Christ’s College

The buildings of Christ's College, arranged about the Main Quadrangle and the smaller Upham Quadrangle and William's Court, contain the work of nine successive architects ranging from the earliest education building in Canterbury, "Big School" designed by VE Fitzgerald to Cecil Wood's Hare Memorial Library and dining hall. The buildngs are probably the most historically and architecturally distinguished group of buildings in New Zealand.

Warren and Mahoney's first significant commission at the school was the Chapman Block of six laboratories and classrooms in 1962. The Block’s main architectural contribution was the new Upham Quadrangle, formed by demolishing the old wooden classrooms tacked onto the back of ‘Big School’. A new opening south of ‘Big School’ was created, offering a view through to the tower of the dining hall.

In 1971, the partnership was commissioned to rebuild the library within the existing ‘Big School’ building, adding a new mezzanine floor to what was the first classroom of the original college. It has a dominant slate roof which is supported on large timber trusses resting on low stone walls and buttresses.

In 1976, a sports hall and further laboratory block – Tothill Science Block - were added in the north-west corner of the school site, replacing an old gymnasium and tennis courts behind the School House. Since neither building is visible from the main quadrangle, the designs were less constrained by the need to reflect the style of these older buildings.

The spaces between the buildings were seen as being as important as the buildings themselves. The sports hall was placed on a diagonal relating to the shape of the playing field, while the laboratory block was sited parallel and in close proximity to School House. This created a triangular space that opened out towards the river and Hagley Park. A further court was stepped down to the riverbank level in a series of brick-paved terraces, with pleached limes on the lowest level. Narrow openings beneath and between buildings connect the three quadrangles that now exist.

The new administration building, completed in 1988 houses the school’s administration, headmaster and boardroom, and the dining hall. The building resolves the uncompleted end of the dining room and was very much part of, and bound to Cecil Wood’s Gothic hall.

The essence of these commissions was to preserve the traditional character of the surrounding buildings without diminishing their architectural or historic qualities while, at the same time, satisfying the precise functional requirements of this premier Christchurch private secondary school.