St Elmo Courts

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St Elmo Courts in January 2010

St Elmo Courts was a residential building on the corner of Hereford and Montreal Streets in the Central City of Christchurch , New Zealand . The seven- story building was built in 1930 and in the last few years of its existence it was mainly used as an office building. It was rated II by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust , but was demolished in March 2011 due to damage from the 2010 Darfield earthquake and the later 2011 Christchurch earthquake .

history

Demolition of the building in March 2011

The location at the intersection of Worcester and Montreal Streets where the building was located was once occupied by the St Elmo Boarding House. This pension was advertised as "upscale private accommodation". It was replaced by St Elmo Courts, a building designed by BJ Ager in 1929. The building reflects an enthusiasm for larger apartment blocks that existed in New Zealand's larger cities in the 1920s and 1930s. The incentive was the inexpensive living in a central location; the apartments had modern amenities and built-in furniture. St Elmo Courts was built in 1930. Accordingly, St Elmo Court had one- and two-bedroom apartments, many of which were later converted into office space.

After the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, the building was marked with a yellow marker, which meant that access was restricted. After the earthquake on February 22, 2011, the building's owner and insurer agreed that the damage was too extensive to save the building. The demolition began on March 20th.

Construction method and building damage

vertical shear fracture

St Elmo Court was a reinforced concrete frame with brick walls. After the earthquake of September 4, 2010 , shear fractures running diagonally were visible in the facade in the area of ​​the pillars. One column exhibited a shear fracture. The damage intensified in the earthquake on February 22, 2011.

Monument protection

On November 26, 1981, the building was recognized by the then New Zealand Historic Places Trust with registration number 3133 in Category II as a Historic Place.

Web links

Commons : St Elmo Courts  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b St Elmo Courts. Heritage New Zealand, accessed September 23, 2019 .
  2. ^ St Elmo Boarding House on Worcester Street, between Montreal Street and Cambridge Terrace, was advertised as superior private accommodation. Christchurch City Libraries, 1921, accessed April 11, 2011 .
  3. ↑ St Elmo Courts (1st of 2). In: Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture & Heritage, accessed April 11, 2011 .
  4. ↑ City flats. In: Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture & Heritage, accessed April 11, 2011 .
  5. ^ St Elmo Courts floor plan (2nd of 2). In: Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture & Heritage, accessed April 11, 2011 .
  6. ↑ Quake: Day three as it happened . TVNZ , September 6, 2010, archived from the original on September 9, 2010 ; accessed on May 4, 2018 (English, original website no longer available).
  7. ^ Giles Brown, Keith Lynch: Heritage building too damaged to save. In: The Press. March 21, 2011, p. A3 , accessed April 11, 2011 .
  8. ↑ Weng Y Kam : Preliminary Report from the Christchurch Feb 22, 2011 6.3Mw Earthquake: Pre-1970s RC and RCM Buildings, and Precast Staircase Damage. . (PDF 1.1 MB) New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering Inc. , archived from the original on March 11, 2011 ; accessed on May 4, 2018 (English, original website no longer available).

Coordinates: 43 ° 31 ′ 54.8 ″  S , 172 ° 37 ′ 51.6 ″  E