I went to the corner of Colombo and Armagh Sts to see ‘your’ National Bank building. It is looking very lonely without the Farmers beside it in Colombo St, or all the tourist and duty free shops, the Vic and Whale across the road and The Oxford Pub further up …….. but will be more lonely when the Copthorne on Colombo, The Rutherford Apartments in Armagh St, and the Tower Insurance in Cathedral Square are all demolished.

I guess in time everything will be gone, including the beautiful red brick bank building, because the area between Victoria Square and Cathedral Square is the site of the planned Convention Centre.

The Forsyth Barr building across Colombo St is still there, and well barricaded. As far as I know, it’s future hasn’t yet been decided, but Victoria Square is looking good with surprisingly little damage to the paths, brick fences, statues and fountain.

Another blip to record our changing city, but these photos have been on my list of ‘things to do’ since the red zone was reduced. I am going away for a couple of weeks so had to get it today as the streets can change very quickly in Christchurch just now and it won’t look like this when I get home.

I took the photos from opposite sides of the intersection. The top one is taken from the bank looking northeast, and the lower one looks southwest from the empty corner. In both photos Colombo St is on the left, and Armagh St on the right.