
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Fleet House is between the demolition sites of Kenton Chambers and Manchester Courts. It is being set up for demolition now - with material being stripped out of it and fill laid upon the footpath".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Demolition underway on the Manchester Courts Building. Street sign dwarfed by the large mound of soil alongside the building".
Photograph of a drawing captioned by Fairfax, "The New Zealand Express company's new building now being erected at the corner of Hereford and Manchester Streets. W. H. Bowen, builder. Messrs S and A. Luttrell, architects. Manchester Courts, MLC building from The Weekly Press, November, 8, 1905".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Protest spokesman Ross Gray speaking at the protest outside the new civic office today, trying to save the Manchester Courts building".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Protest spokesman Ross Gray speaking at the protest outside the new civic office today, trying to save the Manchester Courts building".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Protest spokesman Ross Gray speaking at the protest outside the new civic office today, trying to save the Manchester Courts building".
A photograph submitted by Raymond Morris to the QuakeStories website. The description reads, "The New Zealand Express Co. Ltd. building (Manchester Courts) built in 1906 on the corner of Manchester and Hereford Sts. In its time it was Christchurch’s tallest office building. This painting is from the Raymond Morris Collection of earthquake demolished buildings.".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "The Manchester Courts building was damaged in the September earthquake and is becoming more unstable. There is talk about moving the cordons further back".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "The Manchester Courts building was damaged in the September earthquake and is becoming more unstable. There is talk about moving the cordons further back".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "The Manchester Courts building was damaged in the September earthquake and is becoming more unstable. There is talk about moving the cordons further back".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "The Manchester Courts building was damaged in the September earthquake and is becoming more unstable. There is talk about moving the cordons further back".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "The Manchester Courts building was damaged in the September earthquake and is becoming more unstable. There is talk about moving the cordons further back".
Copy of a file photograph captioned by Fairfax, "The New Zealand Express Company's new building, corner of Hereford Street and Manchester Street. Electric lighting, pumping, elevators, May & Otway's fire alarms, bells and telephones, supplied by Messrs Turnbull & Jones Ltd. Manchester courts MLC building from The Weekly Press 'New Zealand Exhibition Year Special Industrial & Commercial Number' December 1906".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Demolition of Manchester Courts building continues with beams now exposed. The heritage building was severely damaged by the September earthquake. Demolition workers visible in top left corner".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Demolition of Manchester Courts building continues with beams now exposed. The heritage building was severely damaged by the September earthquake. Demolition workers visible in top left corner".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Demolition of Manchester Courts building continues with beams now exposed. The heritage building was severely damaged by the September earthquake. Demolition workers visible in top left corner".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Richard Peebles is further concerned over the Manchester Courts building, which was severely damaged in the September earthquake and has now become more unstable. There is talk to move the cordons further back".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Richard Peebles as close as he can get to his Manchester Courts which has just been awarded a demolition permit after a month's wait, initially the inspectors said it was ok. MLC building".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Richard Peebles as close as he can get to his Manchester Courts which has just been awarded a demolition permit after a month's wait, initially the inspectors said it was ok. MLC building".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Richard Peebles as close as he can get to his Manchester Courts which has just been awarded a demolition permit after a month's wait, initially the inspectors said it was ok. MLC building".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Richard Peebles as close as he can get to his Manchester Courts which has just been awarded a demolition permit after a month's wait, initially the inspectors said it was ok. MLC building".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Richard Peebles is further concerned over the Manchester Courts building, which was severely damaged in the September earthquake and has now become more unstable. There is talk to move the cordons further back".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Richard Peebles is further concerned over the Manchester Courts building, which was severely damaged in the September earthquake and has now become more unstable. There is talk to move the cordons further back".
Aerial footage of the Christchurch central city. The video includes footage of the Hotel Grand Chancellor, the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Manchester Street, the former Press Building, Worcester Street, Cathedral Square, St Elmo Courts, Cashel Mall, St John the Baptist Church hall, the Regent Theatre, the Arts Centre, Woolsack Lane, and the Farmers car park.
Aerial footage of the Christchurch central city, taken in April 2011, several months after the 22 February 2011 earthquake. The video shows damage to the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Manchester Street, the Press building, the Octagon Live restaurant, St Elmo Courts, Cashel Mall, the Regent Theatre, the Arts Centre, Woolsack Lane, and the Farmers Building car park. It also shows USAR members meeting in Cathedral Square.
The Manchester Courts building was a heritage building located in central Christchurch (New Zealand) that was damaged in the Mw 7.1 Darfield earthquake on 4 September 2010 and subsequently demolished as a risk reduction exercise. Because the building was heritage listed, the decision to demolish the building resulted in strong objections from heritage supporters who were of the opinion that the building had sufficient residual strength to survive possible aftershock earthquakes. On 22 February 2011 Christchurch was struck by a severe aftershock, leading to the question of whether building demolition had proven to be the correct risk reduction strategy. Finite element analysis was used to undertake a performance-based assessment, validating the accuracy of the model using the damage observed in the building before its collapse. In addition, soil-structure interaction was introduced into the research due to the comparatively low shear wave velocity of the soil. The demolition of a landmark heritage building was a tragedy that Christchurch will never recover from, but the decision was made considering safety, societal, economic and psychological aspects in order to protect the city and its citizens. The analytical results suggest that the Manchester Courts building would have collapsed during the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, and that the collapse of the building would have resulted in significant fatalities.