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The Unholy Row Over Christchurch Cathedral

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The Unholy Row Over Christchurch Cathedral + Issues THE UNHOLY ROW OVER CHRISTCHurcH CATHEDRAL Two years after an earthquake devastated the city which shares its name, ChristChurch Cathedral still languishes behind security fencing. Amanda Cropp investigates the rancorous politics behind the wire. AMANDA CROPP IS A NORTH & SOUTH CONTRIBUTING WRITER. PHOTOGRAPH BY GUY FREDERICK. This aerial photograph shows ChristChurch Victoria Matthews after her appointment as Cathedral on February 20, 2012, nearly a year bishop in 2008. Her hiring marked a departure lone pigeon struts along a aftershocks, and in the nave he says the after the 6.3 quake. Christchurch has a reputation for unholy being the seat of a bishop). for the church: her four male predecessors had all previously served as deans of MARTY MELVILLE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES steel gantry beside the gaping bottoms of the tall Oamaru stone columns rows over heritage buildings but the debate Rawstron repeats a common refrain when ChristChurch Cathedral, whereas Matthews hole in the cathedral’s west have rounded off as a result of their rock’n’ over ChristChurch Cathedral has polarised he says the current bishop fails to understand arrived from Canada. wall. Inside his mates are rolling. the city like no other civic battle in recent the building’s symbolic importance. “It’s MARTIN HUNTER Aprobably pooping over the In the visitor centre, smelly black water memory. more than a church to Christchurch, it’s our organ, the broken pulpit and the intricate- laps at door handles in the basement and The once- When the Red Zone cordon was lifted for McDonald’s golden arches, it’s our [city ly carved kauri screen behind the high altar. around the corner, in an area where Oliver eight days following deconsecration of the council] logo… it’s what Christchurch is Thanks to hastily thrown drop-cloths, the is not prepared to take me, someone has soaring bell cathedral, 140,000 people ventured into the known for throughout the world. It’s like possible death threat, but the Advertising effigy of the city’s first bishop, Henry spray-painted offensive comments about tower is little square to view the battered building. Some, taking down the Sydney Harbour Bridge or Standards Authority rejected complaints Harper, is unsullied by bird droppings, but the church. The once-soaring bell tower is like former cathedral chorister Brent Raw- the Auckland Sky Tower. It’s like saying we’ll about it.) with other precious cathedral artefacts lying little more than a stump following demoli- more than a stron, want it restored. Some would prefer take down the Eiffel Tower because it’s got Even though the cathedral decision is unprotected and irretrievable, a significant tion last year and the mangled cross that stump following it was left as a ruin, or rebuilt with a mix of a bit rusty and we don’t like it anymore.” strictly a matter for the local diocese, the reduction in the $5 million contents insur- topped the spire lies in state in a black-lined demolition old and new elements. Others say raze it Canterbury University associate professor Archbishop of Canterbury and the Queen ance payment is a distinct possibility. display case at the Quake City museum and build a modern cathedral that reflects in art history Ian Lochhead, an expert on have been inundated with letters pleading Strengthening work is credited with pre- exhibit in the Re:Start container mall. last year. the new city. Many are just fed up with the early New Zealand architecture, goes even for them to intervene. venting wholesale collapse of the building. Neatly packaged for tourists, the accom- endless wrangling. further. “In terms of Pakeha culture, this is Retired bishop of Christchurch David The ridge line of the roof looks straight as panying blurb neglects to mention the bitter Bishop Victoria Matthews, recruited from the greatest heritage loss ever in the coun- Coles, now a parish priest in Central Otago, a gun barrel and, from a distance, the east- battle over the future of the city landmark Canada two and a half years before the Febru- try’s history.” was also lobbied but refuses to publicly take ern end housing the chancel appears in because, a museum staffer tells me, the picture ary quake, wants an inspiring new cathedral For almost 40 years, the Wizard of Christ- sides. “My regular response is to say that reasonable nick. However, during a close-up keeps changing. that “speaks to the past but looks to a future”. church held forth in Cathedral Square from I’m a bit like Manuel in Fawlty Towers: ‘I tour of the exterior with a church engineer, Legal action by the Great Christchurch The cathedral was the centrepiece of a a ladder stored in the cathedral porch. He was know nothing, I come from Barcelona.’” the commentary