Akaroa Historical Overview - Christchurch City Council
Akaroa Historical Overview - Christchurch City Council
Akaroa Historical Overview - Christchurch City Council
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One of the organisations which met for some years in the Town Hall was the <strong>Akaroa</strong><br />
Literary and Scientific Institute, founded in 1860-61. In 1873, the Institute was given land<br />
at the southern end of town and a building designed by S.C. Farr was erected on it. The<br />
opening was on 22 May 1875. The building was a hybrid, with some classical detailing –<br />
window hoods, pilasters and eaves brackets – but also a steeply pitched roof, a fretwork<br />
hood over the door and finials (refer figure 5.22). The building survives, with a near<br />
contemporary, the Gaiety Theatre, as its neighbour, but was substantially remodelled in<br />
1911 (see below). 54<br />
Several clubs and societies were formed in the 1860s. The Bowling Club and Horticultural<br />
Society both began their lives in 1864. The following year a Glee and Dramatic Club was<br />
founded and in 1866 a Musical Society. The Town Hall accommodated several of these<br />
clubs and societies in their early days.<br />
In the 1870s, <strong>Akaroa</strong> also acquired a new court house. An original court house and gaol<br />
was completed in 1858. When it needed replacement an entirely new building, designed<br />
by William Clayton, the Colonial Architect, was erected on the site of the old French<br />
Magasin. Its Italianate design was a variant of a design Clayton used for a number of<br />
court houses erected in small towns in the 1870s (refer figure 5.23). Although <strong>Akaroa</strong>’s<br />
last resident magistrate died in 1885, the court house remained in use for court sittings<br />
until 1979. The building survives as part of the <strong>Akaroa</strong> Museum. 55<br />
Figure 5.23. A court house was built in <strong>Akaroa</strong> in the late 1870s, to a design similar to<br />
that used for court houses in several other small towns. It is now part of the <strong>Akaroa</strong><br />
Museum. The building to the left, which has not survived, stood approximately on the<br />
site of today’s butcher’s shop. Ref: 130-1<br />
54 Allison, An <strong>Akaroa</strong> Precinct, p. 29; Pam Wilson, Farr thesis, pp. 74-75; Leaflet available in Coronation<br />
Library<br />
55 Andersen, Place Names, p. 42; Ogilvie, Cradle, p. 43<br />
AKAROA HERITAGE OVERVIEW : SECTION 5 THE COLONIAL TOWN 1850 TO 1900 PAGE 53