Warner's Hotel Drowning and Funerals

The current Novotel on Cathedral Square stands on a site with a long history, starting with a hotel established here in 1863. The original building was extended a few times before it burned down in 1900.

A new building, designed in the Victorian Free Classical style by Joseph Madison, was completed on October 29, 1901. It also went through several changes. A fourth story was added in 1910 by architects Sidney and Alfred Luttrell. In 1917, the northern end of the building was demolished to make way for a theatre. This was done to create a noise buffer from the printing presses of the Lyttelton Times Building next door. That theatre was demolished in 1996, and a beer garden took its place.

In 2010, the high-rise Novotel hotel opened, and the 1901 façade was recreated.

This hotel was known as Warner's Hotel from the mid-1870s, named after William Francis Warner. He was either the second or third proprietor, taking over in 1873 or 1874. Warner, who was described as the "patriarch among licensed victuallers in Christchurch," drowned in a boating accident in the Avon Heathcote Estuary in 1896. His funeral was a big event in Christchurch, and Prime Minister Richard Seddon even sent flowers.

The historic part of the building, which was recognized as a Category II heritage building by Heritage New Zealand, was demolished in late 2011, after the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. The owner has consent to rebuild, but has not yet proceeded due to uncertainty about other large projects nearby.