Sign of the Takahe - Weddings & Functions
Gothic Revival stone roadhouse on the Port Hills, with hand-cut carvings and views over the plains.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Sign of the Takahe in Christchurch follows Harry Ell, a politician and temperance campaigner who dreamed of a road along the crest of the Port Hills. It picks up in nineteen eighteen, when the foundation stone of his grandest rest house went down on this slope. Along the way you meet the Depression relief workers the locals nicknamed Ell's Angels. Best heard in the entrance hall, under the kauri beams.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Sign of the Kiwi Cafe
Stone Arts and Crafts rest house and café at a hilltop pass, once home to a disputed toll gate.
Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings (Bellamy's and the Timber Chamber)
Gothic Revival timber council chamber and Victorian refreshment rooms from a colonial provincial government.
Governors Bay
Sheltered harbourside village beneath the Port Hills, with a historic stone homestead and garden.
Lyttelton Timeball Station
Castle-like stone signal tower where a zinc ball drops at one o'clock above the harbour.
Halswell Quarry
Former basalt quarry turned parkland, with stone workers' quarters, crusher ruins and sister city gardens.
Rapaki track
Gravel fire road climbing the Port Hills along an old Māori route, with harbour and Alps views.