New life for old library

Press, 24 December 1980, Page 1

New life for old library

The old Canterbury Public Library building will be retained and restored as prestige offices by the company that is buying it, Paynter and Hamilton Property Developments. A conditional sale of the Cambridge Terrace building for $425,000 was announced yesterday by the Deputy Mayor of Christchurch (Cr Rex Lester). A future purchase and restoration of the demoli-tion-threatened Normal School building in Cranmer Square is also being considered by the development company that recently completed the Cashfields Arcade conversion of the former D.I.C. building. Cr Lester said the library sale should become unconditional in March next year, subject to renovation and structural strengthening approval and financing approval. The Christchurch City Council had received two offers for the property. Cr Lester said the other offer proposed retention of part of the main building.

Paynter and Hamilton’s plans call for building a restaurant in part of the library’s ground floor once the building is vacated by the council early in 1982. A hidden structure, formerly the librarian’s

house, will also be restored. “Basically, we are bringing it '“ht back to what it used to be," said Mr Richmond Paynter. Restoration work would take from four to six months to complete. Some earthquake strengthening was also needed. Cr Lester said he doubted that the Post Office would be disappointed about the sale, and he was certain the Canterbury committee of the Historic Places Trust would be pleased. The Post Office, which has the adjacent new high-rise Postal Centre, had been a reluctant buyer for the 2023 sq m site. It would probably have been used as a carpark if the Government had bougm it. A reading room was first built on the site in 1863, and a lending library was opened in 1875. For many years, after the Provincial Government was abolished, the library was controlled by Canterbury University College. It was formally taken over by the City Council in 1948. The new library building, scheduled for completion in about a year, is at the corner of Gloucester Street and Oxford Terrace.