Battle to save red and black mural in Parklands

The Parklands mural has featured in family weddings, birthdays and parties. Photo: Supplied

A Christchurch man is fighting to save an iconic red and black substation mural from being painted over.

The mural was painted about 25 years ago on an Orion-owned substation in Parklands as a project to represent Canterbury.

Chris Musson told the

New Zealand Herald

the mural has been a treasured trademark since his dad painted it.

“Grizz Wyllie would be turning in his grave! It’s just ridiculous," Musson told the

Herald

He said an Orion representative told them it would be painting over the wall because it “doesn’t meet their criteria any more”.

“He was like a robot, he kept saying: ‘I can’t comment, we’re protecting that asset’,” Musson said.

The wall, which features Canterbury’s colours and the words “our colours” and “our place”, has been cherished by the Parklands community for decades, Musson said.

“It was painted years ago as part of a Canterbury Draught [beer] competition which dad actually won," Musson told the

Herald

“Every tradie that has ever come up to do work on mum and dad’s house have come back, brought their kids and got a photo with it, we’ve never ever had any negative stuff about it at all.

“It’s only us and one of our neighbours of 30 years that can see it, it’s not public facing, and it’s not like it’s an eyesore, it’s been painted really well,” Musson said.

An Orion spokesperson told the

Herald

: “We have a low tolerance for unapproved graffiti or art on our assets and have an ongoing maintenance programme for over 150,000 above-ground assets on our network.”

Orion said the mural was flagged by a contractor during "maintenance inspections".

“We are currently in discussions with the owner of the adjacent property.”

But Musson told the

Herald

painting over the wall would cost thousands of dollars anyway.

“It just feels like a big guy versus the little guy type situation.”

Musson said he will not back down. “It’s not going to get painted; I’ll be putting the hose on it straight away.”