is far from positive. Buildings Trust has halted Anglican Church colonial settlement with its roots firmly in so incensed by church plans he cast a spell to So how did it come to this? Eight months Stuart Oliver, technical director for Holmes plans to deconstruct the cathedral to the Church of England tradition, and Christ- save the building, and publicly declared in a after suffering serious damage in the Febru- Consulting Group, points out cracks wide window-sill level. An appeal over one aspect church was recognised as a city only when newspaper advertisement that the bishop was ary quake, the cathedral was classed as a enough to admit a hand. Orange plastic “tell of the interim judgement is to be heard on Bishop Harper turned up with the letters cracked and should be demolished forthwith. dangerous building by the Canterbury Earth- tales” tacked to stonework chart the “old April 18, and another two potential litigants patent to say so (at the time, city status was (Much to his annoyance, an overexcited TV quake Recovery Authority (CERA), which girl’s” desperate dance through thousands of are in the wings (see box on page 122). determined either by population or by reporter interpreted the proclamation as a ordered that it be demolished “to the extent 48 | NORTH & SOUTH | MAY 2013 NORTH & SOUTH | may 2013 | 49 ES G A IM ONT / GETTY M DANITA DELI DANITA standing committee of the diocesan synod. When the Anglican Church announced its deconstruction plans on March 1, 2012, it emphasised the high costs and the unac- ceptable risks of restoration in a press release that made no fewer than 11 refer- ences to safety, injury risk, and the cathedral being a dangerous building. With most of the cathedral still standing, Mark Belton just didn’t buy it. He phoned ERICK D RE around engineers and heritage experts to F UY get their take on prospects for fixing the G cathedral and, without exception, they said it was possible. “There was this credibility “Working-class hero” Jim Anderton and former National cabinet minister Philip gap and that’s what fired me.” on the Historic Places Trust national register. was established to prevent the unnecessary Burdon have formed an unlikely alliance Although an “unbeliever”, Belton attended Belton scored a PR coup when he and GNS destruction of quake-damaged heritage to fight the cathedral’s demolition. ES G GUY FREDERICK A evensong at the cathedral three times a week Science’s chief seismic engineer Andrew buildings such as the cathedral. IM to hear his second-generation chorister grand- King circulated a petition among members Mindful of being accused of elitism for son sing. “I loved the theatre and the history.” of the New Zealand Society of Earthquake focusing on just one well-known building, OBLE/GETTY N He took five weeks off from his job as Engineering attending a conference in the trust is also developing affordable hous- Catholic. “Someone said, ‘We can’t look like AURIE L director of a carbon-trading company to Christchurch. More than 100 engineers ing and cost-effective ways of remediating the blue-rinse brigade from Fendalton, we kickstart the Restore ChristChurch Cath- signed a statement saying it was technically quake-damaged residential land. need some working-class heroes as well,’ so Above and top right: The cathedral in its edral group and since then has put in well feasible for the cathedral to be safely restored Burdon, a former National cabinet minister they called me and I agreed to go.” former glory. necessary to remove the hazards”. over 700 hours’ unpaid to lobby the Anglican to meet all earthquake code requirements. and co-founder of Meadow Mushrooms, is a For Anderton, it’s been quite an eye- Faced with the threat of CERA taking over Church, the Christchurch City Council, and Belton and King (acting in a private capac- member of the order of canon-almoners, an opener working with a group of powerful the demolition work and charging a project politicians. A campaign rally drew 4000 ity) took that petition to a meeting with honorary title bestowed on citizens of “good people prepared to dig deep for the cause. management fee if it didn’t get a move on, people. Another 4000-plus signed a petition Earthquake Minister Gerry Brownlee. Bel- standing” who have made substantial financial The GCBT has spent $100,000 on legal fees, the church considered three options: maxi- calling for restoration – among them well- ton suggested splitting restoration costs donations to Christ Church Cathedral. He sees half of which Burdon has covered person- mum retention, controlled demolition to sill known Cantabrians such as rich-lister between the church, the city council and Bishop Victoria Matthews as well-meaning ally, and he says he will consider giving $1 level (between two and three metres), and Humphrey Rolleston, fashion designer the government with each of those groups but misguided.
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