…this yard being kept in a disreputable state, there are no cinder pits in proper places to throw the refuse of cooking and things in general, as at home, so old bones, vegetable remains, scrapings of plates, cinders, tea leaves, … Continue reading →
A Pitiable Case As a man was walking around Sumner road, in October 1901, a lady passed by and drew his attention to a small cave in the side of the hill where she said an old lady and her husband …
In 1874 this modest two-storey farm house was built on the outskirts of Christchurch. It’s not the sort of house we normally see in Christchurch, in part because of its age, but also because it was built as a farm house, … Continue reading →
An entry from Gallivanta's blog for 12 December 2012 entitled, "Old School, New Times".
Building Record Form for Old Vicarage (Anglican), 26 Ripon Street, Lyttelton.
A PDF copy of guidelines for qualitative research with older people in Christchurch. The focus groups were facilitated by Age Concern in February 2015, to inform the All Right? wellbeing campaign.
A PDF copy of a summary of qualitative research findings on young people in Christchurch. The report resulted from focus groups facilitated by Age Concern in February 2015, to inform the All Right? wellbeing campaign.
Dominating a once simpler Cathedral Square, are the formidable buildings – Government Life Insurance Building, the Grand Theatre, the Crystal Palace Theatre, the Reuters Telegram Company Buil…
Recording standing structures not only involves architectural drawings and photography, but can also be quite destructive. In an attempt to modernise an old house owners will often cover “old fashioned” features with new materials, plasterboard being the chief culprit. So, … Continue readin...
An entry from Sue Davidson's blog for 14 October 2012 entitled, "Embracing old and new".
An entry from Gallivanta's blog for 21 April 2014 entitled, "Seeing the New and the Old".
North Canterbury's 106-year-old Sherwood Lodge was an earthquake write-off - but it may be rebuilt.
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 22 December 2011 entitled, "'Old Bucky and Me' by Jane Bowron".
A 152-year-old Christchurch building damaged by an earthquake and then an arson attack is to be restored to its former glory.
An earthquake memories story from Sue Gillan, Personal Assistant to General Manager Older Person's, Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, The Princess Margaret Hospital, titled, "All hands on deck".
The magnificent, four storey Strange’s & Co Furniture Department Building was built in 1900 on the corner of Lichfield and High Streets, replacing a row of old dilapidated weatherboard sh…
“Of all the beautiful places in New Zealand – Christchurch is one of the prettiest. As the metropolis of the Canterbury province, the city has been built in the old Elizabethan style, …
“Bridges are as much a distinctive part of the Christchurch landscape as its well-planted appearance and its old Gothic style provincial buildings. The chance which placed the city by the river Avo…
A PDF copy of an image from phase 3 of the All Right? campaign. The image reads, "What makes us feel all right? Having an impromptu hug from my four year old. Tiffany, Templeton".
“In the bay in which we landed, we found two or three miserable primitive Maori cabins, inhabited by half-a-dozen helpless old creatures and a few diseased children — forming a pa named Rapaki.”…
Archaeologists are often faced with the question of what happens to artefacts after an excavation is complete? As is the case for a lot of excavations, artefacts can find themselves housed in museums. This centuries old institution found its beginning … Continue reading →
One of the most commonly assumed facts about archaeologists (aside from our ability to have adventures, look good in a fedora and be surprisingly skilful with a whip), is that we can look at an object and know how old … Continue reading →
It came as a bit of a surprise when over 1000 fragments of broken stoneware jars were unearthed at an otherwise ordinary Christchurch archaeological site. But there, sitting under some old petrol tanks, was Christchurch history waiting to be found.What … Continue reading →
In previous blog posts we’ve touched upon the smells of 19th century Christchurch and how, in the absence of an organised sewerage and rubbish disposal system, early Christchurch was, at the best of times, a dirty old town. Inadequate drainage … Continue reading →
As life-changing experiences go, the earthquake on 22 February 2011 was fairly significant. On the one hand, our house was red-zoned (but still liveable), friends lost their lives and the city lost many of the old buildings that, for me, … Continue reading →
Presenting, with the aid of illustrations, the tale of an intrepid archaeologist, her trusty team and her quest to untangle the history of a house. It’s the story of a long lost age, a story for the ages, an age old story, a coming … Continue reading →
A photograph captioned, "I miss living here, right by the river. I'd been there for quite a long time, 12 years or so. I realize now I took it for granted a bit. I used to get a bit bored with having a big old house that was cold, difficult to clean, and perhaps hard to keep warm. But now, when I go back there, I miss living in a big house by the river with an open fire and a big lounge and everything. I had the park there on the other side of the river. And there was a little bridge down there where you could walk over to it. There was actually a circuit you could do, up to the New Brighton Bridge and back. Yeah, it was beautiful".