The Curator's House is a historic building in the
Christchurch Botanic Garden, 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 / ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
. It was built for the Curator of the Botanic Gardens in 1920 and it is now home to a restaurant, called The Curator's House.
History
On the same site as the present Curator's House, a single-storey timber building was constructed in 1872 for the
Christchurch Domain Curator, John Armstrong. By 1919, the original wooden building was in poor condition and the current Curator's House was built in its place in 1920.
The Architectural firm
Collins and Harman
Armson, Collins and Harman was an architecture, architectural firm in New Zealand. It was founded by William Barnett Armson (1832/3–1883), and after his death, became the practice of two architects who articled with him, John James Collins (1855 ...
were employed in 1919 to design a two storied brick house with a slate roof. It was finished in 1920 and the house was the residence for the curators of the Botanic Gardens up until 1984.
In 2000 it was renovated into a restaurant.
Heritage registration
The building was registered as a heritage building 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 ...
on 26 November 1981 with registration number 1863 classified as Category II listing.
The Christchurch City Council also lists the Curator's House as a Heritage Place for its "high historical and social significance for its association with the development and history of the Christchurch Botanic Gardens".
See also
*
List of historic places in Christchurch
This list of Heritage New Zealand-listed places in Christchurch contains those buildings and structures that are listed, or were listed in early 2011, with Heritage New Zealand (formerly known as Historic Places Trust) in Christchurch, New Zeala ...
References
External links
Official website
{{Christchurch earthquakes
Heritage New Zealand Category 2 historic places in Canterbury, New Zealand
Houses completed in 1920
Buildings and structures in Christchurch
1920s architecture in New Zealand