Music Centre, Christchurch, New Zealand
The chapel, built in 1907, was designed by Joseph Munnings while he was in partnership with Samuel Hurst Seager and Cecil Wood. It is one of the only examples of Byzantine revival architecture in the Southern Hemisphere. The three-storey main convent building, designed in 1882 by Francis Petre 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. 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 and Rangi Ruru Girls' School.
References
- ^ "Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions Chapel". Quakestudies. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
- ^ Part of Chch music centre to be razed 12 April 2011, TVNZ website. (retrieved 25 January 2012)