Our guide to our resources, the information you'll find in them and when to try elsewhere
The Civic of Canterbury
Do you remember this venue?
Do you have memories of going to events or gigs at this venue? We’d like you to share your stories so that we can add to our archive of stories about the development of Christchurch’s music scene. Whether you saw Nick Cave at The Gladstone or were a Deb at the Winter Garden, email us with your story, or send your details and we’ll get in touch to interview you if you’d prefer.
Still a live music venue today, more than a century after it was built, The Civic of Canterbury has a long, and interesting history which has seen it survive fire and numerous changes of ownership.
Originally built in 1900 as the Canterbury Hall to celebrate the provincial jubilee, the building was gutted by fire in 1917. Christchurch City Council bought and refurbished the building in 1920, retaining the Oamaru and Mount Somers stone and brick frontage and creating an interior space of more than 3000 sq m over two floors and a basement.
Modelled on an American banking model where departments faced a common public space served by a large U-shaped counter, the finish was expensive Tasmanian blackwood doors and panelling, Nelson marble in the vestibule and a staircase of Coromandel granite total cost some 75,000 pounds.
Alongside the municipal building was the original Civic Theatre, built in 1928 to seat 1200. When the Town Hall opened in 1972, the theatre was vacant, before being leased as a television studio. The council vacated the municipal buildings in 1980 and was sold in March 1982 for $760,000. The original Civic Theatre was demolished in 1983, but much of its interior was saved and transferred into the old municipal chambers.
Many plans were made for the building’s use including restaurant, art gallery, shops and offices it became the Civic Regency restaurant in 1984, and became The Civic in 1986. The venue went through several owners, and during the 1990s was mooted as a place to house cultural organisations. A new focus - live music came to the Civic in the mid 1990s, along with new owners. Latin music and dancing heralded the arrival of the revamped venue, and local and international bands played there throughout the decade.
In the new century, the venue continues as a live music venue, with Salmonella Dub, Shape Shifter, Anika Moa and many other performers such as Gomez using the venue. Zinc bar and an educational institute are other tenants in the building.
