A fire has torn through an historic building in Christchurch.
The 152-year-old Risingholme Community Centre caught fire on Monday evening, the flames ripping through the wooden building.
The fire service was called to the scene on Cholmondeley Ave around 8pm, where the blaze wasn't at first obvious inside the building. However, it made fast progress and six crews fought the inferno from outside the building. A turntable ladder was also brought in so it could be fought from above.
The building, home to the Risingholme Community Centre, has been closed and boarded up since the Christchurch earthquakes.
Firefighters were still at the scene on Tuesday morning after a hotspot reignited at 6am.
Firefighters at the Risingholme Community Centre (Newshub.)
Risingholme is a category 2 historic place built in 1864 by William and Mary Reeves, the parents of politician, poet and historian William Pember Reeves. It was gifted to Christchurch in 1944 and became a community centre.
Investigators are working this morning to determine the cause.
Former president of the community centre Lynda Burdekin says the fire is "heartbreaking".
"I think a lot of people will be devastated," she says.
Ms Burdekin says the community had been working with the council to get the building repaired, which was meant to get underway soon.
"It's one more thing that's gone...It's a beautiful house," she says, "But Risinghome is a community, and it's a lot stronger than just one building."
Fire investigators are using a crane to inspect the building (Emma Cropper)
Newshub.
