HERITAGE Restoring the Hare Memorial Library to its former glory
From the outside, little may seem different about the Hare Memorial Building, but inside, the beauty and dignity of the building have been fully restored in a project which began four years ago.
The building was badly damaged during the February earthquake and its restoration has been a painstaking labour of love for Wilkie Bruce architect Lloyd MacLachlan and James Kemp Naylor Love site manager. Stephen Lynch was the project manager. Over the years, the building had a number of uses, and many of the fine architectural features had been covered over. The downstairs wainscot panelling had been painted navy blue, 1970s library bookshelves lined the walls and an awkward temporary office had been erected. Following the demolition of the old Maths Block in 2012, steel was propping up the building, birds flew through and it was dark and gloomy, says Mr McLachlan. “While it was functional, it had exposed cables, large prominent electrical sockets and tired light fittings which basically looked awful.’’ The challenge was in restoring the original features of the Victorian Gothic-style building, while making sure it had all the necessary services.
Because of the beautiful exposed trusses and vaulted roof, services such as lighting, smoke alarms, sounders, sprinklers and power/ data cabling had to be made as inconspicuous as possible. The consistent use of darker colours throughout greatly minimised their visual presence where exposed, making the original heritage the primary focus, says Mr MacLachlan. “Seismic strengthening to such an expressive and beautiful heritage building was a huge challenge technically, but much of the work
Christ’s College Canterbury
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