Stone and brick shopfronts line a main street that runs down to a working container port.
What Port Chalmers looks like
runs down a low valley toward the port, lined with two and three storey shopfronts. The Portsider at 31 George Street was the Marine Hotel, with a bluestone foundation and brick above. The Royal Hotel at 52 George Street has the same bluestone base under a three storey brick front.
at 34 George Street was built in 1877, with a stone basement under brick upper storeys. The two George Street hotels were built or rebuilt in 1880 and 1881. Dodds' Building at 6 George Street followed in 1881.
The former post office at 19 Beach Street is two storeys of local breccia stone with a Renaissance Revival front. It now houses the Maritime Museum. Above the town, the time ball on stands on its flagstaff. Heritage New Zealand lists the flagstaff as a Category 2 historic place.
The port runs along reclaimed ground at the foot of the street, with three berths for containerised, multi-purpose and conventional vessels. Houses climb the hillside behind the town, and the stone Iona church stands on Mount Street among them.
Shot in Port Chalmers
The Light Between Oceans, a 2016 feature, used Port Chalmers as a stand-in for a mainland Western Australian town. The production dressed the area to date it to the first half of the twentieth century, and George Street was among the places filmed. A 1993 episode of the documentary series Heartland was made about the port development, which included excavations on Observation Hill and reclamation at .
The Light Between Oceans, 2016
Played a mainland Western Australian town, Western Australia, Australia, first half of the twentieth century
The street stood in for a mainland Western Australian town, dressed to look like the first half of the twentieth century. The production modified the street for the film.
Much of the rebuilding after the 1870 fire used brick and stucco rather than timber, and London Street is Lyttelton's main commercial street. Its numerous steep streets climb from the port, so the same downhill shot works. Lyttelton's red volcanic stone walling and the Port Hills behind the town give it away in a wide shot, so frame the streets tight. Try searching brick port now.
Harbour Street in Oamaru, New Zealand
Oamaru's Victorian precinct is built of limestone, which the town calls whitestone. Several of its key buildings centre on Harbour Street. Port Chalmers' bluestone and brick fronts line a commercial main street. Oamaru's whitestone reads much paler than Port Chalmers' bluestone and brick, so grade the frame down or pick the shaded side of the street. Try searching limestone Victorian commercial street now.
