Normal School to go

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32663, 20 July 1971, Page 14

Normal School to go

The old Normal School building on the Montreal Street-Peterborough Street block will not be preserved as an historic place; but the Minister of Works (Mr Allen) will be asked by the City Council to take into consideration the characteristics of the locality in planning a technical institute on the site.

J The council agreed last evening not to go ahead with an appeal against the Minis- ’ ten’s requirement that the ■ school area and the Teachers’ • College site be designated a ► proposed technical institute ■in the council’s planning , scheme.

It asked to be consulted when redevelopment of the site was being planned, and asked that there be no undue delay between demolition of the building and rebuilding, and also that the site should not be put to any temporary use.

The Minister said in an early letter that the school building was so unsound that no way could be seen to make it safe enough for future use.

The Canterbury branch of the Institute of Architects advised the council that the building had no great architectural merit or significance. Funds and energies available for preservation and restoration of buildings of architectural and historic interest should be concentrated on the much more important Provincial Council buildings and the university buildings on the city site. The Canterbury regional committee of the Historic Places Trust said the building had historic merit as the chief surviving building concerned with general public education of the provincial

period; but was unable to press the case for total preservation because of the unfavourable engineering report. However, the committee thought special consideration should be given to retaining th» “rotunda” which was the meeting place of the Board of Education in the Provincial Government period. When it recommended dropping the appeal, the town-planning committee said that because the old building provided an effective backdrop to a part of Cranmer Square and was in an area subject to special amenity controls the council should expect that any new building would be designed to fit in with the surroundings.