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The Christchurch Town Hall
The Christchurch Town Hall was officially opened on 30 September 1972 by His Excellency The Governor General, Sir Denis Blundell, GCMG, KBE. Initially a joint project by the six former metropolitan territorial local authorities, i.e. the former Christchurch City Council, Paparua and Heathcote County Councils, Riccarton and Lyttelton Borough Councils, and Waimairi District Council, the Christchurch Town Hall is now the responsibility of the Christchurch City Council.
The Town Hall complex is situated on the bank of the River Avon and overlooks Victoria Square. It contains three major elements arranged together as one building and includes:
(a) The Auditorium, conceived primarily as a symphony concert hall but so designed as to be suitable for a great variety of public assembly purposes including a lyric theatre mode. It seats an audience of 2,354, an orchestra of 120, and a choir of 400. The Auditorium is elliptical in plan with two levels of tiered seating surrounding the level central floor and the orchestral stage. Encircling this hall are two levels of promenade foyers and backstage accommodation. The installation of a pipe organ in the Auditorium was completed in May 1997.
(b) The James Hay Theatre, was designed as a traditional drama theatre and concert chamber for similar musical performances. It holds an audience of 1,006. The theatre has a fan-shaped auditorium with one upper gallery, both leading from a common foyer which embraces the outer arch of the fan at the back of the tiered seating, and is quite open to, and forms an extension of, the auditorium space.
(c) The Foyer, Restaurant, Convention and Function Rooms which provide facilities for public dining, private and civic receptions, conventions, exhibitions and meetings of all kinds. Between the Auditorium and the Theatre a common Entrance Foyer with mezzanine refreshment bars leads directly to the Boaters Restaurant which projects over the edge of the river bank, and whose upper floor contains a 500 seat banquet hall known as The Limes Room (464 sq m). The Conference Room (232 sq m) is divisible into two parts. Adjacent is The Cambridge Room (232 sq m) which is the upper floor of an extension completed in 1976 which includes catering, office accommodation and utility rooms on the ground floor.
The cost of the total project, as extended, with furnishings and equipment, was approximately $4M of which nearly $0.5M was raised by voluntary subscription through Town Hall Promotion Inc., the balance being found by constituent local authorities, in the main from loans.
The Ferrier Fountain in front of Boaters Restaurant was donated by Mr and Mrs Jack Ferrier to mark the opening of the Town Hall.
The architects were Messrs Warren & Mahoney of Christchurch, and the main contractor C S Luney Limited.
More information
Sources
This was originally derived from the Christchurch City Council handbook of 1998.
