Warner's Hotel
| Warner's Hotel | |
|---|---|
Warner's Hotel in December 2010 with the Novotel completed
|
|
| General information | |
| Type | Hotel |
| Architectural style | Victorian Free Classical |
| Location | Cathedral Square, Christchurch Central City |
| Address | 50 Cathedral Square |
| Town or city | Christchurch |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Coordinates | 43°31′50″S 172°38′15″E / 43.5305°S 172.6375°E |
| Current tenants | Novotel |
| Completed | 29 October 1901 |
| Renovated | 1910 (fourth storey added) |
| Client | Percy Arthur Herman |
| Owner | Chrystal Imports |
| Landlord | Gordon Chamberlain |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | four |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Joseph Madison |
| Renovating team | |
| Architect | Sidney and Alfred Luttrell |
| Designated | 24-Apr-1997 |
| Reference no. | 7384 |
| References | |
| "Warner's Hotel". Register of Historic Places. Heritage New Zealand. | |
Warner's Hotel in 50 Cathedral Square, Christchurch is the site of a hotel established in 1863. The original building, extended on numerous occasions, burned down in 1900. A new building was built in 1901. Again, it underwent numerous alterations. A fourth storey was added in 1910 and the northern end of the building was demolished in 1917 and a theatre built in its place to create a noise buffer to the printing presses of the adjoining Lyttelton Times Building. The theatre was demolished in 1996 and patrons enjoyed a beer garden. In 2010, a high-rise Novotel hotel opened on the site of the beer garden and in the process, the historical and symmetrical 1901 façade was recreated.
Warner's Hotel was recognised as a Category II heritage building by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, with registration number 7384. Subsequent to the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, the historic part of the building was demolished in late 2011. The owner has consent for rebuilding the hotel, but has cited uncertainty over other large projects nearby for the reason of not going ahead yet.
The Commercial and Dining Rooms were established by John Etherden Coker (1832–1894) in 1863. William Francis Warner (1836–1896) was either the third proprietor from 1874, or the second proprietor from 1873, and the establishment was known as Warner's Hotel from the mid-1870s. Warner, described as "the patriarch among licensed victuallers in Christchurch", drowned in a boating accident on the Avon Heathcote Estuary in 1896. The three resulting funerals were a big event in Christchurch, and Prime Minister Richard Seddon sent flowers to Warner's funeral.
Fire broke out at Warner's Hotel on the evening of 24 April 1900. The wooden portion of the building was destroyed, but the modern part was still habitable. After the fire crews had left, the fire ignited again. The fire threatened at one point to ignite the adjacent original building of the Lyttelton Times, but apart from some windows broken by the intense heat, nothing happened.
The licence for the hotel was transferred to Percy Arthur Herman, an experienced proprietor from the North Island, in March 1901. Herman engaged architect Joseph Maddison to design a new building for the site, who chose a Victorian Free Classical architecture style in the palazzo genre. The façade utilised a grand central entrance with a pediment and balustraded parapets on either side, representing typical use of classical symmetry. The new hotel, with over 120 rooms, was opened on 29 October 1901.
...
Wikipedia