The Standard Hotel: Beer, Burlesque, and Farce

The Standard Hotel, which opened in July 1864, was once right here in Christchurch, but it seems it had very little to do with offering accommodation. It was more about drinking beer and providing entertainment. There was only one mention of accommodation at the hotel in newspapers from that time, and it was from an unemployed man staying there, which suggests the rooms were pretty cheap.

The story of this place really begins with two brothers, James and William Willis, who arrived in Christchurch in the 1850s. James Willis was a printer and came to the city in the early 1850s. By 1855, he was the official printer for the Canterbury Provincial Council. He probably met Joseph Brittan around then, who was a prominent early citizen and the founder of the *Canterbury Standard*, the third newspaper in Christchurch. James went on to work with Brittan on the paper, becoming the printer, a part owner, and eventually the proprietor in the late 1850s and early 1860s.

The *Canterbury Standard* was produced and printed in a building on the corner of Hereford Street and Oxford Terrace, just across the road from Brittan’s home. Early images show a two-story front facing Oxford Terrace, with printing sheds extending along Hereford Street.

James continued to operate a printing press here until he died in 1866, eventually under the name Telegraph Printing Press. But during his last few years, he shared the premises with his brother, William Willis. William took the old *Standard* offices at the front of the building and turned them into this hotel.