New Regent Street

Arthur Stacey, the driving force behind the creation of New Regent Street

Francis Willis, the architect for New Regent Street

In 1929, businessman and chairman of The Press, George Gould, proposed a variety of measures to relieve traffic congestion in Colombo Street and Cathedral Square, including a new bridge over the Avon River connecting Oxford Terrace with Durham Street south, and a new diagonal street from the Armagh Street / Manchester Street intersection to Gloucester Street near its intersection with Colombo Street. The latter proposal would have required the demolition of the Colosseum. Gould suggested this diagonal street be called Little High Street, in reference to the diagonal High Street further south in the central city.[6] Only two weeks after Gould's proposal, a group of businessman led by Arthur Francis Stacey put a proposal for a new street with a Spanish theme to Christchurch City Council's town planning committee. The group had secured options on the Colosseum and on those two properties that separated the Colosseum from access onto Armagh Street.[7][8] The plans had been drawn by Francis Willis, who had previously been employed by Christchurch City Council as their architect, but who had since 1924 been self-employed.[3][7] Stacey and his business partners had formed a company called Regent Street Limited in 1929;[2] other company directors were David Manson, Alexander Hamilton Forbes, and John Joseph Dougall.[9] By February 1930, the project had been approved in principle by Christchurch City Council.[10] The concept of a number of small shops all built as a comprehensive development was advanced for its time, and can be regarded as the forerunner of modern shopping malls.[11]

New Regent Street during the Matariki celebrations (June 2021)

A building permit for the construction of the buildings was imminent, but had not been issued by January 1931, while the demolition of the Colosseum was carried out.[12] The contract for the construction of the 40 buildings and the roadway was let to the Boyle Brothers for NZ£32,000.[13] The builder did not perform and the contract was retendered for approximately NZ£32,000, with P. Graham and Son, Limited, as the successful party.[14][9] The overall cost of the project was NZ£90,000.[14][15] The street was built at a width of 40 feet (12 m), and the north-south length of Christchurch Central City blocks is 330 feet (100 m).[15] The sculptor William Trethewey carried out some of the interior decorations.[15]

The company asked for the street to be named Regent Street, but the Christchurch City Council declined the request on the grounds that a street of that name already existed in Sydenham, and suggested New Regent Street instead.[16] Regent Street in Sydenham was renamed Roxburgh Street in 1948.[17] New Regent Street is named for London's Regent Street, itself that city's first planned street, and built between 1814 and 1825.[1]

The street was finished in late March 1932. One of its features was a lighting system consisting of 400 lamps, and when this was first switch on for a trial on 24 March, hundreds of citizens went for a walk down the 100 metres (330 ft) long street.[18] To make use of the lighting, the formal opening was held on the evening of 1 April 1932.[14] The proceedings were chaired by Dan Sullivan, the Mayor of Christchurch, who also gave the first speech. Other speakers were David Manson (chairman of Regent Street Ltd), city councillor A. H. Andrews (chairman of the town planning committee), and Stacey. Mrs. Manson then cut the ribbon.[15] During the opening speech of the mayor, the crowd was entertained by a person from the crowd warning of a man with a sword, reference to the de Groot incident that happened at the Sydney Harbour Bridge two weeks earlier where a protester cut the ribbon prior to the official ceremony.[19]

The opening happened during the depth of the Great Depression, and it was one of only a few larger projects undertaken in the South Island at the time.[20][11] Whilst Manson claimed in his speech at the opening that half the shops had been let,[15] only three shops were actually occupied.[20] Later in 1932, the contractor, P. Graham and Son, took two of the directors (Manson and Forbes) to court over outstanding payments of NZ£1,000.[9] The contractor won the case and was awarded costs.[21][22]

Problems with parking for extended periods of time occurred and in April 1933, parking of cars in New Regent Street was time-restricted to 20 minutes.[23] Around the same time, Regent Street Limited was in financial difficulty and petition to wind up the company was filed, and the judge gave the company a fortnight to pay up, which resolved the issue.[24][25] Regent Street Limited sold off individual shops in the 1940s until all 40 units were in private ownership.[20][26] The roadway was transferred to Christchurch City Council, making it a public road, after World War II.[20]

New Regent Street forms the north-eastern extent of the original Christchurch heritage tramway circuit

In 1986, a one-way restriction was imposed for driving on New Regent Street.[27] This measure was in place for only eight years before the street was closed to automobile traffic in 1994 and turned into a pedestrian mall in preparation for the reintroduction of the Christchurch tram.[27] Originally, it was intended for the tram to go back and forth along Worcester Street, but the plans were changed and a loop created, with Rolleston Avenue, Armagh Street, New Regent Street and the John Britten property known as Cathedral Junction making up the route. The tram began operating on 4 February 1995.

Two of Thacker's shops that are unrepaired and boarded up

Thacker's five properties in New Regent Street were cordoned off after the 2016 Valentine's Day earthquake

The buildings sustained damage during the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.[27] The whole central city was cordoned off, and the public did not have access. Repairs to the street and buildings were carried out by Naylor Love Construction Limited for NZ$3,000,000,[28] with Fulton Ross Team Architects providing the architectural inputs.[29] New Regent Street was set to be reopened in December 2012, but this was delayed to February 2013, and then March, and it finally did open on Saturday, 20 April 2013. The Press described the opening as an "anti-climax", as only five of the shops were open for business. A further fourteen shops had been tenanted but were not ready, while tenants for seven shops had yet to be found.[30] Five of the buildings, all owned by Helen Thacker, had not been repaired or earthquake strengthened.[30][31] Two of those buildings were classed as earthquake-prone, and after months of negotiations by Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority staff, the owner agreed to have those two buildings earthquake strengthened. This allowed for safety fences to be removed from New Regent Street in December 2013.[32]

The tram began operating again in November 2013 on a limited route from New Regent Street to Worcester Boulevard; the tracks in Armagh Street had to be repaired still. In November 2014, the pre-earthquake loop reopened.[33] Some New Regent Street retailers claim that half their custom comes from tourist arriving there by tram.[34][31]

Following the 2016 Valentine's Day earthquake, the five properties in New Regent Street owned by Helen Thacker were cordoned off due to risk of collapse of their façades, which stopped the tram from doing its traditional route through the pedestrian mall.[31] Later on, a further two properties not owned by Thacker were cordoned off.[35] The operator of the tramway, Michael Esposito from Welcome Aboard, claimed that the tram had so far brought 100,000 customers to New Regent Street during the 2015/16 summer.[31] Tim Hunter, the chief executive of Christchurch & Canterbury Tourism, lamented that the inaction of one owner "will put us back in the world news as not being visitor friendly."[36] The street's spokesperson stated that business had been "disappointing" while the tram was not operating.[35] The barriers were removed and the tram began operating again on 1 May 2016.[35]