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Graphic: An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966.

Warning

This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.

Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.

ARCHITECTURE, CHURCH

Contents


Variety of Styles

Cumulatively, the picture presents a series of exercises in architectural history rather than the work of a distinctive phase of human endeavour. Yet it is characteristic of its period because, for the greater part of New Zealand's development, architectural expression throughout the world was in a state of indecision. Medieval Gothic which produced some of the finest stone buildings of all time, and the succeeding Renaissance, had outlived their structural significance. The industrial revolution was creating a new social order and science evolving new structural materials and methods without acceptable new forms of expression. In consequence, old dresses were applied to the new structures. Some designers used a Classical treatment based upon Renaissance, or Greek, Roman, or Byzantine; others tried various phases of Gothic or Romanesque, most of them cloaking a structure of timber, concrete, or steel. It was known as the “Age of Revivals” but could be better termed “A period of indecision”. This was New Zealand's architectural heritage, and in consequence every town and city has examples of church architecture designed in a variety of styles which, while presenting a picture of architectural confusion, is as much a concise period of history as any one originally conceived style.

Accepting this pattern of design as characteristic of its period, it is possible to assess the quality of the extant examples from 1870 to the outbreak of the First World War. Gothic was the most favoured style for church architecture. There are examples in nearly every town and city, some good, but many of indifferent quality. The Presbyterian First Church in Dunedin is, probably, the finest example in the Dominion. It has the vitality and richness of detail so characteristic of the style. The exterior is dominated by its lovely spire and the interior has a splendid timber vault patterned in the manner of the larger English parish churches. Designed by R. A. Lawson, it may be considered the masterpiece of this gifted architect. Christchurch Cathedral was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, a famous English architect of the Gothic Revival period. It, too, has merit but would have greater serenity if its setting gave some relief from the turmoil of modern traffic. Other examples are St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral and St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Auckland, Nelson Cathedral, and the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Wellington. The latter is built of timber and is one of the few larger timber churches which uses this material in a logical and convincing manner. Another timber church equally satisfying is St. Mary's Cathedral Church in Auckland.