New Regent Street facts for kids
Quick facts for kids New Regent Street |
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Looking south along New Regent Street in 2010
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| General information | |
| Type | Terrace shops |
| Architectural style | Spanish Mission architecture |
| Location | Christchurch Central City |
| Address | New Regent Street |
| Town or city | Christchurch |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Coordinates | 43°31′45.35″S 172°38′19.39″E / 43.5292639°S 172.6387194°E |
| Elevation | 9 m |
| Current tenants | 40 buildings individually tenanted |
| Construction started | 1931 |
| Completed | 1 April 1932 |
| Renovated | 2012/13 |
| Client | Arthur Francis Stacey (1888–1952) for Regent Street Ltd |
| Owner | 40 buildings individually owned |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | two |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Francis Willis |
| Main contractor | P. Graham and Son, Limited |
| Designated: | 28 June 1990 |
| Reference #: | 4385 |
New Regent Street is a pedestrian mall in Christchurch. Built as a private development in the early 1930s with 40 shops in Spanish Mission architectural style, it is one of the city's major tourist attractions. Providing a number of small shops as a comprehensive development was an advanced idea at the time, and New Regent Street is regarded as a forerunner to modern shopping malls. Due to its coherent architectural character, the buildings in the streets are listed as Category I heritage items by Heritage New Zealand, and in addition, the entire street has a historic area listing. The street was pedestrianised in 1994 in preparation for the introduction of the Christchurch heritage tram, which began operation in February 1995. Damaged in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, the street and buildings reopened in April 2013, and the tram returned from November of that year. Following the 2016 Valentine's Day earthquake, five of the buildings that had not been repaired after the previous earthquakes have been cordoned off, which stopped the tram from operating on its original heritage loop until May.
Contents
Background and location
New Regent Street is located in the Christchurch Central City. It is oriented in a north-south direction and placed between Armagh Street at its north end, and Gloucester Street on its south side. Cathedral Square, the centre of Christchurch, is located one block over to the south-west. What is now New Regent Street was originally known as "The Circus paddock", as visiting circuses would make use of the land. From 1888, the land was occupied by a building called the Colosseum. The Colosseum was initially an ice skating rink, then used for a boot factory, became a taxi rank for some time and in 1908, it was Christchurch's first movie theatre. The Colosseum was demolished in January 1931.
History
Pedestrian mall
In 1986, a one-way restriction was imposed for driving on New Regent Street. This measure was in place for only eight years before the street was closed to traffic in 1994 and turned into a pedestrian mall in preparation for the reintroduction of the Christchurch tram. Originally, it was intended for the tram to go back and forth along Worcester Street, but the plans were changed and a loop created, with Rolleston Avenue, Armagh Street, New Regent Street and the John Britten property known as Cathedral Junction making up the route. The tram began operating on 4 February 1995.
Earthquakes
The buildings sustained damage during the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. The whole central city was cordoned off, and the public did not have access. Repairs to the street and buildings were carried out by Naylor Love Construction Limited for NZ$3,000,000, with Fulton Ross Team Architects providing the architectural inputs. New Regent Street was set to be reopened in December 2012, but this was delayed to February 2013, and then March, and it finally did open on Saturday, 20 April 2013. The Press described the opening as an "anti-climax", as only five of the shops were open for business. A further fourteen shops had been tenanted but were not ready, while tenants for seven shops had yet to be found. Five of the buildings, all owned by Helen Thacker, had not been repaired or earthquake strengthened. Two of those buildings were classed as earthquake-prone, and after months of negotiations by Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority staff, the owner agreed to have those two buildings earthquake strengthened. This allowed for safety fences to be removed from New Regent Street in December 2013.
The tram began operating again in November 2013 on a limited route from New Regent Street to Worcester Boulevard; the tracks in Armagh Street had to be repaired still. In November 2014, the pre-earthquake loop reopened. Some New Regent Street retailers claim that half their custom comes from tourist arriving there by tram.
Following the 2016 Valentine's Day earthquake, the five properties in New Regent Street owned by Helen Thacker were cordoned off due to risk of collapse of their façades, which stopped the tram from doing its traditional route through the pedestrian mall. Later on, a further two properties not owned by Thacker were cordoned off. The operator of the tramway, Michael Esposito from Welcome Aboard, claimed that the tram had so far brought 100,000 customers to New Regent Street during the 2015/16 summer. Tim Hunter, the chief executive of Christchurch & Canterbury Tourism, lamented that the inaction of one owner "will put us back in the world news as not being visitor friendly." The street's spokesperson stated that business had been "disappointing" while the tram was not operating. The barriers were removed and the tram began operating again on 1 May 2016.
Heritage registrations
The buildings were classified as Category I heritage items by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (since renamed Heritage New Zealand) on 28 June 1990, with registration number 4385. On 27 October 1994, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust registered the street as a historic area, with registration number 7057. The buildings are listed in the Christchurch District Plan as group 2 heritage buildings.
Images for kids
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Arthur Stacey, the driving force behind the creation of New Regent Street
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Francis Willis, the architect for New Regent Street
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New Regent Street during the Matariki celebrations (June 2021)
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