Lilburn commemorative plaque laid outside Town Hall
A commemorative plaque marking the area where composer Douglas Lilburn NZOM (1916 - 2001) lived and worked at 175 Cambridge Terrace for several years is now part of the Christchurch Town Hall complex.
The Christchurch City Council funded the plaque at the bricked entrance to the Victoria Square entrance. Lilburn is one of New Zealand's best-known and internationally recognized composers, known as the Father of New Zealand Composition. His output was prolific, widely recorded and well performed, including Festival Overture, Aoteoroa Overture, Landfall in Unknown Seas, Prodigal Country and Drysdale Overture.
Christchurch composer Dr Philip Norman suggested the idea. He had always thought it was a fantastic coincidence that Lilburn had lived and worked in the areas that is now part of the Town Hall's Ferrier Fountain courtyard, adjacent to the Auditorium where his works are performed.
Lilburn studied for a Diploma in Music at Canterbury University College, then spent three years at the Royal College of Music in London, and returned to Christchurch. He lodged in one of the several brick terraced houses that were along Cambridge Terrace until the site was cleared in 1970 to prepare for the building of the Town Hall, opened September 1972.
Lilburn's occupancy was from November 1935 - May 1937, and from November 1941 - March 1950. He left to spend the rest of his life in Wellington, where he lectured at Victoria University until his retirement in 1980.
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