03 Magazine: March 01, 2023

60 Magazine | Travel
What was it with Peter Beaven and Miles Warren?
These two well-known Christchurch architects seemed
to be sparring, on and off, for 30 years?
New Zealand architecture has had few public personalities.
Christchurch had two of them at the same time – Peter
Beaven (1925–2012) and Sir Miles Warren (1929–2022).
They often took opposing sides in heated heritage
debates. Beaven saw himself as being outside the tent,
while Sir Miles was definitely inside. However, they were
both Christ’s College old boys and rather patrician. They
had the confidence of their privileged upbringing, and were
articulate, persuasive and quite willing to make a stand.
There was perhaps a sense that Christchurch was too
small for both of them, but whatever their differences, I
think they always respected each other’s architectural ability.
What’s your favourite Christchurch heritage building?
At the moment, either Mountfort’s Great Hall (1882) at
the Arts Precinct, which really is one of the great rooms
of Aotearoa, or the neighbouring Biology and Physics
Building, with its observatory tower (1896), also designed
by Mountfort, which is now incorporated in a new
boutique hotel.
ABOVE: Public Trust Office, 152–156 Oxford Tce. Cecil Wood (1925).
which was originally the campus of Canterbury College.
There are more than 20 heritage-listed Gothic Revival
buildings at the Arts Centre, and nearly all have now
been faithfully restored.
Some figures emerge from the book as giants of
Christchurch architecture. One is Benjamin Mountfort
– how important was he?
Mountfort was Christchurch’s leading architect from the
time of European settlement in the 1850s until the end of
the 19th century. He set the architectural benchmark for
the new city, and he set it pretty high.
He was fortunate that the style in which he was so
accomplished – Gothic Revival – was the house style of
the Anglican establishment that founded Christchurch,
but the city was also lucky that it was Mountfort who
designed many of its important 19th century buildings.
Who else should be considered as pivotal to the early
fabric of the city?
Mountfort was succeeded in the early 20th century
by a generation of very able architects, including John
Collins and Richard Harman, Samuel Hurst Seager and
Cecil Wood.
The next outstanding era in Christchurch architecture
was the two decades after the Second World War, which
was the heyday of Modernism in the city.
The young Miles Warren was the outstanding
Christchurch architect of this period, but the city had
numerous talented Modernist architecture firms at
this time, and the good old Ministry of Works was
demonstrating its commitment to concrete Brutalism.
Most interesting modern-era buildings?
Miles Warren’s office and apartment (1962) at 65
Cambridge Terrace is still recognisably a little gem of a
building. If you like Brutalism – it’s a taste many people
have not acquired – you’ll appreciate the Centre of
Contemporary Art Toi Moroki (CoCA) Gallery, designed
by the firm of Minson, Henning-Hansen and Dines in the
late 1960s.
Any favourite post-earthquake buildings?
Tūranga, the new Christchurch central city library
(2018) designed by Architectus, Schmidt Hammer
Lassen Architects and the Matapopore Trust is a great
community asset, and Ravenscar House Museum (2021),
designed by Patterson Associates, is a very staunch and
intriguing building.
Anything else to add about Christchurch and
its architecture?
Thanks to its topography and its grid plan, Ōtuatahi
Christchurch is an easy place to walk around. In a couple
of hours, with this guide in hand, you can visit buildings by
nearly all of the city’s significant architects, and take in most
of the design styles deployed over the past 150 years.
Photos by Patrick Reynolds for
Ōtautahi Christchurch Architecture:
A Walking Guide by John Walsh,
Massey University Press, RRP$30.