Rubble and Revival - The Christchurch Earthquake

While many of Christchurch's inner city buildings are still fenced off behind safety barriers and others have vanished completely after rapid acts of demolition following the September 4 7.1 earthquake and around 4,500 after-shocks in the four months since, others are already rising from the dust. I cycled by this suburban corner shop yesterday - a few weeks ago a blank section after demolition and now rising afresh. It's a furniture restoration business that has been on this Edgeware corner for decades and, as the sign on their fence suggests, they're not leaving any time soon.

Manchester Courts meanwhile, is a sad pile of rubble that grows smaller by the day. They're talking about opening up that section of Manchester Street again soon and within a few months, I suspect many people will have forgotten what the building even looked like. There's talk the building's owner is planning a modern, three-storey replacement building. I for one, am hoping for unbelievable architectural excellence; that's the only thing that will compensate in even a tiny way, for the demise of Manchester Courts - but as is the way of things, I suspect we might all be disappointed a second time round.

Meanwhile, the Carlton, that great old battleship of a pub on the corner of Papanui and Carlton Mill Roads is sporting some very handsome bracing - above and below. It may well be that I have been living in an earthquake zone for too long, but I'm beginning to see an unexpected 'beauty' in all the ruins and demolition sites, in the bracing and supports and in the graffiti and signs that are emerging around the city.

For some off reason, a part of me expected things to 'come to a standstill' after the unholy shaking of the initial quake and the most powerful after-shocks, but as the big Boxing Day after-shock proved, there's nothing much at all 'standing still' in this city. Every time I roam the city, I find something new - for better or worse - as locals try and resume normal lives.

And what's happening to all those bricks?

You may well ask.

Some have been crushed I believe - for road fill and other similar jobs.

Others pile up in growing heaps on vacant lots. Some have probably been purchased by canny recyclers. One thing is for sure, never was there a better time for Cantabrians to be considering a solid brick barbecue, a garden fireplace or a quaint brick pathway.

The Stairway to Heaven & Other Earthquake Photos

Over the last few days I've been writing about Oamaru's stunning 19th century architecture (posts below) and all the while I've thought how lucky they've been not to have suffered the earthquake damage that has destroyed so much of inner city Christchurch over the last three months. I was out biking this morning and was both amused and saddened by this staircase protruding from the top of what's left of Manchester Courts. This was Manchester Courts about two months ago when the demolition crews moved in

This is the same view two months on, taken this morning.

(You can see more of the building in a previous post by clicking on Manchester Courts in the label line below this post).

It doesn't matter where you go in inner city Christchurch at the moment, you have to negotiate your way through and around road blocks, wire fences and lines of shipping containers - all the more so after the strong after-shocks that hit the city on Boxing Day.

Some of the city's finest heritage buildings are bruised and battered - but still standing - many with the help of bracing and scaffolding. Windows are boarded up and streets are narrowed by orange cones and barriers.

Earth Quake Commission staff have been working night and day to inspect city buildings and, with every batch of strong after-shocks (there have been over 4,000 since September 4's 7.1 quake), they often have to re-inspect structures they've already declared safe. After Boxing Day after-shocks, crews were inspecting all the buildings around Cathedral Square (above) to make sure the area would be safe (or otherwise) for the city's annual New Year's Eve party.

Christchurch Cathedral took another hit on Boxing Day. Although the building has been earthquake strengthened and is structurally sound, plaster finishes and architectural details have 'quivered and shivered' in the last three months, and finally, this week, stonemasons removed the cracked cross from the roof, loaded into a little truck and took it off for repair.

In a perverse kind of way, I have enjoyed roaming the city with my camera over the last three months. Nothing is static in any city; in Christchurch, in light of ongoing after-shocks, demolition, inspection and repair, it is even less so. And for every heartbreaking image of a destroyed, or demolished building, there are the quirky, amusing shots that always make me smile.... even 'Elvis' has been rocked off his feet on his balcony perch beside Manchester Courts on Manchester Street.

Manchester Courts - Demolition Begins.

Tuesday, October 19th was the official beginning of the demolition of Manchester Courts in Christchurch. The sun shone, the skies were blue and city nerves were on edge, just hours after another after-shock measuring 5 on the Richter scale - shallow and close to the city, which made it seem all the stronger. But that didn't stop people gathering to watch the first stages of this unique heritage building's demolition. Some had even set up their folding deck chairs on Manchester Street - a little early as far as I could see because there wasn't a lot happening.

For the better part of the last week, a continuous stream of lorries has been dumping dirt on the road to create the 8-metre high bund necessary to give the cranes the height they'll need to access the top levels of the building. Streets are fenced off for at least a block , complete with barbed wire to keep sticky-beaks, protesters and other sundry opportunists out; and police are making regular on-foot patrols. Shipping containers have been stacked three and four high along a part of Hereford Street to protect other buildings and pedestrians from any falling debris and even yesterday, the truck loads of dirt continue to pile in.

The demolition is expected to take around six weeks, although once started, I suspect things will move quickly - not that you'd guess that from the relaxed approach being taken by demolition workers yesterday afternoon (see below).

I spoke with a young German tourist who was also watching proceedings. She hadn't been thrilled by the big after-shock earlier but she did think Manchester Courts had "architectural merit." "But if they are demolishing it, why not a bomb?" she asked - with a perfectly straight face. "It would be quicker and maybe not so many people would hang around."

Such a practical people the Germans, I find.

Another older woman joined us. She stood a minute looking completely bemused and then asked what everyone was looking at. That too, seemed a perfectly logical question. When I told her the workers were beginning the demolition of the big brick building on the corner, she looked at me as if I was joking. "It looks perfectly fine to me," she stated, pushing her glasses up her nose and stalking off.

Needless to say her sentiments will echo loudly in many quarters of the city and beyond for the demoliton is not without controversy. All ten engineers who have inspected the building say it cannot be saved and at the end of the day, I'm prepared to believe them. That a local council (none of them engineers I would guess) has the power to decide the fate of a heritage building of national significance is another matter entirely. Obviously, given that Christchurch continues to be pounded with after-shocks six and a half weeks after the big one - we've now had in excess of 1,900 of them - a speedy decision was imported but I do wonder if much of that haste has not come about because of pressure from surrounding business owners, who cannot operate for as long as Manchester Courts stands in its current perilous state.