on fence cordon, ruined Christ Church Cathedral, Cathedral Sq. Junk art, vegetation whare in front of Cathedral. The whare would pollute Cathedral Sq for the next 6 years, easy target for taggers. Repaired Novotel & Rendezvous Hotel / Pacific Tower left, abandoned Millennium Hotel / Distinction Hotel right 

Cathedral Sq: A band played on a temporary stage, backed by SMF-cordoned & abandoned PO & Telecom. A stage-front board:

WELCOME BACK
CATHEDRAL SQUARE...

The old PO would be repaired & reopened as The Grand, August 2022.

06.07.13. WELCOME BACK, band playing on temp stage, Cathedral Sq. Abandoned, old PO behind

06.07.13. Band playing, Cathedral Sq. Abandoned, old PO, abandoned Telecom behind. The old PO would be repaired & reopened as The Grand, Aug 2022

People looked at street art, where artists had covered cordon fencing around Christ Church Cathedral ruin with bright geometric designs on a black background. They'd stuck 1 000s of coloured plastic squares, forming more geometric designs into SMF-cordon wires which bordered ruins around Cathedral Sq.

06.07.13. Shipping container cordon. Quake damaged, boarded, N transept, Christ Church Cathedral, Cathedral  Sq

06.07.13. Quake damaged apse, N transept, Christ Church Cathedral, Cathedral Sq

06.07.13. Junk art on fence cordon, quake damaged, S nave wall, S transept, Christ Church Cathedral, Cathedral Sq. Steel gate & steel mesh on fence cordon

06.07.13. Junk art on steel mesh fence cordon, Cathedral Sq / Colombo St. Boarded, part demolished BNZ left. Spark multi-storey would be built on BNZ demo site

06.07.13. Junk art on steel mesh fence cordon, Cathedral Sq / Colombo St. Closed public toilets, open Ibis Hotel right

06.07.13. Junk art on steel mesh fence cordon, ANZ demolition site, Colombo St / Cathedral Sq. Closed public toilets, open Ibis Hotel left. Abandoned, old PO, abandoned Telecom right

Incongruously, a whare shed, covered in vegetation, was plonked before the cordon fence before the ruined western facade of Christ Church Cathedral. The whare's A-frame echoed the ruined western facade. The whare would stay in Cathedral Sq for the next six years, a taggers target!

Instead of fixing ruined-roads, Council paid artists for street art! Gaps in the cordon fence (steel gates & steel mesh) were left for citizens to stare at ruined Christ Church Cathedral.

06.07.13. Steel gate & steel mesh on junk art, fence cordon, quake trashed, W facade, Christ Church Cathedral, Cathedral Sq

06.07.13. Junk art, SW cordon fence, quake trashed Christ Church Cathedral, Cathedral Sq

Deconsecrated Christ Church Cathedral became the spook behind the street art. The ruined cathedral was steel-braced & its window were boarded. Cordon fencing & stacked shipping-containers stopped public from entering the cathedral. .

We saw new information boards on Cathedral Sq describing historic topics like Christchurch transport, also incongruous, as there was only foot traffic in Cathedral Sq. Board headings:

JOURNEY CENTRAL...

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT... (NZ National government's, National party slogan: A BRIGHTER FUTURE).

A VAST CHANGING CANVAS...

TOGETHER, TO GATHER...

Near the cop-kiosk, we saw a man touting tacky advert boards:

RED ZONE
TOURS
2.5 HOURS OF THE
MOST AMAZING
EARTHQUAKE SIGHTS
YOU WILL EVER SEE...

2 HOUR LOCAL TOUR $65
3 HOUR LOCAL TOUR $75
GREATEST TOUR        $249
WINE TOUR                  $140...

06.07.13. Junk art on steel mesh fence cordon, NW cnr Cathedral Sq

06.07.13. Tourist ad boards, Cathedral Sq. Closed Camelot hotel, behind left awaited demolition for Central Library / Turanga rebuild. Repaired Novotel middle. Cop kiosk right would be demolished 2021

 

06.07.13. Ad bike, cop kiosk, Cathedral Sq

 

06.07.13. N cnr Colombo St / Cathedral Sq view, steel mesh fence cordoned, ghosts & repaired bldgs: Camelot Hotel ghost left awaited demolition for Central Library / Turanga rebuild. Repaired Novotel behind left. Repaired Heritage Hotel right

As most buildings were abandoned & cordoned around Cathedral Sq, we wouldn't return for a while.

*Trekked Colombo St, Kilmore St, Gloucester St, Cathedral Sq. 48 images.

Coda:

2021. The cop-kiosk would be demolished for contractor space for Reinstatement to begin on Christ Church Cathedral. We would see a Heritage hailer notice on the fence cordon pleading for public donations for Christ Church Cathedral's reinstatement. But expensive restoration of Christ Church Cathedral would take years & lots of money! Meanwhile Christchurch Basilica mouldered, awaiting demolition, Barbadoes St.

Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.