Christchurch Lost and Found

Archives reference: MB 1418/31564. The Press, perspective on new building, 1906. Armson Collins collection,  J.G Collins (architect).

Recently Jill Durney, manager of UC's Macmillan Brown Library, gave a talk at the UC Earthquake Forum about the UC CEISMIC Local Heritage Group's project Christchurch Lost and Found. This is a project that we hope will be on UC QuakeStudies soon, so we thought we would take the time to explain what this project is, and who the UC CEISMIC Local Heritage Group are.

The UC CEISMIC Local Heritage Group brings together professionals from organisations with a shared interest in Christchurch's local heritage.  Members include people from Archives New Zealand, Canterbury Museum, Christchurch City Council, Christchurch City Libraries, Holmes Consulting Group, Underground Overground Archaeology, UC CEISMIC team, UC College of Arts, UC Human Interface Technology Lab, and UC Macmillan Brown Library.

The Christchurch Lost and Found project aims to surface and bring together information about Christchurch's local heritage, including architectural drawings, engineering plans, archaeological reports, historic as well as modern photos, and 3D models of the buildings in an online, narrated exhibition space powered by UC QuakeStudies. 

Starting by focussing on five buildings located in the North-East of Cathedral Square (the Press Building, Warner's Hotel, the Canterbury Star Times Building, the Coachman Inn, and the Lyttelton Star Times Building), the project will eventually cover as much of the CBD as possible. 

The Christchurch Lost and Found project hopes to bring researchers together with their wider community. It aims to be a catalyst for discussion about how we remember the past and envision the future, and to aid and inform future planning and renewal of the city. Ultimately, it aims to show not only what Christchurch has lost due to the 2010/2011 Earthquakes, but also what we have found.