The Warren and Mahoney-designed Christchurch Town Hall, which was recently restored last year by the firm after earthquake damage made it unsafe, has been entered as a Category 1 Historic Place on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero. 

The entry recognises the national significance of this community hub. “Over the past 15 years there has been an effort within Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga to increase the number of Modern Movement buildings on the List,” says Robyn Burgess, Senior Heritage Assessment Advisor.

“Sadly, many in Christchurch were lost as a result of the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010-2011, which is why it is doubly pleasing to see the Christchurch Town Hall – fully repaired and restored – now recognised as a Category 1 historic place.”

The Town Hall, upheld by many as an icon of brutalist architecture in New Zealand, was originally opened in 1972 and its design team included Sir Miles Warren, Sir Harold Marshall and Maurice Mahoney. After a push from the public to retain and restore the original building after the earthquakes, Warren and Mahoney undertook the preservation and strengthened it to 100 per cent of the current building code.

The Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga listing report was prepared by Dr Ian Lochhead, author of The Christchurch Town Hall 1965 – 2019: A Dream Renewed. “No other New Zealand building has had an influence on world architecture to compare with it,” he says.