Style: May 20, 2020

STYLE | architecture 23
Light flows down from skylights bouncing off the beer vats to spread throughout the establishment. The original concrete walls of the bank have been
extended by using repurposed timber from houses demolished in the February 22, 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
dog fidgets, trying desperately to sit
A obediently outside a Lyttelton café.
The cacophony of noise, people and
the enticing smell of baked goods on
London Street is working against him.
It is late morning and the street is busy
with people popping in and out of an
eclectic array of shops.
A woman pauses outside the
pharmacy, halted by a friend who
soon joins her from across the street.
Their laughter drifts up to the balcony
of Eruption Brewery, adding to the
symphony of background music from
the cicadas and the burring of the port a
block away.
“Yeah, it is pretty good,” muses
brewery owner Shaun Crossan, as
he rests his elbows on the balustrade
surveying the street. You get a sense it
has been a while since he has pondered
the feat of turning a former BNZ Bank
into a brewery and bar.
The bank building was destroyed
when the Harbourlight Theatre next
door fell through it, during the February
22, 2011 earthquake, and for years
suffered the indignity of having a
tarpaulin stretched across it while its
future was mulled. But Shaun and his
business partner saw potential in the
crippled building.
The balcony, where Shaun stands, was
designed as an “inverted” stage by Bull
O’Sullivan architect Michael O’Sullivan.
Normally people would watch the stage,
but here it is used as a viewing platform,
watching as the life of Lyttelton plays
out below.
Michael used photos of Louisiana’s
Mardi Gras, with people enjoying the
festival on balconies, to entice the
Christchurch City Council to sign off the
design. And it worked.
The building was one of the first on
London Street to go through the postquake
urban design process.
“We had to show the council how
this was going to contribute to the
liveliness of London Street, which is a
Michael used photos
of Louisiana’s
Mardi Gras, with
people enjoying
the festival on
balconies, to entice
the Christchurch
City Council to sign
off the design. And
it worked.