The original building on the location was the Golden Fleece Hotel, built in 1851. The 1980s high-rise was a property speculation by Paynter Developments, who engaged Christchurch architecture firm
Warren and Mahoney for the architectural design, and Holmes Consulting Group as structural engineers.
Fletcher Construction was the contractor for the project. The building was finished in mid-1989 and sold to Robert Jones Investments (Canterbury), a company owned by
Bob Jones. Jones, a property developer who had survived the
1987 stock market crash, named the building
Robert Jones House and put the initials "RJI" of his investment company on the building. Jones had a high public profile, as he had set up the
New Zealand Party just prior to the to oppose
Robert Muldoon, but the effect of this was that the conservative vote was split, and the
Labour Party won the election, and
David Lange formed the
Fourth Labour Government. The building was commonly referred to as
Bob Jones Tower, but some called it '''Bob's Folly''' in relation to his 1984 election interference. The building was later sold and named for New Zealand
investment banking firm Forsyth Barr. Built with 17 storeys, In 2008, the Forsyth Barr Building was one of three A-grade office buildings in central Christchurch; the others were the PricewaterhouseCoopers Building, and the
Clarendon Tower.
2011 Christchurch earthquake . After the
September 11 attacks in 2001, emergency supplies for an evacuation of this high-rise were installed, including ropes, sledge hammers, and axes. In the
2011 Christchurch earthquake, several staircases in Forsyth Barr House collapsed, trapping the occupants. One of the trapped occupants, a trained mountain guide with experience in mountain rescue, had windows broken and
abseiled people onto an adjacent car parking building. The photo of one of the occupants being abseiled along the glass façade, taken by
The Press photographer John Kirk-Anderson, is one of the enduring images of that earthquake. The Hotel Grand Chancellor and PricewaterhouseCoopers were both demolished subsequent to the earthquake, hence the Forsyth Barr Building is once more Christchurch's second-tallest building. Until mid-2013, it was unclear whether the Forsyth Barr Building would also be demolished, or whether it was economically feasible to repair it. Subsequent to the earthquakes, the
Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) developed a
Christchurch Central Recovery Plan. Almost two city blocks were designated for the
Performing Arts Precinct, including the land that the Forsyth Barr Building was located on. This meant that
The Crown could have compulsorily acquired the land from its owners if it wanted to go ahead with the Performing Arts Precinct. The designation was later lifted and the size of the Performing Arts Precinct designation reduced after
Christchurch City Council had decided to restore the existing
Christchurch Town Hall instead of building a new one within this precinct. ==Conversion to hotel==