[1][2] The museum first opened at Hawkhurt Road,[3] and later moved to a council-owned building at 2 Gladstone Quay.
[4][5] After the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes occurred, the museum building was demolished in 2012 after being damaged.
[9][6] A landslide in the 2013 New Zealand winter storm landed on a storage building and crushed it.
[6] In 2014 the museum held its first exhibition since the demolition of the 2 Gladstone Quay building.
In 2017 the Christchurch City Council gave the museum society a spot at London Street.