New Regent Street is a pedestrian mall in Christchurch . Built as a private development in the early 1930s with 40 shops in Spanish Mission architectural style , it is one of the city 's major tourist attractions . Providing a number of small shops as a comprehensive development was an advanced idea at the time , and New Regent Street is regarded as a forerunner to modern shopping malls . Due to its coherent architectural character , the buildings in the streets are listed as Category I heritage items by Heritage New Zealand , and in addition , the entire street has a historic area listing . The street was pedestrianised in 1994 in preparation for the introduction of the Christchurch heritage tram , which began operation in February 1995 . Damaged in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake , the street and buildings reopened in April 2013 , and the tram returned from November of that year . Following the 2016 Valentine 's Day earthquake , five of the buildings that had not been repaired after the previous earthquakes have been cordoned off , which stopped the tram from operating on its original heritage loop until May
2016 Valentine 's Day earthquake
2016 Christchurch earthquake
New Regent Street