The Music Centre of Christchurch was a facility for music organisations in the

central city In urban planning, a core city, principal city metropolitan core, or central city, is the largest or most important city or cities of a metropolitan area. A core city is surrounded by smaller satellite cities, towns, and suburbs. A central city ...

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 established in 1994 and provided office, rehearsal, tuition and performance space for a wide range of music groups. The centre was adjacent to the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament and consisted of a group of four heritage buildings formerly the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions and Sacred Heart College, a Catholic secondary school for girls founded in 1881 which was amalgamated with Xavier College, a neighbouring Catholic boys' school to form Catholic Cathedral College in 1987. The chapel, built in 1907, was designed by Joseph Munnings while he was in partnership with

Samuel Hurst Seager Samuel Hurst Seager (26 June 1855 – 5 October 1933) was a notable New Zealand builder, draftsman, architect and town planner. He was born in London, England, in 1855, and as a boy emigrated to Christchurch, New Zealand, with his parents i ...

and Cecil Wood. It is one of the only examples of

Byzantine revival architecture Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine style associated with Eastern and Orthod ...

in the Southern Hemisphere. The three-storey main convent building, designed in 1882 by

Francis Petre Francis William Petre (27 August 1847 – 10 December 1918), sometimes known as Frank Petre, was a New Zealand-born architect based in Dunedin. He was an able exponent of the Gothic revival style, one of its best practitioners in New Zea ...

is the oldest building in the complex. It was opened in 1894. The Portery was added in 1902 to extend the convent. It was restored with the girls’ boarding hostel for Sacred Heart College, constructed in 1930. Both buildings became part of the music centre in 2004. The chapel was the primary performance space. The buildings were badly damaged in the 22 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 ...

. Two of the centre's four buildings sustained significant earthquake damage. The three-storey main building has been demolished. It was hoped that the music centre would reopen on the existing site but it moved to Antigua Street to a purpose-built building called The Piano. The Christchurch School of Music, one of the tenants of the Music Centre, had about 800 students attending weekly classes taught by 80 teachers at the Music Centre and the adjacent Catholic Cathedral College. Those classes were now being held at

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 Ro ...

and

Rangi Ruru Girls' School Rangi Ruru Girls' School is a New Zealand private girls' day and boarding secondary school located in Merivale, an inner suburb of Christchurch. The school is affiliated to the Presbyterian Church, and serves approximately girls from Years ...

.''Part of Chch music centre to be razed'' 12 April 2011, TVNZ website.
(retrieved 25 January 2012)

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{{Christchurch earthquakes Buildings and structures in Christchurch Byzantine Revival architecture in New Zealand Music venues completed in 1994 Buildings and structures demolished as a result of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake Churches completed in 1907 1910s architecture in New Zealand 1994 establishments in New Zealand