New Regent Street

New Regent Street
Looking south along New Regent Street in 2010
Location within the Christchurch Central City
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 / -43.5292639; 172.6387194
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
Heritage New Zealand - Category I
Designated	28 June 1990
Reference no.	4385
References
"New Regent Street Terrace Shops". Register of Historic Places. Heritage New Zealand.

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.

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.

In 1929, businessman and chairman of The Press, George Gould, proposed a variety of measures to relieve traffic congestion in Colombo Street and Cathedral Square, including a new bridge over the Avon River connecting Oxford Terrace with Durham Street south, and a new diagonal street from the Armagh Street / Manchester Street intersection to Gloucester Street near its intersection with Colombo Street. The latter proposal would have required the demolition of the Colosseum. Gould suggested this diagonal street be called Little High Street, in reference to the diagonal High Street further south in the central city. Only two weeks after Gould's proposal, a group of businessman led by Arthur Francis Stacey put a proposal for a new street with a Spanish theme to Christchurch City Council's town planning committee. The group had secured options on the Colosseum and on those two properties that separated the Colosseum from access onto Armagh Street. The plans had been drawn by Francis Willis, who had previously been employed by Christchurch City Council as their architect, but who had since 1924 been self-employed. Stacey and his business partners had formed a company called Regent Street Limited in 1929; other company directors were David Manson, Alexander Hamilton Forbes, and John Joseph Dougall. By February 1930, the project had been approved in principle by Christchurch City Council. The concept of a number of small shops all built as a comprehensive development was advanced for its time, and can be regarded as the forerunner of modern shopping malls.