Shands Emporium was built in around 1860, and here it is in an early photograph by A.C. Barker fron 1871. By the 1970s it was already one of only a handful of early colonial timber buildings to have survived - an antiquated interjection amongst the concrete on Hereford Street. However, when in the late 1970s the New Zealand Post Office wanted to build a new telephone exchange in Hereford Street and demolish the building, so many people signed a petition requesting its protection that it was spared. It currently has Historic Places Trust category I status.

According to this Council publication on the building:

'As the city grows and changes, there is a danger that historically or environmentally valuable buildings may be thoughtlessly or needlessly destroyed. The Christchurch City Council's District Planning Schemes list over 400 historic buildings and objects. Although the scheme encourages their preservation, in the end only the determination of the community can effectively protect or revitalize buildings it considers important.'

So do we still consider it important?

Here's how it looked in June 2012...

And here it is in May 2013:

It seems perhaps we don't value it any more. Which is sad.

Or have we just forgotten that it's there? Certainly that section of Hereford doesn't get the foot traffic it once did. But by the time the traffic has returned, it will certainly be too late for Shands, and there will be nothing left to miss. Is it too much to imagine that it could be taken to another site and restored? Or even, crazy idea, made weathertight and then fixed? It could make a really nice bar...