Publications

Heritage New Zealand Magazine Magazine Request Winter 2008 Autumn 2008 Summer 2007 Spring 2007 Winter 2007 Autumn 2007 Summer 2006 Spring 2006 Winter 2006 Autumn 2006 Summer 2005 Spring 2005 Winter 2005 50th Anniversary commemorative issue Autumn 2005 Summer 2004 Spring 2004 Winter 2004 Autumn 2004 Summer 2003 Spring 2003 Winter 2003 Autumn 2003 Summer 2002 Spring 2002 NZ Historic Places Magazine May 2002 February 2002 November 2001 August 2001 May 2001 February 2001 November 2000 August 2000 May 2000 February 2000

From issue: Spring 2003

Colourful Mix in High Street

by Amanda Cropp

Take a look down Christchurch's High Street and you will find the restored ANZ Chambers building hard to miss.

ANZ Chambers - restored and protected. Photo: Jason Boa

With its Edwardian frontage, bright pots of geraniums lining the window sills and dramatic domed turret, Christchurch's ANZ Chambers epitomises the long-awaited renaissance of what had been a rather shabby part of the city.

Over recent years, an eclectic mix of boutiques, cafes and antique shops have appeared in many of High St's old buildings. But the flagship of them all is undoubtedly the ANZ Chambers, newly restored by two businessmen fervently in favour of saving old buildings. Last year, their efforts were recognised with two awards in the annual Hagley-Ferrymead Community Board Heritage Awards.

Andrew Hodge and Craig McWilliams initially leased groundfloor premises in the building for Inspirations, their metaphysical gift shop. Hodge says that after a disgruntled customer from the second-floor massage parlour started a small fire, insurers refused cover while the parlour remained. The owner of the building approached the pair to see if they were interested in buying it.

They were, and sold their old restored house in Sydenham to pay the deposit. Until the upper two floors are converted into an apartment, they are living in a couple of rooms above the old bank vault.

Hodge says the building is particularly interesting because of its unusual shape, a result of the way Lichfield St intersects High St at an angle, creating a triangular site. "Buildings built on corners like this are called flat-iron buildings. They're almost always architecturally interesting - like the Flatiron building in New York's Union Square. I've been studying flat-iron buildings around the world and there are very few left. I'd consider this to be in the top 10."

The ANZ Chambers is registered as a Category II historic place. A conservation plan is being prepared in conjunction with the Christchurch City Council, and Hodge and McWilliams have agreed to have a conservation covenant placed on it so the building cannot be demolished.

Although built in 1915, the chambers' style matches the neighbouring ANZ Bank building, built in 1905. Hodge believes the bank had plans drawn up for the chambers but the elderly owner of the house on the corner refused to move.The plans were put aside until his death."When he died they bowled his house and built this," Hodge says.

Over the years, a drapery, bike shop, dentist, milliner, piano store, real estate agency and takeaway bar have at various times occupied the building. By the time Hodge and McWilliams bought it, many of the original features had been unsympathetically modified.The upstairs area used by the massage parlour was painted lipstick pink, there was a large mural of Greek erotica and all the windows were painted black and nailed shut.
Hodge says it was a major exercise fixing the 13 double-hung sashes so they all opened and closed properly. An unusual curved sash window was restored at huge expense. "We got a joiner to build a new frame and had the glass specially bent for it (by a Dunedin glass artist). It cost $2000."

The pressed-tin ceiling in the ground-floor shop was in a bad state, with large areas damaged or missing. Hodge says experts told them it was past redemption and, unable to find anything similar in wreckers' yards, they had replica sections made from fibreglass. "Now, nobody knows where the new stuff is and it's painted with paint made from real gold leaf. We spent 200 hours doing that ceiling."

Old photographs showed the shop had double doors set flush with the footpath but they had been removed. During renovations, they were found in the walls where they had been used as joists. Completely taken apart and reglued, they are back in place, as are all the fancy mouldings around the windows."It all went back like a jigsaw, 100 per cent how it had been originally. There's not a single piece missing," Hodge says.

After 12 years as a horticulturist at the Botanic Gardens and with a reputation for creating stunning gardens around the houses he has restored, Hodge might understandably miss the greenery after opting for inner-city living. He says not and gestures out the window to street plots of roses and annuals.Then there are the 71 potted geraniums lining the window ledges and kept fertilised with the byproducts of a worm farm in the basement - a trend copied by other High St buildings.

Although they have spent $70,000 so far on restoring the building, rewiring and replumbing, and have a lot more work to do, Hodge and McWilliams are adamant it is money well spent. Customers coming to browse the rocks, crystals and incense in Inspirations certainly appreciate the atmosphere. Says Hodge: "Everyone who comes into this shop absolutely loves the building,
the wooden floors, the ceiling, everything about it."

Amanda Cropp is a freelance writer.