Museum building may get local-body help

Press, 2 August 1985, Page 5

Museum building may get local-body help

The Canterbury Museum may benefit from local authority assistance restoring and strengthening the nineteenth-century part of the building. Although the Christchurch City Council’s town-planning committee yesterday declined a request for money for the museum from its Historic Buildings Fund, councillors were in favour of helping the museum financially. Cr Matthew Glubb suggested that the Museum Board ask the council for assistance on the same principle as the Arts Centre, which receives aid from all local authorities. Cr Glubb said the council’s commitment to the Arts Centre was to end this year. It could be redirected to help the museum, he said. The Museum Board had asked for an annual grant over six years from the Historic Buildings Fund. The strengthening work on

the older part of the museum to bring it up to earthquake standards will cost, about $l.l million. The work was recommended by the City Architect after the Museum Board asked him to look at the building. For the next financial year the Museum Board can find $120,000 from three years budget ) allocations. The board has decided to proceed with the work, because the City Architect said the building should be secured or demolished within 10 years. The work requires the fixing of 150 mm-thick concrete walls to the inside of all existing ground-floor masonry walls, securing trusses and floors, improving the roof, and repairing the masonry. The museum is listed in the council’s Appendix J for its architectural, historic, group, and landmark values. It has been classified by the

Historic Places Trust as a building that warrants permanent preservation because of historical significance or architectural quality. Councillors acknowledged the significance of the building and expressed a wish to assist but felt the Historic Buildings Fund was not the appropriate source of funds. Crs David Close and Rex Arbuckle, the city’s representatives on the Museum Trust Board, said they would bring the councillors’ suggestion to the board’s notice. The committee approved a grant of $lOOO from the Historic Buildings Fund to the Cranmer Bridge Club for work on reroofing the 1864 portion of the Red House at 25 Armagh Street. The City Planner, Mr Bill Williams, noted the great interest in the fund this year. There had been six requests so far, two of which had been granted.