The heritage incentive grants will help the owners of the New City Hotel in Colombo St and Eliza’s Manor Hotel in Bealey Ave to preserve the buildings.
Christchurch City Council’s Sustainability and Community Resilience Committee agreed on Wednesday to give a grant of up to $162,376 to the New City Hotel's owners to help replace the building’s roof and repaint its façade.
The grant will also help with the cost of upgrading the heritage building’s fire protection system.
The New City Hotel dates back to 1931 and has operated continuously as a hospitality business since, making it one of the oldest hotels in the city.
The committee also approved a heritage incentive grant of up to $70,028 for conservation and maintenance work on Eliza’s Manor Hotel. Built in about 1861 for Charles Wyatt, a solicitor and member of the Canterbury Provincial Council, the building has associations with a number of prominent early Christchurch citizens, including Frederick Pyne of Pyne Gould Guinness.
It was converted to a boarding house and was also used as a private hospital before it became a small independent hotel.
"These two hotels are part of our city’s rich and diverse heritage and hold lots of memories for people," said city councillor and committee chairwoman Sara Templeton.
"By providing heritage incentive grants, we can help the owners of these two buildings to preserve and protect them for future generations."
Templeton said the committee also approved a heritage incentive grant of up to $2570 to help cover the cost of repairing, conserving and maintaining a rare wire road boundary fence in Sydenham’s Southey St.
She said the fence is historically significant because it was produced by Oscar von Sierakowski in his factory and shop on the corner of Colombo and Tuam Sts in the early 1900s.
The factory was reputed to be the largest wire work factory in the colonies at the time.
In the early 1900s, wire fencing was used to fence off villas, although much has been lost and replaced over time. The fence at 31 Southey St is a relatively rare surviving example and includes the original turned jarrah fence posts. It is possibly the only known fence of confirmed provenance, with the original maker’s plaque.
