Volcano Café Remembered

I was recently perusing a colleague's photographs, of damage caused by the two big Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.

Image: Paul Willyams

I was reminded of a time-lapse video made of the demolition of the iconic Volcano Café in Lyttleton, Banks Peninsula.

The café was so named because Lyttleton is sited on the remains of an extinct volcano. The railway tunnel linking Lyttleton to Christchurch was, when finished in 1867, the first in the world to cut through the rim of an extinct volcano.
The Volcano building was one of four in London Street that were all demolished in one operation, after being severely damaged in the Feb.2011 EQ. It was on the corner with Canterbury Street, while beside it along London Street were The Lava Bar, the fish'n'chip shop Lyttleton Fisheries and at No.36, the 1902 white facade of the old Buffalo Lodge.

Lyttelton was regarded as one of New Zealand's heritage-rich areas and in 2009, the NZ Historic Places Trust registered the Lyttelton Township Historic Area on its National Register of historic places. Sadly the EQs damaged many of its old buildings.