Memories come to life at Christchurch Town Hall

Favourite heritage features from the Town Hall have been carefully restored and are ready to be admired and remembered by visitors when the venue reopens.

People will be able to step inside the Christchurch Town Hall for the first time in eight years at public open days being held this Saturday and Sunday from 12pm until 6pm. Mayor Lianne Dalziel will reopen the Town Hall at midday on Saturday.

Timber, red furnishings, original light fittings and brass signs are some of the distinctive heritage features that have been restored at the Christchurch Town Hall.

The venue was badly damaged in the February 2011 earthquake and has been repaired and restored over the past three years. It has been strengthened to 100 per cent of the New Building Standard and improvements have been made throughout the building to bring it up to modern-day standards.

But the original character and style of the 1972 Warren and Mahoney-designed building, with its white marble, dark timber, rich red fabrics and vibrant artworks, has been preserved as part of the restoration.

Christchurch City Councillor Phil Clearwater, Chair of the Social, Community Development and Housing Committee, says as well as being a world-class performing arts and civic venue, the Town Hall is a heritage taonga for the city. “Many visitors to the Town Hall will have vivid memories of its distinctive heritage features.

“While we’ve taken this opportunity to modernise the building, people will also notice that every effort has been made to retain those design features so the feeling of drama and excitement I remember from attending events there will continue for present and future generations."

Residents will be able to revisit the bold mural Rainbow Pieces by New Zealand artist Pat Hanly which has been restored and rehung in the upstairs foyer. It is made up of 50 panels and was commissioned for the Town Hall by Sir Miles Warren in 1971.

At the time, Hanly said the purpose of the brightly coloured artwork was to emphasise the building’s main function – to entertain.

Becky Helliwell, a Conservator for Emily Fryer Conservation, was part of a team that worked on the mural for three months. She says it is the largest art conservation project she has ever been involved with.

Conservators work on the Pat Hanly mural Rainbow Pieces which has been restored and rehung in the Christchurch Town Hall.

“The paint had started to peel so it was flaking and lifting to varying degrees across the mural and needed to be stabilised and preserved. The artwork was designed specifically for the Town Hall and it really is integral to the space so I think people will enjoy seeing it there again.”

Councillor and Vbase Board Chair Tim Scandrett can’t wait for visitors to see the reopened venue. "There are so many beautiful features in the building for people to be reunited with when they step back inside. It will be a place of memories, but it's also a venue with fantastic facilities that will host exciting events and performances well into the future."

All lighting has been refurbished - including the hanging globe light fittings around the concourse - and old lamps have been renewed with LEDS. Curtains that were a design feature, including a Marimekko print, have also been cleaned and rehung. 

Above the main entrance to the building on Kilmore St, the City Coat of Arms has been reinstated in the original colour scheme and inside the foyer, visitors will see familiar Cararra marble around the base of the fair-faced concrete columns and flooring and the dark stained meranti timber balustrades.

Inside the Douglas Lilburn Auditorium, the Rieger pipe organ is back in pride of place and a timber and steel acoustic “donut” is again suspended above the stage.

Outside, next to Victoria Square, the dandelion-shaped Ferrier Fountain will soon be back in action with new lighting and new ponds jutting into the Avon River.