SIGN OF THE KIWI

Lunch today with friends at the Sign of the Kiwi Resturant on the Port Hills. Was hopeing to blip a panarama of Christchurch and the Canterbury Plains from the top of the Port Hills ,but its been cool, foggy, avercast with light rain falling So have photographed the Sign of the Kiwi Building instead.
The resturant has recently reopened under new management and todays lunch menue was given had the thumbs up by the 6 of us.

In 1909 the Summit Road Scenic Reserves Board was formed to promote Harry Ell's vision of a road to provide public access to all parts of the Port Hills. Ell also advocated the provision of rest houses along the Summit Road. The two most substantial structures were the Sign of the Kiwi (1916) and the Sign of the Takahe (1918-48).

The Sign of the Kiwi was designed by architect Samuel Hurst Seager who also designed two other rest houses, the Sign of the Packhorse and the Sign of the Bellbird. Seager was a major proponent of the arts and crafts style and the Sign of the Kiwi reflects this stylistic convention. An important landmark on the crest of the Port Hills, the design of the Kiwi strives to blend into the setting of the natural environment, a design philosophy in keeping with the principles of the arts and crafts movement.

The Kiwi has recently undergone a restoration programme that has seen the interior returned to Seager's original architectural and aesthetic intent and its original function as a teahouse.