Agricultural and Industrial Hall The Agricultural and Industrial Hall, also known as the Canterbury Hall, was built in 1900 at 192–194 Manchester Street. The foundation stone was laid by Mayor
William Reece on 14 March 1900. The contractors were Rennie and Pearce. The Canterbury Industrial Association, a branch of the New Zealand Industrial Association, was the driving force behind the building. The building was formally opened on 1 November 1900 by the Mayoress, Mrs Reece. Later that afternoon, the
Governor,
The Earl of Ranfurly, opened the jubilee exhibition. The Premier's party consisted of
Richard Seddon,
Joseph Ward and families. The exhibition covered and took up two-thirds of the city block described by Manchester, Gloucester, Worcester Streets and Latimer Square. It closed on 31 January 1901, having been visited by nearly 250,000 people, with a surplus of £3000.
His Majesty's Theatre The Canterbury Hall was then used as a cinema, seating 3,000. The remodelled building was opened with the premier of the
comic opera Erminie on 28 August 1906. Fuller's leased the theatre for a period of ten years in early 1917, but tragedy struck on 11 November of that year when the building was gutted by fire. The building, valued at £21,000, was lost, with only the façade left standing. The city organ, which was donated by the Government after the 1906
New Zealand International Exhibition, valued at £5,000 CCC bought the northern part (194 Manchester Street) of the burned out shell in 1920 for their new municipal offices. C. R. Dawe and
Francis Willis were the architects for the theatre. That building was demolished in 1983, truncating the impressive 1900 façade by half. The building was opened on 1 September 1924. The design was based on an American banking chamber, where one continuous desk in the form of a horseshoe in the main hall gave access for the public to every department of the council. All council staff (apart from specialist services like the electricity department) were once again under one roof, but this lasted only until 1943. With an increase in the number of staff, and other municipalities amalgamating with Christchurch City Council, council started housing some staff in other buildings. By 1978, council staff were in nine different buildings. Part II of this civic area were supposed to be new civic offices as a replacement for the building in Manchester Street. It was envisaged to build on the corner of Kilmore and Durham Streets, cutting Victoria Street off from going through Victoria Square, but this scheme did not proceed. Instead, the city council purchased Miller's Department Store in Tuam Street in 1978 and fitted this building out as the new civic offices, occupying the building in 1980. The Civic stopped hosting music events in 2009. Following the earthquake, a time capsule was found in the building. It was opened on 12 April 2011 by mayor
Bob Parker, together with two further capsules found in the plinth of the toppled
Godley Statue. The time capsule from the Civic contained newspapers, a book with photos and the council's balance sheet and statements for the year ended 31 March 1921. ==Heritage listing==