The square and its ring
The shortest walk here and the most fought over. The square the city was surveyed around, the buildings that ringed it, and the street the rebuild saved whole. Start anywhere, it is a loop.
The walk, as a line
Straight between pins, the streets run longer. Every numbered pin opens that place’s own record.
The stops, in order
- ChristChurch Cathedral and Setting, 100 Cathedral Square · Heritage NZ list 46 · 64 unread leads · a Wikipedia entry
The cathedral itself, the register entry predates the earthquakes by decades; what the spire looked like before is on the place page.
- Godley Statue, Godley Plot and Setting, 105 Cathedral Square · Heritage NZ list 3666 · 28 unread leads · a Wikipedia entry
Godley keeps standing in the square’s middle, the statue and its plot are one listing.
- Former Government Buildings and Setting, 26/28 Cathedral Square · Heritage NZ list 301 · 41 unread leads
The old Government Buildings, the one that survived being the state’s front door and several later tenants.
- Cathedral Square and Setting · 29 unread leads · a Wikipedia entry
The square’s own listing, the ground itself, not a building on it.
- Commercial Building and Setting, Former State Insurance, 58/28 Cathedral Square · Heritage NZ list 1931 · 20 unread leads
Former State Insurance, the north side’s survivor.
- Theatre Royal Façade, Dome, Staircase and Setting, 145 Gloucester Street · Heritage NZ list 1936 · 21 unread leads
The Theatre Royal kept its façade, dome and staircase, the register lists exactly what was saved.
- New Regent Street Shops and Setting, 17 New Regent Street · Heritage NZ list 4385 · 40 unread leads
New Regent Street, the whole streetscape listed as one entry, Spanish Mission end to end.
- Queen Victoria Statue/Canterbury Jubilee Memorial and Setting · a written piece · 9 sourced claims · 20 unread leads
The Queen Victoria statue on the way back, the jubilee memorial the square’s ring finishes at.
What the register built on the way
Council structures within about 30 m of the stop-to-stop line, the bridges, steps and shelters the route passes. Site names are the register’s own.
A ramp at Godley Statue Reserve, 8 m long · built 2009 16 m off the line
A set of steps at Godley Statue Reserve, 3 steps · built 2009 16 m off the line
A set of steps at Godley Statue Reserve, 9 m long · built 2009 16 m off the line
A set of steps at Godley Statue Reserve, 3 m long · built 2009 16 m off the line
A set of steps at Godley Statue Reserve, 4 steps · built 2023 23 m off the line
A set of steps at Victoria Square, 3 steps · built 2018 28 m off the line
The reports along it
9,078 council reports pinned within 150 m of the line, most often Graffiti & vandalism and Roads & footpaths, 7,437 with a photograph. A pin is where a reporter stood, not a claim about the place itself.
Graffiti on a playground or in a park
Street Gutters / Storm Water
Graffiti on a fence, building or structure
Graffiti on a fence, building or structure
Graffiti on a fence, building or structure
Fallen Tree
Fallen Tree
General Request
Graffiti on a fence, building or structure
Graffiti on a playground or in a park
Graffiti on a fence, building or structure
Graffiti on a fence, building or structureQuestions, answered briefly
The shortest walk here and the most fought over. 8 listed places, 1.1 km as the line runs, Central city.
ChristChurch Cathedral and Setting (100 Cathedral Square) to Queen Victoria Statue/Canterbury Jubilee Memorial and Setting, the order is a suggestion, not the only way round.
Every one, each pin is a row in the district plan’s heritage schedule, and each opens the place’s own sourced record here.
1.1 km measured straight between the pins, the streets run longer, and the stops deserve a pause each.
The record behind this
Every stop is a row in the district plan’s heritage schedule, held here as the register’s own layer. The order and the notes are ours, the listings are the council’s and Heritage New Zealand’s. "Setting" is the register’s word for the ground a listing covers.
The rest of the register here: Central City
The same ground today: Christchurch Central City
This page as markdown: /walks/cathedral-square.md · the route as data: /walks/cathedral-square.geojson · on the live map: the walks layer.