Chapel no more after clash
An old Christchurch chapel is being demolished after a neighbours’ dispute over timber bracing for the earthquakedamaged building.
Rob and Jo Graham were upset that wooden props keeping the 129-year-old chapel safe intruded into their neighbouring courtyard on Worcester St in Linwood.
Eventually, after giving chapel owner Christine Merritt a deadline to remove the props and make the building safe, they removed the bracing themselves.
The Christchurch City Council issued the chapel’s owner with a dangerous building notice in May, giving her options to make the building safe, partially demolish it or move the bracing onto her property. Demolition began this week and is expected to be complete by the end of the week.
The chapel was built in 1889 as part of the Ballantyne family estate. It was badly damaged in the February 2011 earthquakes and wooden props were installed to stabilise the building.
Jo Graham welcomed the demolition and said the building had become an ‘‘eyesore’’.
‘‘It is a great relief at last,’’ she said. ‘‘It has been nearly eight years of not being able to use that part of our property. We always liked the chapel, it was just that after the earthquakes there were no plans to rectify the damage on it. It became an eyesore.
‘‘It is the best option.’’
The Grahams had lived at the property for more than 20 years.
The building’s owner, Christine Merritt, declined to comment. Merritt’s family purchased the chapel in 1968 and she purchased it from her mother’s estate in 1997.
Council head of regulatory compliance Claire Le Grice said the chapel’s owner was issued with two dangerous building notices – one in March 2017 and another in May.
‘‘These notices were issued after a council engineer visited the site and deemed the building dangerous due to structural damage and loose blocks on the building facade.
‘‘The engineer also noted that the temporary bracing on the western wall was located on the neighbouring property, and the removal of the temporary bracing on the building could cause the building to fail,’’ she said.
‘‘The owner of the building was provided with a number of options to address this issue, including repair the building after obtaining building consent, partial deconstruction of the building to a safe level, or brace the building on their own property.’’