The Carlton Hotel in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

was an historic pub on the corner of Papanui Road and Bealey Avenue. Built in 1906 for the New Zealand International Exhibition, it was registered by the

New Zealand Historic Places Trust Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...

as a Category II heritage building. The building was damaged in the February

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...

and demolished on 9 April 2011.

History

Papanui Road, linking to Main North Road, was the traditional route for travellers from the north.

Cobb & Co Cobb & Co was the name used by many successful sometimes quite independent Australian coaching businesses. The first was established in 1853 by American Freeman Cobb and his partners. The name Cobb & Co grew to great prominence in the late 19th ...

travelled north via Victoria Street and Papanui Road, and one of the first tram routes in Christchurch was built along this corridor. Carlton Hotel with post Feb 2011 earthquake damage

Carlton Hotel with post Feb 2011 earthquake damage

The first hotel was built on the site in 1865, only 15 years after the organised settlement of Christchurch began by the

Canterbury Association The Canterbury Association was formed in 1848 in England by members of parliament, peers, and Anglican church leaders, to establish a colony in New Zealand. The settlement was to be called Canterbury, with its capital to be known as Christchurch. ...

. Ward's Brewery commissioned architect

Joseph Maddison Joseph Clarkson Maddison (26 February 1850 – 11 December 1923) was a New Zealand architect. He trained as an architect in his native London and came to Canterbury at the age of 22. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, ...

to design a new hotel, to be opened in time for the International Exhibition that was held in Christchurch's Hagley Park from November 1906 to April 1907. Maddison also designed the buildings for the International Exhibition, which attracted nearly two million visitors at a time when New Zealand's population was only one million. The Carlton Hotel was the first place in New Zealand to serve beer on tap in 1939–1940, and it had the country's first beer garden in 1947. It opened New Zealand's first drive through bottle store in 1954.

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...

opened a fast food restaurant in September 1999 and took up much of the ground floor of the building. Carlton Hotel suffered damage in the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, but remained open. It was heavily damaged in the subsequent earthquake on 22 February 2011, when part of the façade facing Papanui Road collapsed. Engineers found that the building was prone to failure in another strong aftershock, and it was demolished on 9 April 2011. The building's owner has replaced the building with a modern structure, but the new complex has been criticised as "unsympathetic".

Heritage listing

On 26 November 1981, the building was registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust as a Category II historic place, with the registration number 1841. The building is recognised as an example of Maddison's work, who designed many hotel. It is located on a busy junction and regarded as a landmark. Due to several New Zealand firsts, it is an important part of the country's brewing industry. Its link to the International Exhibition is also of importance. The building was removed from the register during 2011.

References

{{Reflist Hotel buildings completed in 1906 Heritage New Zealand Category 2 historic places in Canterbury, New Zealand World's fair architecture in New Zealand Buildings and structures demolished as a result of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake 1900s architecture in New Zealand Hotels in Christchurch 1906 establishments in New Zealand