Remembering What Used to be There

I took a walk around the city today to see what was happening..really didn't see to much today... I was talking to a guy from London who was having a coffee in New Regent Street who came over for work. He is a engineer and is waiting for some bigger buildings to start going up and well get some work soon. In the mean time he has been working on farms and really enjoying the experience and all the great food!

As I walking back home I noticed this man standing and just looking at where the $100 million redevelopment of The Strip is going up. It looks wonderful from what I have seen so far about it.

Be hide that is the our Re:START mall. You can also see a little old building in this shot and it is the Shand’s Emporium which was located at 88 Hereford Street and shifted here so they can start the rebuild. It was for sale for sometime and has now been sold and is to be relocated to Redcliffs . Antony Gough owned the building wanted to give it away to someone that would restore it and keep it in Chirstchurch.. and now it has been given a new home at last.

Shands-Emporium was a small, unpretentious wooden building, formerly sandwiched between the Royal Insurance building and the former New Zealand Trust and Loan Company building (1866). It was built in 1860 on land owned by farmer John Shand. The building housed professional offices until its conversion to shops in 1977, when it was named Shand’s Emporium. For more information

Christchurch has been voted the second best city to visit in the world by the New York Times. As part of its 52 places to visit in the world , it described the quake-ravaged city as experiencing a rebirth of creativity and wit.

The newspaper praised Christchuch's ingenuity, and its entrepreneurs and volunteers, who are finding ways to make temporary use of empty lots, bringing life back into the city. Of particular note was the Gap Filler programme, which created an open-air performance space made of blue pallets, a dance floor with coin-operated music and lights, and a nine-hole mini-golf course in vacant areas across the city.

The cathedral also got an honorary mention with the paper referring to "a magnificent transitional church by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban" For more information on this story.