B.
Victoria Square
Behind the scenes
Here's another bit of Christchurch that's in the news.
Planners are keen to start fiddling with a part of the city that could well be left alone. The original story on 17 October has really set the letters page aflutter.
Here is what John Weeks made of Victoria Square back in 1921.
I can't actually work out which corner of Victoria Square this is, but not a single building that was there in 1921 is there today. Only the brick building now known as Isaac House survived the earthquake and that was built six years AFTER John Weeks painted this work.
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John Weeks Victoria Square
Dr Geoffrey Rice, author of 'Victoria Square: cradle of Canterbury' (Canterbury University Press, 2014) suggests that this scene is a view from the horse watering ramp on the west side of Victoria Square looking towards the corner of Armagh Street and Oxford Terrace. The two-storey building appears to be Palairet's Building, a wooden office block that stood on this corner. At one time it housed the secretaries of the various NZ trotting and racing clubs.