After World War One, there was a growing appetite for the glitzy glamour of the ‘Jazz Age’ and Hollywood. Christchurch residents were hungry to embrace American culture and its new comm…
This is an ethnographic case study, tracking the course of arguments about the future of a city’s central iconic building, damaged following a major earthquake sequence. The thesis plots this as a social drama and examines the central discourses of the controversy. The focus of the drama is the Anglican neo-Gothic Christ Church Cathedral, which stands in the central square of Christchurch, New Zealand. A series of major earthquakes in 2010/2011 devastated much of the inner city, destroying many heritage-listed buildings. The Cathedral was severely damaged and was declared by Government officials in 2011 to be a dangerous building, which needed to be demolished. The owners are the Church Property Trustees, chaired by Bishop Victoria Matthews, a Canadian appointed in 2008. In March 2012 Matthews announced that the Cathedral, because of safety and economic factors, would be deconstructed. Important artefacts were to be salvaged and a new Cathedral built, incorporating the old and new. This decision provoked a major controversy, led by those who claimed that the building could and should be restored. Discourses of history and heritage, memory, place and identity, ownership, economics and power are all identified, along with the various actors, because of their significance. However, the thesis is primarily concerned with the differing meanings given to the Cathedral. The major argument centres on the symbolic interaction between material objects and human subjects and the various ways these are interpreted. At the end of the research period, December 2015, the Christ Church Cathedral stands as a deteriorating wreck, inhabited by pigeons and rats and shielded by protective, colourfully decorated wooden fences. The decision about its future remains unresolved at the time of writing.
A graphic describing damage to the ChristChurch Cathedral.
A timeline giving the history of ChristChurch Cathedral.
A page banner promoting an article titled, "Cathedral demolition".
A page banner promoting an article titled, "Cardboard cathedral?".
An illustration of the Quake Lights in Cathedral Square.
A close up of Christ Church Cathedral's damaged tower.
A close up of Christ Church Cathedral's damaged tower.
A crane parked on Gloucester Street, outside Cathedral Junction.
A page banner promoting an article titled, "Cardboard Cathedral".
A photograph showing the Millennium Hotel in Cathedral Square.
A photograph of a souvenir store in Cathedral Square.
A photograph of Cathedral Square, seen from Worcester Street.
The temporary "Cardboard Cathedral" being constructed on Madras Street.
Stones fallen from the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.
A graphic showing the damage to ChristChurch Cathedral.
Spotlights attached to a beam of Christ Church Cathedral.
The temporary "Cardboard Cathedral" being constructed on Madras Street.
An aerial photograph of Hereford Street near Cathedral Square.
An aerial photograph of Cathedral Square. Captions added by BeckerFraserPhotos identify the demolition sites of key buildings.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Aerial view of the centre of the city, with the cathedral in the centre, and the art gallery in the foreground".
A video of a press conference about the ChristChurch Cathedral. The video includes statements by Jim Anderton and Stefano Pampanin, Associate Professor of Engineering at the University of Canterbury. Anderton and Pampanin discuss a report produced by the Great Christchurch Buildings Trust (GCBT) which outlines how the cathedral could be safely restored. The Anglican Church has agreed to review the report.
A video of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams touring the Christchurch central city Red Zone. Williams visited Christchurch for two days during his New Zealand tour to offer his support to the city. The video includes footage of Williams visiting the ChristChurch Cathedral, and meeting locals. It also includes an interview with Williams about the demolition of the ChristChurch Cathedral.
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