Cranmer Court, the former Christchurch Normal School, was one of the most significant heritage buildings 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. Its demolition, due to some damage in the

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 ...

, was controversial.

History

The Canterbury Board of Education held an architectural competition in 1873 for the design of the Christchurch Normal School. At the time, education was still the responsibility of

provincial government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, ...

. The competition was announced in ''

The Press ''The Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand owned by media business Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday to Saturday. One comm ...

'' by advertisement on 18 April of that year, rewarding the two best entries with £50 and £25, respectively. The Board received 12 entries, with Christchurch architect Samuel Farr winning the competition, and

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

-based Robert Lawson coming second. Construction began later in 1873, with Sir

Charles Fergusson Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet, (17 January 1865 – 20 February 1951), was a British Army officer and the third Governor-General of New Zealand. Early life and military career Fergusson was the son of Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet, ...

, the

Governor of New Zealand The governor-general of New Zealand ( mi, te kāwana tianara o Aotearoa) is the viceregal representative of the monarch of New Zealand, currently King Charles III. As the King is concurrently the monarch of 14 other Commonwealth realms and liv ...

, laying the foundation stone. The builder was Daniel Reese, who completed construction after three years. The school was opened on 3 April 1876 and was one of New Zealand's first

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...

s (with the

school opened earlier that year). In 1930, the Teachers' College Building was built diagonally opposite the Normal School as accommodation for trainee teachers. That building is also registered, as Category II, with the Historic Places Trust. When the building was vacated in 1970, an argument about its future raged for more than a decade. Eventually, the building was purchased by a local entrepreneur, Chris Berryman, whose company gutted and built apartments inside the empty shell. It also housed Grimsby's Restaurant. On 21 March 1991, the building 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 I historic place, with the registration number 1872. Former Grimsby's Restaurant site

Cranmer Court was damaged during the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

s, and subsequently red-stickered. Though Cranmer Court is one of Christchurch's three last remaining 19th century public school buildings (the other two are the original buildings of

Christchurch Boys' High School , motto_translation = I Seek Higher Things , type = State school, Day and Boarding school , gender = Boys , song = The School We Magnify , colours = Blue and Black , established = , address = 71 Straven R ...

and

Christchurch Girls' High School Christchurch Girls' High School in Christchurch, New Zealand, was established in 1877 and is the second oldest girls-only secondary school in the country, after Otago Girls' High School. History Christchurch Girls' High School was established i ...

, which are now both part of the

Arts Centre An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues for ...

), demolition was carried out during October 2012; demolition was reported as complete on 2 November. A city council vote to pause the demolishing did not bring pause to the work. The demolition did not include nine modern town houses that are also part of Cranmer Court, which are located along Peterborough Street. The local newspaper, ''

'', was critical of the demolition and lamented in an editorial the fact that heritage buildings have been neglected by central government, making particular reference to the Earthquake Recovery minister,

Gerry Brownlee Gerard Anthony Brownlee (born 4 February 1956) is a New Zealand politician of the New Zealand National Party. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1996, was Leader of the House, Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery and Minister of ...

, and the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority. The editorial made reference to Brownlee's comment made shortly after the February 2011 earthquake about heritage buildings that "old dungas" had to be demolished. Despite the land being zoned L4c, which is high-density residential and excludes use by churches, the site was sold to the Majestic Church for NZ$10m. The site was sold on behalf of its 31 owners through a public tender process.

Naming

The

Normal School A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...

was so named because it provided a 'normal' school environment where trainee teachers could observe more senior teachers interacting with pupils in the classroom. When a developer bought the complex in 1981, he gave it the new name of Cranmer Court after the adjacent

Cranmer Square Cranmer Square is an urban park in central Christchurch, New Zealand. It is located northwest of the city's centre, Cathedral Square. The major arterial route of Montreal Street skirts the edge of the square. The square (actually a rectangle) is ...

, which in turn is named after the martyr

Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry' ...

Heritage value

The Town Planning Division of

Christchurch City Council The Christchurch City Council is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Mauger, who ...

decided in the mid 1980s to identify and describe "the city's most valuable historic buildings, in the hope that greater public awareness of their importance will contribute to their chances of survival". A series of ten booklets with the title 'The Architectural Heritage of Christchurch' was produced; the one covering the Normal School was the first in this set. On 21 March 1991, the building was registered by the

as a Category I historic place, with the registration number 1872.

Architecture

Samuel Farr's building was in an L-shape, with the frontages onto Kilmore (south frontage) and Montreal (west frontage) Streets measuring and , respectively. Whilst the external appearance of the school was highly ornamented, the inside was plain and austere. The exception to this was the octagonal corner room where Kilmore and Montreal Streets meet, with the roof of this room intricately vaulted. It was Farr's most famous building, and maybe his most scholarly Gothic design. An extension to the north, in keeping with Farr's work but generally of simpler execution, was designed by architect Thomas Cane in 1878 to accommodate a

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

Notable people

Notable pupils

Frank O'Flynn Francis Duncan O'Flynn (24 October 1918 – 17 October 2003) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. Biography O'Flynn was born in Runanga in 1918. He was the son of Francis Edward O'Flynn and Margaret Helen Valentine Duncan. He re ...

(1918–2003), Queen's Counsel and Member of Parliament for the Labour Party *

Henry James Nicholas Henry James Nicholas, (11 June 1891 – 23 October 1918) was a New Zealand recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for valour "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Born in Lincoln, Nichol ...

(1891–1918), recipient of the Victoria Cross *

William Orange William Alfred Orange (9 August 1889 – 28 June 1966) was a New Zealand Anglican clergyman. He was a leader of the Evangelical movement in New Zealand. Early life Orange was born on 9 August 1889 in Woolston, Christchurch, New Zealand, the ...

(1889–1966), Anglican clergyman and leader of the Evangelical movement

Notable staff

Kate Andersen Catherine Ann Andersen (; 1 August 1870 – 15 September 1957) was a New Zealand teacher, community leader and writer. She worked with a number of organisations promoting the interests of women and children, and was a founding member of both th ...

(1870–1957), New Zealand teacher, community leader and writer (also a pupil at this school) *

Jean Emily Hay Jean Emily Hay (17 June 1903–14 February 1984) was a New Zealand teacher, broadcaster and early childhood educator. She was born in Collie, Western Australia, Australia on 17 June 1903. She taught at the Christchurch Normal School Cranme ...

(1903–1984), teacher, broadcaster and early childhood educator * Christina Henderson (1861–1953), teacher, feminist, prohibitionist, social reformer and editor *

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

(1868–1941), temperance worker, community leader and social reformer

References

{{Christchurch earthquakes 1876 establishments in New Zealand NZHPT Category I listings in Canterbury, New Zealand Former school buildings in New Zealand Residential buildings completed in 1985 Buildings and structures in Christchurch Christchurch Central City School buildings completed in 1876 Defunct schools in New Zealand Schools in Christchurch Buildings and structures demolished as a result of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake 1870s architecture in New Zealand