After almost 80 years as Queen of Christchurch’s sky, the Cathedral had her first real competitor for the title of the city’s tallest building.
On 8 November 1983, the Canterbury Centre, situated on the intersection of Cashel and High Streets, was opened. Standing tall at 50 metres, 14 floors, she won the title of the city’s second tallest building, second to the Cathedral (63 metres).
Costing a cool $6.4 million dollars and designed by Warren and Mahoney (the same architects behind the Christchurch Town Hall), it was constructed for the Canterbury Savings Bank, known then as Trust Bank. When Trust Bank merged with Westpac, this icon became known first as the WestpacTrust Building and then just the Westpac Building.
Suffering bad damage during 4 September 2010 quake, the building was closed. Following the year of quakes during 2011, she was marked for demolition which began in May 2012. At the time of closure, the Westpac Building had dropped in title to the 9th tallest building in Christchurch.
