Akaroa Historical Overview - Christchurch City Council

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The authors were not to evaluate any of the listings of individual buildings or features in the current Banks Peninsula District Plan 1 or to propose additions to the lists. Because of constraints of time and resources, the authors were instructed that this report was to be based mainly on research in secondary and printed sources and on extensive but not systematic or complete examination of the entire town. Although the authors have identified and listed all the extant heritage items and features for which there is already some documentation in various histories, reports etc., some features or items that should be protected or preserved are not mentioned in this report. A comprehensive identification of all extant heritage fabric will only be possible when (to identify the two gaps which struck each of the authors as most serious) research into Akaroa’s 20 th century domestic architecture has been completed and a detailed inventory of surviving heritage trees and other landscape fabric has been made. One of the report’s recommendations is, accordingly, that this additional historical research and preparation of full inventories be undertaken in parallel with the further reports concerning Akaroa’s heritage and character which the Council is to commission. Background This report is part of an ongoing effort by the Christchurch City Council to devise policies and strategies that will protect Akaroa’s historic character and individual heritage items in the town. It was understood by the authors of the report that the ultimate goal of the full exercise was to establish whether there should be a variation to the District Plan to ensure that effective measures (strategies, policies and rules) are in place to protect the existing character of Akaroa and buildings, structures, trees and other items assessed as being of heritage interest or worth. The report has been preceded by an Akaroa Streetscapes Report, 2006, prepared by Robyn Burgess, Opus International Consultants. At the time this report was being completed, the Council commissioned from Boffa Miskell an Akaroa Character Study which is to examine the character of Akaroa in great depth, to take the consideration of conservation areas further and to include a rewriting of the present Design Guidelines which have been one of the tools the Council has been using to protect Akaroa’s existing character. This report has also been completed at the time the Council is engaged in consulting the public on an Akaroa Harbour Basin Settlements Study. A further report was also about to be commissioned at the time this report was being completed on heritage conservation areas in Akaroa. Executive summary This report provides the required general historical account of change and development in Akaroa from before 1840 (the year in which the present town was founded) up to the present. The emphasis in the report is on the surviving heritage of Akaroa. 1 The Banks Peninsula District Plan has two lists of buildings, objects and sites . The first list (Appendix IV Schedule of Protected Buildings, Objects and Sites) includes all those items in Akaroa which have been registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust and the second (Appendix V Schedule of Notable Buildings, Objects and Sites) items which are considered worthy of preservation but have not been registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. AKAROA HERITAGE OVERVIEW : SECTION 1 OVERVIEW PAGE 2
It draws particular attention to what remains in Akaroa which reflects its history, but also highlights developments and changes for which there is little or no tangible evidence remaining in the town but which have to be understood in order to understand how the town acquired its present character. At the end of each section, a preliminary identification of extant heritage fabric (including buildings, structures, fences, trees, other individual plants and landscape fabric) is provided, but these lists are not exhaustive (for the reasons explained above under the heading Report objectives and limitations). At the end of the report are a tentative list of themes intended to guide the future identification of items of heritage interest in Akaroa and recommendations, based on the understanding of Akaroa’s history which has emerged from this study, about the defining of conservation areas in Akaroa and the protection of individual surviving heritage items. The main body of the report is chronological. The founding of the town of the Akaroa and its first decade of life as a predominantly French village are described in section 1. The history of the town is then presented in three ‘bites’, covering approximately 50 years each. Through each of these 50-year periods, Akaroa developed in distinct ways which were different for each period. The years 1850-1900 were characterised by significant growth and expansion, the loss of the forest cover from the surrounding hills and the establishment of the gardens and orchards that for long set the town’s character. In the following 50 years, 1900-1950, the town grew relatively little, in terms of buildings and population, but changed significantly in terms of its plantings and physical appearance. In the last half of the 20 th century, 1950-2000, the number of dwellings in the town expanded significantly while the permanent population grew only slowly. Pressures of development, largely arising from the wish of residents of Christchurch to have holiday homes in what was well-established in previous decades as one of Canterbury’s premier resort towns, both changed the town’s physical character and provoked sometimes heated discussion about the town’s future. At the end of the section on ‘French Akaroa and of the sections covering each of the following 50-year periods, are “snapshots” of Akaroa in 1850, 1900, 1950 and 2000. These have been included to summarise the historical information presented in each of the sections and to give a quick “overview” of the changes recounted in detail in each of the sections. Authorship The authors of this report are Louise Beaumont, heritage landscape architect and John Wilson, historian. Each author wrote their separate sections of the report. John Wilson edited the combined texts and Louise Beaumont designed the format and laid out the report. Acknowledgements The authors’ main debts are to the staff of the Akaroa Museum (Lynda Wallace, Director, Patsy Turner and Cotrina MacLeod). Without their making the resources of the Museum readily available, responding promptly and fully to all manner of specific enquiries and putting their knowledge of photographs and other depictions of Akaroa at the disposal of the authors, the authors could not have written such a full report in the time available. AKAROA HERITAGE OVERVIEW : SECTION 1 OVERVIEW PAGE 3
Page 1 and 2: A REPORT PREPARED FOR: KERI DAVIS-M
Page 3 and 4: LIST OF FIGURES: Section 2: Introdu
Page 5 and 6: Figure 6.7. Akaroa beach before WW
Page 7 and 8: Figure 7.41. View of hillside veget
Page 9: SECTION ONE: OVERVIEW Report Contex
Page 13 and 14: AKAROA: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW Sect
Page 15 and 16: It had the appearance of remoteness
Page 17 and 18: SECTION THREE: LANDSCAPE & HUMAN HI
Page 19 and 20: Paka Ariki seems to have had a less
Page 21 and 22: They appear also on occasion to hav
Page 23 and 24: AKAROA: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW Sect
Page 25 and 26: The settlers were given clear title
Page 27 and 28: Commercial Hotel. (Green sold this
Page 29 and 30: Figure 4.2. The cottage built in 18
Page 31 and 32: Charlotte Godley, however, observed
Page 33 and 34: THE NATURAL AND PLANTED LANDSCAPE P
Page 35 and 36: own property in Takamatua and the n
Page 37 and 38: By 1847 cropping and stock breeding
Page 39 and 40: Figure 4.10. Father Sione's plan sh
Page 41 and 42: Figure 4.12. Plan of the Akaroa sho
