Bill Sutton House, strip of Christchurch’s red light district, gifted to the city

Bill Sutton’s historic home on the Christchurch River Red Light District, where the celebrated Canterbury artist created some of his most notable works, has been gifted to the city.

Approximately 70 hectares of red-light district land in Christchurch’s Brooklands, Southshore and South New Brighton suburbs were also transferred to city council ownership.

The land was passed as part of the comprehensive settlement, a wide-ranging agreement outlining the division of some earthquake recovery costs and responsibilities by Christchurch City Council and the Crown. It was signed in September 2019.

Sutton was a well-known New Zealand artist and his 1960s architectural design house on Templar St in Richmond has been extensively restored by the Crown. Sutton painted most of his famous works on the site. It will be enabled as a museum.

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Sutton is known for his paintings of New Zealand landscapes, especially from the Canterbury region.

Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods said Sutton’s home was a site of cultural significance.

He said the transfers marked an important step forward in fulfilling the government’s commitment to return control of local assets to local leaders.

Sutton House’s donation to the council saved a site of cultural and historical significance for future generations and the New Zealand arts community.

Sutton’s house was restored by Land Information New Zealand (Linz), with an open space configured to function as a gallery or community space.

Sutton Heritage House and Garden Charitable Trust will manage the property, organize tours, and use the house for a variety of community programs and public gatherings.

The 70 hectares of land in Brooklands, Southshore and South New Brighton are the first strip of land in the red zone to be transferred from Crown to council property. The council has kept the red zone plains owned by the Crown since July 1.

Mayor Lianne Dalziel said the challenge now was to devise a co-government model that would redefine the relationship between mana whenua, the community and the council.

Dalziel said the city council needed to work with those still living in the red zones that had been transferred to city property.

“We have a lot of work to do, but what I can promise is that we will work very collaboratively with those who live there, as well as those who used to live there.”

He said that each of the three areas was quite different. There was a lot of commitment to the community before any decision was made about what to do with the land.

Most of Brooklands was red-zipped after the Christchurch earthquakes, but 23 homeowners refused government payments and kept their land.

There is still a large amount of red zone land to transfer from the Crown to the council.

Ownership of the red zone land in Port Hills will transfer to the council next May. Ownership of the 602ha of the river’s red zone will also be transferred to the council in the next few years as Linz works to merge some 5,500 titles into larger blocks of land.

In August 2019, an extensive plan was signed to rebuild the river’s red zone, which is expected to take 30 years to complete.

The plan, which cost $ 5 million to produce, divides the red zone into four areas, including a 345ha “green column” running from central Christchurch to New Brighton. The other three zones will be focused on environmental restoration, recreation and visitor attractions.

The government will allocate $ 40 million to the green column as part of the acceleration package that will also help finance the city’s stadium.