Heritage campaigner now a dame
A Christchurch woman who successfully campaigned to rescue heritage buildings from demolition after the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes has become a dame.
Former Christchurch city councillor, heritage campaigner and arts champion Anna Crighton was awarded the title Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year honours.
Crighton had long campaigned to protect New Zealand’s historic buildings, but stepped up after the Canterbury quakes to rescue as many as she could from demolition.
She said it was devastating to see so many heritage buildings demolished after the quakes.
‘‘It took me a while to get over that, to be fair. Somehow, I re-energised myself and started the fight for heritage protec- tion.
‘‘It was a hard battle because of [the government’s] scorched earth policy on demolishing most of the central city without any thought.
‘‘We lost over half of our character and heritage buildings in the central city. It was terrible. What wasn’t destroyed by the quake was demolished by [the government].’’
Crighton helped restore the quakedamaged Isaac Theatre Royal in her role as director of the theatre’s charitable foundation.
She also helped preserve more than a dozen Christchurch heritage buildings, including the Centre of Contemporary Art (CoCA) building, St Barnabas Church in Fendalton and part of the Arts Centre, as chairwoman of the Canterbury Earthquake Heritage Buildings Fund Trust from 2010 to 2014. The trust raised about $10 million to help restore heritage buildings.
She said was proud to save the former Trinity Church in central Christchurch and the Shands building, which was relocated to Manchester St and restored.
‘‘We lost so many heritage buildings in the quakes, but we saved some.’’
She said the honour was official recognition of the importance of preserving New Zealand’s built heritage.
‘‘When I first started as a [city] councillor in the 90s, heritage protection wasn’t even on the agenda. It has really progressed after the last 25 years.’’
Crighton said her love of heritage started when she was a child.
‘‘I spent the first seven years of my life in my grandmother’s villa. It was a house full of exquisite bric-a-brac. It was idyllic.
‘‘It was from that early experience and my respect and admiration for the charm and detail of those lovely villas that I started to love heritage and history.’’
She established the Christchurch Heritage Trust in 1996, has been chair of the Christchurch Heritage Awards Charitable Trust since 2009 and a member of the Canterbury District Health Board for the past 12 years. She was made a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order in 2005.
But she said the new honour was a surprise. ‘‘I was stunned and totally astonished. I couldn’t believe that something like that would happen to me.
‘‘Dame Anna is going to take some getting used to.’’