Issac House

A survivor with character, Issac House (1926) was already listed as a Heritage Building before it cemented its status as strong and resilient by being one of very few brick-built multi-story buildings to survive the earthquakes that rocked Christchurch in 2010 and 2011.

A secret of its survival was that it is actually made from concrete, with brick on the facade. However, repairs were still needed to this strong red landmark, which happens to be upon the site of the Canterbury's first provincial courthouse on the corner of Victoria Square.

As a heritage building, Issac House has simple assets; in its unusual (for New Zealand) inter-war Georgian Revival Architecture, and in a comparison with the grander elegance of the Wellesley Club in Wellington. The architectural features which denote its Georgian style are general symmetry, six-light sash windows, the upper dormers and English Bond brickwork.

The original owners of the building, Cook & Ross, Pharmacists, called it Victoria Chambers, and worked out of the ground floor, renting the higher storeys for offices. Later the National Bank moved in and it became Issac House, owned by the Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust, founded by Lady Diana Isaac. The name remains, though the Trust chose not to keep it after the quakes.

After the demolitions of 2011 and 2012, Issac House cut a lonely figure on a bare windswept corner of Victoria Square before its unlikely companion, the Christchurch Convention Centre began to take shape. Some said it had always looked like a Georgian house perched upon a block of shops. In the long months it was alone on the corner, this impression was even more obvious.

Image Credits: Schwede66