Page 43 and 44: EXTANT TOWN FABRIC & FEATURES DATIN
Page 45 and 46: SECTION FIVE: THE COLONIAL TOWN 185
Page 47 and 48: Akaroa’s transformation from vill
Page 49 and 50: Although the proportion of Akaroa
Page 51 and 52: The most important concentration of
Page 53 and 54: The largest private home built in 1
Page 55 and 56: He soon built his own store and coa
Page 57 and 58: time after 1884 (probably in 1888)
Page 59 and 60: Figure 5.17. In this view looking s
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Industry Industry had less of an im
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Public institutions As Akaroa grew
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One of the organisations which met
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The first Anglican church was built
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distinctively Akaroa style of archi
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The Akaroa Mail greeted the formati
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Figure 5.28. For a time in the late
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THE COLONIAL LANDSCAPE The disappea
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By 1900 the forest was virtually go
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Figure 5.32. Walnut Avenue was the
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Figure 5.34. Charles Haylock's prop
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The resort garden and the seaside h
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The re-invigoration of the town's e
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public gardens in the colony” 122
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Britomart or Green's Point Monument
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Names on the landscape in 1900 The
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c SNAPSHOT OF AKAROA IN 1900 The 19
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Public buildings and structures •
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AKAROA: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW Sect
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During and just after World War II,
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with the previous half century. Two
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The unveiling of the monument on Gr
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Figure 6.5. James Bruce established
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grounds, was dedicated to the wives
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Building a dairy factory in Akaroa
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Community Life Between 1900 and 195
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The building of the Post Office was
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through Little River and over Hillt
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Power from the Lake Coleridge power
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area without the fear of currents a
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Land reclaimed on the northern beac
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Akaroa cemetery: “the most inviti
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Figure 6.23 The central memorial fe
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Centennial celebrations In preparat
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In addition to built landscape elem
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Coronation Oaks were planted on L'A
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Figure 6.34. Aylmers Valley Road in
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Figure 6.36. The Narbey family home
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c SNAPSHOT OF AKAROA IN 1950 Descri
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Public buildings and structures •
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SECTION SEVEN: CHANGE AND GROWTH 19
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When the Akaroa County first drew u
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The Metropole and Bruce fires left
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offered from the 1970s and more rec
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By the late 20 th century, a town w
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ensure as far as possible that the
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Figure 7.7. In this aerial view tak
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This expectation was fulfilled. In
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On Rue Balguerie, subdivision in 19
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But the spread of houses onto those
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Figure 7.16. Some architects who de
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Farrell stated her case against the
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Figure 7.19. Behind the recent and
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Figure 7.22. The Haylock House on A
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In 1970 a local complained to the w
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Figure 7.25. The new gymnasium on t
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Figure 7.26. General view of Akaroa
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palms, sumach, chestnuts and walnut
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Commemorative fabric and historic t
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The changing face of the Domain Dur
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Cemetery reserves: “nothing but c
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widened in part to better accommoda
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Figure 7.38. 1972 map of Akaroa . P
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c SNAPSHOT OF AKAROA TODAY The seco
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EXTANT TOWN FABRIC DATING FROM 1950
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Come to Akaroa Canterbury’s Premi
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Vangioni. L. J. (1967) Old Maori pl
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Akaroa Mail, 7 September 2001 Akaro
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Appendix 2. Although Akaroa's popul
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Appendix 4. Typically, subdivisions
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Appendix 6. In 1946, the block of l
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Appendix 8. In 1953, the extensive
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Appendix 10. In 1962, one of the fi
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Appendix 12. After the major subdiv
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Appendix 14. On the south side of A
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Appendix 16. The most recent large
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Appendix 18. Nearly 20 years passed
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Appendix 20. In 1971, the block of
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Appendix 22. A 1981 subdivision saw
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Appendix 24. The Settlers Hill subd
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Appendix 26. The houses on Percy St
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Appendix 28. As development extende
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Appendix 30. As development crept u
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Akaroa Historical Overview - Christchurch City Council

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