Christchurch... Re-constructed with Containers

I've been walking round Christchurch some more...
I went to what was, before the earthquakes...
A busy humming part of the city...
Cashel Mall...
This area was badly hit by the quakes...
Partly because all the buildings were so old...
And not built for earthquakes...
Footage on TV showed the mahem and chaos and tragic deaths...


Now... At one end...
The Bridge of Remembrance...
Cordoned off... Badly cracked... But hopefully going to be repaired.

This is the corner of Cashel Mall and Oxford Terrace...
The cafes and offices that were here have all been pulled down.

Looking along Oxford Tce... The Avon riverbank  on the left.
The re-laid tram lines for the restored tourist trams
that run round the city...
Or used to!
Where the crane is... Is the corner of Worcester St.
The old Clarendon Hotel was on the corner.
In more recent years it had been pulled down
but the old historical facade retained.
I haven't walked along there yet.




This is looking along Cashel Mall now....
Nothing about it is the same...
It's the most peculiar feeling when familiar land marks have gone...
I only knew where I was because of the Bridge of Remembrance.


This is the first of the containers...
The ANZ bank...
If you know Christchurch at all...
The National Bank used to be on this corner
then the outdoor shop Bivouac.

  
The mall is very pleasant... John Suckling originally had the idea of
locating and painting shipping containers...
It's very unusual and creative...
It has met with various responses - Read here -
 

All sorts of new container shops have appeared...

Little malls of container shops have been created...
All on the vacant areas left where the old buildings were pulled down...
And the rubble has been cleared.

The containers have been painted different colours...
My favourite jeans shop has relocated down here - Hunters & Collectors...

Red, black, yellow, brown, white, grey...


Upstairs and downstairs...

 
Little cafes... Nothing fancy about the tables...
But they serve the purpose... People gathering and talking...

 
Big windows display designer clother... Shoes...
Books... All sorts of inviting things.



New gardens...



It's all very creative and inviting.


A real classy grocer Mr Johnston...
Has relocated from the rubble in Colombo Street
near the Town Hall.


One of the entrances into Ballantynes - Read here....
This is the only department store to survive in the CBD.
A lot of work  has been done and money spent to re-open this shop.
Inside it's another world of beautiful retail therapy.


The other end of Cashel Mall...
A fence stopping people from venturing any further...
Cashel Street where it is crossed by High Street...
Where more buildings are being pulled down.




And... The Christchurch icon of Ballantynes...
Looking very different but still there... And open for business.
Ballantynes was established in 1854, then known as Dunstable House...
It made it's name selling straw hats!
Bought by William Pratt in 1864 then John Ballantyne in 1872.
In 1947 it was destroyed by NZ's deadliest fire which killed 41 people...
It continued to trade in its Lichfield St premises while the new building...
On the corner of Cashel & Colombo Streets was built.
Now, after the earthquakes it is again being rebuilt while continuing to trade in temporary premises.