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Story: Wairarapa region

Monument to modernism

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Monument to modernism

St Matthew’s Church in Masterton replaced a church destroyed in the 1942 earthquake. Built in 1956, the church is a striking example of the modernist style. It has a separate 20-metre-high bell tower, housing a carillon with a range of two octaves.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

by Shirley Williams

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Ben Schrader, Wairarapa region – Society, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/12107/monument-to-modernism (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Ben Schrader, published 2 March 2009, updated 1 March 2017.