Evidence suggests architect Benjamin Mountfort designed the upper part of the clocktower to be a feature on the Durham Street frontage of the Provincial Council buildings.

The upper structure was built in Coventry by Skidmore and Sons at a reported cost of more than 1100 pounds. The clocks were made by a firm in Clerkwell, London. Canterbury provincial superintendent James FitzGerald negotiated the deal.

In a May 4, 1861 letter to the City Council, Mr Mountfort said the structure arrived aboard the Motueka in 142 packages, but was in very poor condition. Iron work was rusted and several parts were badly damaged.

Putting it together was made more difficult by the lack of any instructions and the problems continued when it was found to be too heavy for the Durham Street building.

Instead, the clock was first erected in 1863 on the north (Armagh Street) stone tower of the Provincial Buildings. It was there for only a short time, before sitting for a number of years in a Council yard. In 1897 the tower was re-erected, on a stone base at the corner of High and Manchester streets, to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign.

But by 1929, pressure from traffic meant the clock had to be moved again, and in 1930 it was relocated with its base to its present site in Victoria Street. Some restoration was done in 1978, but in 2000 Conservation Report noted that it needed, “…weather- and bird-proofing, painting, removal of moss to stonework and the provision of essential strengthening against earthquake forces.”

Further study confirms an urgent need for strengthening, including steel bracing in the middle section of the tower, and tensioned steel rods drilled down through the stonework.

The City Council has allocated $285,000 for the entire project — the strengthening and restoration — with work being done by NZ Civil and Construction.