The Excelsior Hotel in 120 Manchester Street,

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 / ...

, originally the Borough Hotel, in recent years known as Excelsior Backpackers or New Excelsior Backpackers, was a Category I heritage building in central Christchurch. It was designed by then most prominent architect, William Armson, and was one of the few remaining examples of his work in the city. It was heavily 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 all but its western façade was demolished after the earthquakes. The remaining part was demolished in April 2016.

History

A hotel was first built on the site in 1865, called the Harp of Erin. It was renamed the Borough Hotel in 1870, and was subsequently known as Barrett's Family Hotel after it was purchased by John Barrett in 1878. On

Boxing Day Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It ...

in 1879, Orangemen who paraded along Manchester Street on their way to the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

were attacked by

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the British ...

s outside Barrett's Hotel, resulting in several men being taken to hospital. A similar attack happened in

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

around the same time. Rumours started that the attack was planned at Barrett's hotel and that he himself was involved and he was arrested on 30 December. Barrett lost his liquor licence over the affair and, in order to restore his reputation, had the old building pulled down. Barrett engaged William Armson, then one of the foremost architects, to design a new hotel. He had employed Armson before for the Durham Arms, a building at 328 Durham Street demolished sometime after 2000. The new hotel was built in 1881 or 1882, and in 1906, the name changed to Excelsior Hotel. The building was purchased by the Christchurch Heritage Trust in 1997 to save it from demolition. It was heavily damaged in the February

, but there are plans to rebuild it. It was again bought by the Christchurch Heritage Trust in July 2011 so that it might be restored. The western façade of the historic building was to be retained. The Christchurch Heritage Trust sold the site to developers Miles Yeoman and Craig Newbury as they needed the money to concentrate on the renovations of the Trinity Congregational Church and

Shand's Emporium Shand's Emporium, previously known as Gee's, is a historic building in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand. One of the oldest commercial buildings to remain from the time Christchurch was founded, it was relocated in June 2015 from its ...

. The new owners had the remaining façade demolished on 10 April 2016 and plan to build a replica of the Excelsior Hotel.

Architecture and fittings

The brick and plaster building was three-storey, with balustrades and a rusticated stonework façade. Its exterior window frames were decorative. Those on the first floor facing north were a three-window grouping that features a centralized segmental

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

Heritage registration

The Excelsior Hotel was registered as a Category I heritage building by

Heritage New Zealand 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 ...

(previously known as the New Zealand Historic Places Trust).

References

External links

Former official website (archive date 11 May 2011)
* {{Christchurch earthquakes Hotel buildings completed in 1882 Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in Canterbury, New Zealand Christchurch Central City Buildings and structures demolished as a result of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake 1880s architecture in New Zealand Hotels in Christchurch