OLD COLONISTS’ HALL

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22339, 1 March 1938, Page 10

OLD COLONISTS’ HALL

POSSIBLE DEMOLITION

EDUCATION BOARD SEEKS SITE FOR SCHOOL

The Colonists’ Hall at Lyttelton, a large wooden building erected in the very earliest days of the province, may soon be demolished to give place to modern school buildings and rooms for domestic science instriiCa meeting Q f the Lyttelton Borough Council last night a letter was received from the Education Board asking the council to receive a deputation from the board to discuss a proposal for the transfer of the Colonists’ Hall site from the council to the board for use as a site for new school buildings. Cr. T. B. Hempstalk moved that the deputation be received at the next meeting of the council. Cr. R. Cairns, who seconded the motion, said it was a chance of getting a first-class building in place of the present eyesore. ~ Cr. J. D. Sargentina said the board proposed that the council should transfer valuable property without any suggestion of payment. Cr. G. S. Morris protested against the hall being described as an eyesore. It was a fine example of Gothic architecture in wood. The beautiful rose window had been taken out some years ago. He would be very sorry to see the building taken down; it was a relic of early Lyttelton. Cr. Cairns, in reply, said the rose window mentioned by Cr. Morris was still in position, but had been boarded up. The motion was carried.

It was not long after the establishment of the Canterbury settlement that the need was felt of a public hall in Lyttelton, then the chief town of the province, and as a result the Colonists’ Hall was built. It was in this hall that the early political meetings were held, and that the drama was first introduced in the new settlement. For half a century of more a long line of actors used the hall, and some notable plays were presented by scarcely less notable artists. In the nineties the hall was the scene of the presentation by the Lyttelton Operatic Society of such well-known comic operas as “Les Cloches de Corneville,” “The Pirates of Penzance,” and others. Even in the early part of the present century travelling dramatic companies played regularly at the hall. One of the best and most favourably known of these was the Taylor-Carrington Company, which presented melodramas like “East Lynne” and “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” About 20 years ago the council leased the hall to the Education Department for the use of classes in domestic science and woodwork. A top floor was put in, the upper storey becoming the woodwork room, while the ground floor was used as the cookery room, and the building still serves those purposes. It is understood that the proposal is to erect in its place a modern fresh-air school building, with a cookery, room and a woodwork room in the basement.