Music Centre of Christchurch

The Music Centre in Barbadoes Street in 2007

The Music Centre of Christchurch is a facility for music organisations in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It was established in 1994 and provides office, rehearsal, tuition and performance space for a wide range of music groups. The centre is adjacent to the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament and now consists of a group of four heritage buildings formerly the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions and Sacred Heart College, a Catholic secondary school for girls founded in 1881 which was amalgamated with Xavier College, a neighbouring Catholic boys' school to form Catholic Cathedral College in 1987.

The chapel, built in 1907, by Joseph Munnings, Samuel Hurst Seager and Cecil Woods, is the primary performance space. It is the only example of Byzantine revival architecture in the Southern Hemisphere. The three-storey main convent building, designed in 1882 by Francis Petre is the oldest building in the complex. It was opened in 1894. The Portery was added in 1902 to extend the convent. It was restored with the girls’ boarding hostel for Sacred Heart College, constructed in 1930. Both buildings became part of the music centre in 2004

The buildings were badly damaged in the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.

References

• History of the centre

Coordinates: 43°32′16″S 172°38′46″E / 43.5377°S 172.6461°E / -43.5377; 172.6461