Wednesday 25 February 2009

Christchurch Town Hall, New Zealand


A London postmark (P & O ships), dated 13 April 1980.
W.T. 482 Photo Gladys M Goodall

Christchurch, entrance to the Christchurch Town Hall, N. Z.  The main façade with its deeply recessive low-scale porchway surmounted by a rhythm of tall windows and flanked by massive pairs of natural concrete columns.  It stands proudly back from the street line beyond a generous forecourt with converging inlays of white stone chip paving.  In pride of place, the entrance carries the city's coat of arms in brilliantly coloured bold relief standing five feet high against rich copper panels set between copper-finned window mullions.  The tall red-curtained windows light a spacious refreshment bar, beyond which, glimpsed from outside are the striking colours and shapes of the 200 ft. x 8 ft. Pat Hanley mural.  Against the skyline is the copper finialed skyline of the Conference Room and to the left rises the bulk of the James Hay Theatre.

All that was printed on the back of the card.  It sounds rather effusive to me.

The message  on the card says:
It took 15 days back from Russia to here ... We hope to leave here for new Plymouth Wednesday.  We are going back to Russia soon.
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

3 comments:

  1. Hey..I have been to Christchurch before. Lovely city!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Mei Teng! I believe it is a lovely city. The picture of the town hall doesn't seem to me to be very representative.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Effusive? But I must admit the rhythm of windows stand proudly above the generous forecourt.

    I think he must have been paid by the word. But such a beautiful city brings out superlatives, so the writer can be excused.

    ReplyDelete

Welcome to my postcard collection! I love hearing what you think of the cards - but spam WILL be deleted.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...