Akaroa Historical Overview - Christchurch City Council

Figure 5.25. In this late 19 th or early 20 th century view from Beach Road, the principal
building visible is the old Borough School, which stood on the site now occupied by the
War Memorial. A start has been made on the seawall which eventually extended from
Aylmers Stream in the south to beyond Dalys Wharf to the north. Ref: 1896 CM
General comment on Akaroa’s 19 th century architecture
The buildings erected in Akaroa from the 1850s onwards were not to any significant
extent different from similar buildings erected in other 19 th century New Zealand
settlements of similar size. Almost all were built of timber with, at least from the 1860s
on, corrugated iron roofs. Almost all were in styles that followed common, New Zealandwide
patterns. This is as true of the town’s houses as of a 19 th century structure that was
moved into town in the late 20 th century, the Akaroa Lighthouse. The town’s churches are
varied, but all within the common Gothic idiom of 19 th century New Zealand church
architecture. Similarly, variants of the Classical style were used for commercial premises
and for public buildings of various descriptions.
Akaroa’s buildings are almost all conventional, typical structures which do not tell a story
peculiar or unique to Akaroa. The architectural historian who first made this point in a
compelling way was Charles Fearnley. His views on a supposed “French” style in Akaroa
architecture have already been discussed. Fearnley concluded that Akaroa’s buildings
followed common New Zealand colonial forms, with perhaps a few decorative variants (the
use of double verandah posts and of certain forms of verandah brackets) which may, but
probably did not, derive from the noticeably French in style buildings of Akaroa’s first
decade. He dismissed the notion that Akaroa’s buildings generally had an “elegance” that
was “truly French”. “French or English end to the town,” he wrote “it makes no difference
to the Colonial style.” Akaroa’s 19 th century buildings can all be fitted comfortably within
the “Colonial Vernacular” architectural style, characterised by the use of timber, the
derivation of decorative features and forms from a variety of European sources, but
predominantly from Britain, and by innovation on the part of colonial carpenters and
builders.
What makes Akaroa unusual, and possibly unique in New Zealand, is that a large number
of these 19 th century, Colonial Vernacular, buildings have survived in the relatively small
area occupied by the 19 th century town. (Akaroa did not spread significantly beyond the
boundaries of the old borough until after the end of World War II.) This, rather than any
AKAROA HERITAGE OVERVIEW : SECTION 5 THE COLONIAL TOWN 1850 TO 1900 PAGE 56