New Zealand Odyssey: Shands Emporium, 88 Hereford Street, Christchurch

'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by me, Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings.

This building was put up in 1860. I did this painting in about 1987. In among its later multi-storey (though not high) neighbours it looked defiant, like an old man wearing a stiff, detachable collar long after the fashions changed. It had a wild west look about it and instead of seeing buses pass in the street one could have imagined tumbling sagebrush on a bed of dust and horse manure.

The amazing thing is that now, in 2011, the internet has images of Shands emporium that are almost identical. It was damaged in the earthquakes but was classified 'make safe'.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
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