Named after the flightless native New Zealand bird, the Takahe.
Situated on Cracroft Reserve is an historic building the it was the vision of Harry Ell's to be at the entrance to the Summit road as a splendid Teahouse, as a part of a network of Teahouses.
The vision included the Sign of the Takahe, Sign of the Kiwi, Sign of the Packhorse, and Sign of the Bellbird.
Cafe Hours
Monday: 7:30am – 4pm
Tuesday 7:30am – 4pm
Wednesday 7:30am – Late
Thursday 7:30am – late
Friday 7:30am – Late
Saturday 7:30am – Late
Sunday 8am – 9pm
Sign of the Takahe Christchurch
A fully restored and operating cafe and bar, was given a new lease of life reopening in November 2019 with plenty of interest from the people of Christchurch after having been closed for a long period of time.
The Sign of the Takahe on Hackthorne Road is a well-known landmark in Christchurch and is highly significant both architecturally and as an example of 20th century Neo-Gothic romanticism "Gothic Revival is an architectural movement popular in the Western French neo-Gothic had its roots in the French medieval Gothic".
Sign of the Takahe offers a beautiful gardens to walk through with an adjacent viewing platform that looks out over Christchurch city, offering great opportunities to take photographs.
One of four historic rest houses constructed for those walking the scenic reserves of the Port Hills, the Sign of the Takahe is a part of Harry Ell's legacy to Christchurch.
The interior of the Sign of the Takahe is full of heraldic symbols: coats of arms of Canterbury settler families, governors-general and prime ministers grace the walls alongside English shields, while the dining room contains a fireplace that is an exact replica of one in historic Haddon Hall in Derbyshire.
When Harry Ell died suddenly in 1934, his workers (known locally as Ell's Angels) continued construction, until the outbreak of the Second World War.
In 1942 Christchurch City Council bought the building and it was finally completed in 1948.
See Harry Ell Walkway a favourite walk for many in Christchurch start at the Sign of the Takahe and end at the Sign of the Kiwi.
Sources Christchurch Library’s
