GO NZ: An expert's guide to Christchurch's best buildings 28 Jan, 2021 03:30 AM 4 minutes to read Turanga, Christchurch's central library, is an 'anchor' project in Cathedral Square. Photo / ChristchurchNZ NZ Herald Architectural writer and editor John Walsh gives his guide to the best buildings to look out for on a walk around Christchurch All cities are to some extent intentional but Christchurch, far more than most cities, didn't just happen. It was conceived in England, in the middle of the 19th century, as an Anglican settlement centred on a cathedral, bordered by a park and laid out as a rectangular grid of streets awaiting the buildings that would inevitably occur as prosperity caught up with colonial ambition.