Our Kiwi Home: Christchurch’s Old Government Building

Saturday, 13 January 2024

The New Government Building pictured on the left, with the United Services Hotel on the right in a photograph thought to have been taken between 1910 and 1915.

Former Cantabrian Mark Walton, an internationally-recognised clarinettist and saxophonist, has an enduring fascination with NZ history and writes regularly about his home country.

If I’m ever asked to lay the foundation stone of a grand public building, I promise I’ll be on my very best behaviour. I will prepare a glittering speech, remember to pay tribute to all the relevant people and be gracious at all times.

This was certainly not the case at 11am on November 20, 1911, at 28 Cathedral Square when our 17th prime minister, Sir Joseph Ward let loose with a good old rant. On this occasion our PM was in Christchurch to lay the foundation stone for the New Government Building and later that afternoon the Sydenham Post Office.

The Old Government Building was once the New Government Building and is one of few heritage buildings in central Christchurch to survive the earthquakes.

I’m not sure which side of the bed Joseph got out of that morning or whether it was simply the overwhelming worry about the upcoming general election in a few weeks’ time but he was certainly not a happy man. His gripe was how much the Government had had to pay for this prime site in Cathedral Square. He said people selling the land didn’t think twice about “having the Government”. I think that “having” could be replaced with “ripping off”.

Now, this annoyed The Press no end, which came back with all guns firing the next day to put the record straight. It pointed out that the Government had actually taken the old Tram Shed site compulsorily and, despite the owners wanting £26,385 for it, the Government had only offered a paltry £16,000. It duly went to the Arbitration Court and a midway sum was negotiated of £20,000.

The grand Old Government Building staircase. But Mark Walton wonders whether an alternative back stairwell exists for more mundane entries and exits.

The Press wasn’t going to leave it at that because it then went on to lambast the Government for wasting taxpayers’ money. The Press asserted that the high projected cost of the new building was due to the Government sitting on the vacant land for four years and consequently having to pay £4000 in interest plus the extended rental costs of its current offices that were waiting to move into the new building. The Press went on to say that the Government had squandered £9400, for which the country would never receive a penny of benefit. It wasn’t happy either that the award winning Government architect had been sidelined in preference for a private architect who was a “warm political supporter of the Government”.

After reading all this there must have been a lot of hot under the collar Press readers on November 21, but actually time has a way of putting things into perspective. I think that there wouldn’t be too many Press readers today unhappy with the choice of architect, Joseph Maddison, because his Italian High Renaissance palazzo design has stood not only the test of time but also the test of our earth rumbles.

Workers clean the windows of the Old Government Building. It was once known as the New Government Building and has survived where several heritage buildings have not.

Maddison was born in England but arrived in New Zealand at the age of 22 and it didn’t take him long to establish himself as a highly respected architect in Christchurch. He went on to design many notable buildings around the country, but he worked primarily on the design of the freezing works and abattoirs. Before the 2011 earthquake 13 of his buildings were listed on the Heritage New Zealand register, but sadly not many survived.

We are very lucky that the Old Government Building survived the quakes, but maybe that’s due to the 600 reinforced concrete piles it’s built on. At the times these piles were being driven deep into the ground there were plenty of complaints about that too. This was a building meant to make a statement as the walls are on average 69cm thick but in some places up to 1.52m thick. The 11.3 cubic metres of light blue Dobson sandstone used for the base and the archways came from the Grey River on the West Coast. It’s so easy for me to write “came” from the West Coast, but that in itself must have been a monumental undertaking. Some 1.25 million Canterbury bricks were used and the architect’s intention of projecting a reassuring image of governmental security and authority was most definitely achieved.

The Old Government Building looks on as the Press building is demolished in 2011, following major earthquake damage.

When it finally opened for business, the New Government Building was home to the departments of Customs, State Fire Insurance, State Coal Mines, Public Works, Labour, Stamps, Land Valuation, Inspector of Machinery, Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Old Age Pensions and the Public Trust Office. It must have been well worth your bus fare into the square if you were able to register the birth of your latest family member, notify the authorities of the untimely passing of your father-in-law, cancel his pension and complain about the latest RV assessment on your house all in the same building.

In 1918, Mr McEnnis, the district engineer from the Public Works Department, brushed aside the public’s concerns regarding large cracks that had appeared in the stone and brickwork, saying they were just as a result of normal expansion and contraction due to the extreme weather conditions. A couple of months later, a man was seen dangling from the roof in a sling filling in these not at all serious cracks.

In 1960, the parapets were removed to reduce the weight of the building in the unlikely case that there might be an earthquake. I can’t help wondering if there were letters to the editor at the time complaining about these unnecessary expenses.

Drinking and dining outside the Old Government Building in Christchurch

Due to an earthquake in January 1968, more cracks appeared and caused plaster to fall from the second floor ceilings. In the early 70s more subsidence occurred due to major building construction nearby and by 1980 there was considerable cracking in the southwest corner.

By 1989, the last government department had moved out and the building faced demolition even though it had been listed in 1984 as a category 1 historic place by the New Zealand Heritage Places Trust.

The OGB lay empty for several years, but in 1991 the city council stepped in and purchased the building from the Government. Then in 1995, it resold it to a developer with a proviso that the structural issues be addressed and the architectural integrity be preserved. This grand building started a new and rich chapter in its life as the highly popular and elegant Heritage Hotel.

Every now and again, a luxury apartment comes up for sale in this splendid building and to entice prospective buyers, a photo of the grand staircase is invariably included in the listing. It’s so easy to imagine elegantly gliding down those polished marble and Coromandel granite steps dressed in a smoking jacket and heading to the bar for a martini or two. However, I do wonder if there is a back staircase you can use when you’re bringing back bags of groceries from the Lichfield St Fresh Choice Supermarket.

Just one thing that I haven’t been able to shine a light on, is at what point in the Old Government Building’s long and illustrious life did it change from being the New Government Building to the Old Government Building? This age transition is something we all have to face at some point and it’s never easy.