Registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust in 2003, the building was demolished in June 2011 following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.

[2] In February 1886, a committee of borough councillors agreed to have outlined plans drawn up for a purpose-built civic office for the local administration.

The meeting was chaired by the mayor, Adam Chalmers, and the main speaker was Harry Allwright, a borough councillor and the local member of parliament.

[5] The building was designed by the Christchurch architecture firm Collins and Harman[6] and they first advertised a construction tender two weeks after the election where the loan was approved.

The lowest tender, by local Lyttelton contractors Hollis, Williams, and Green, was accepted.

Council placed a covenant on the building in 1999 and sold it to private interests for commercial use downstairs and residential use upstairs.