Ti Kouka House circa 1865-2009

Situated adjacent to the central Christchurch Fire Station, Ti Kouka House succumbed to a second arson attack on the 21st of March, 2009.

In a week when the the local mainstream media reported on two suspicious fires; one at a convenience store and the other being a motor vehicle, no mention was made of the destruction of this historic house, which apparently occupied a potential redevelopment site. Quite possibly yet further evidence of seamless connections between journalism, business and politics.

Further reading...

Looters Ransack Historic Site

The Rising Sun hotel was built on what had been the garden of Dr. Augustus Florance in 1865 by Frank Innes, who had arrived at Lyttelton aboard the Sebastopol two years earlier. 

Situated in the Christchurch suburb of St Albans and more infamously known as the Rising Hell, the much altered and extended hotel became the Caledonian in 1878. As such it continued to enjoy something of a louche reputation until closing in late 2007.

The extensive site was undergoing evaluation by archaeologists from the University of Otago when the dig was raided during the night of the 26th of March, 2009. Artefacts and layers of information critical to archaeological analysis were destroyed as the looters picked over the site, upon which it's reported that sixty town-houses are to be built.

 

Our Shame

In July 2008 we reported on Ti Kouka House, the circa 1865 home of Samuel de la Bere Barker (1848-1901) at 281 Cambridge Terrace near to the Madras Street bridge.

Son of Dr Alfred Charles Barker, the pioneer of Canterbury photography, Sam Barker was a widely renowned Botanist. A promenade along the river bank was officially named Barkers Avenue as a consequence of his development of a botanical garden in the extensive grounds of Ti Kouka house, which originally stretched from the river bank to Kilmore Street. A part of the garden was subsequently replaced by an extension to Cambridge Terrace, now a cul de sac.

Occupying a potentially valuable inner city redevelopment site, the historically significant house had been allowed to fall into dereliction in an all too familiar and shamefully predictable sequence that resulted in an arson attempt in August, 2008. On the night of the 21st of March 2009 the second attempt to burn the house succeeded.

That the Christchurch City Council and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust apparently turned a blind eye while this historic house, which was in relatively sound condition in July 2008, was allowed to fall into ruin and finally succumb to a second arson attempt, raises serious issues which might be more appropriately addressed at a national level.


Ti Kouka House, 29 June 2003
Courtesy of Early Canterbury Photographers

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Further Reading

We are greatfully indebted to kinopus 88 for the above detail from a photograph of the conflaguration, which is part of a sequence of 16 photos recording the final destruction of Ti Kouka House.

Post-fire photos of Ti Kouka House.

July, 2008 original article: Saving Canterbury's Heritage

August, 2008 post fire article: Heritage Tragedy

A sequence of photographs by Ars 666 of the interior of Ti Kouka House in August, 2008

Christchurch Gothic

LARGE IMAGE OPENS IN A NEW WINDOW

The internal courtyard of the seat of the Canterbury Provincial Government (1853-1876). 

Built in the Medieval Gothic revival style, New Zealand's only surviving Provincial Government buildings were constructed between 1858 and 1865. 

Only the ageing trees would appear to indicate change in the ensuing 144 years.

1865 Lyttelton Directory

Residential and Commercial Directory

of the

Township of Lyttelton, New Zealand

1865

Click on the above 1865 photographs to access the Directory, which is compiled from the Canterbury Heritage Biographical Index and includes 636 listings. The link opens in a new window.

Lyttelton 1866

The 1866 Residential Directory includes biographical notes. Compiled from data extracted from the Stevens and Bartholomew's New Zealand Directory for 1866-67, published at Melbourne, 1st August, 1866. The directory's statistical data has a cut-off point of June 30, 1865. Accordingly there's a strong possibility that the information relates to the latter part of that year.

The 1866 Yellow Pages, extracted from the same source, lists all agencies of government and commercial enterprises at the port.

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