Oh, what to do about Christ Church Cathedral?
Cover it in a grassy mound so lambs can frolic in the Square. Encase it in resin. Replace it with a rose garden. Readers are not short of suggestions for the Anglican Church after hearing news that the Christ Church Cathedral has run out of money for reinstatement.
Letters and emails have flooded into The Press newsroom since the news broke last Saturday that the city’s iconic cathedral would be mothballed if another $30 million could not be found by August. More than $100m is needed to fully complete the project, which would take until 2031 at the earliest.
By last night, an unscientific online poll on
The Press’s website showed one-third of voters thought the cathedral should be demolished, one-quarter that the church should fund the remaining rebuild costs, while a solid 20% thought ratepayers should chip in. An indication of the importance this heritage building has to the city, was the tiny fraction of voters (4%) who were happy to see it mothballed.
However, many letter writers to The Press were not fans of the cathedral in any form.
Niall Holland wrote to say the cathedral was “a scar on the heart of Canterbury” and “a symbol of religious division” and “wealth in the midst of poverty”.
“Imagine a Māori meeting house in the Square instead of a cathedral. What does your reaction to that tell you?” he asked.
Richard Smith said those who supported reinstatement “have a lot to answer for” with the city now “saddled with an enormous fiscal problem”.
Diane Dixon, of Ilam, shared his views and called for it to be completely demolished. “Plant a rose garden,” she said simply.
A similarly bucolic suggestion was published in yesterday’s letters pages from Graeme Smart who envisaged “a grassed, irrigated, green hill” with the “lambs of God frolicking” on it as a tourist attraction.
Many readers suggested ways the project could save money including Richard Owen, who argued up to $70m could be saved by dropping the base isolation. “Unless they have a monstrous raft foundation like an underground car-park the foundations for the isolators will sink,” he wrote.
Others have suggested joining forces with the Catholics to build a single cathedral while Di Trower is amongst those to suggest a fundraising lottery.
Optimistic of Halswell, Terry Leach, is confident the city can “No.8 wire innovate our way through this”.
He proposes handing the project over to Wētā Workshop so it could “finish the job using Lego and holographic imagery” or encasing the entire ruin “in a giant solid clear block of resin to preserve it in perpetuity.”
Perhaps the most elegant solution is his last. “Just reinforce what’s left and build a clear weather tight dome over the top.”
Editor’s note: While many of these suggestions are lighthearted, no one in Christchurch considers the future of the Christ Church Cathedral a frivolous matter. The outpouring of emotion – dismay, frustration, concern, anger, and yes, also wit – proves it matters. It matters deeply. The cathedral is not only a valued connection to our past, its spire a symbol of Christchurch for generations, it stands literally and figuratively at the heart of our city. We all hope a way can be found to complete its restoration.