Christ Church Cathedral, Christchurch
Christ Church Cathedral, also called ChristChurch Cathedral and Cathedral Church of Christ, is a deconsecrated Anglican cathedral in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It was built between 1864 and 1904 in the centre of the city, surrounded by Cathedral Square. It became the cathedral seat of the Bishop of Christchurch, who is in the New Zealand tikanga of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.
Earthquakes have repeatedly damaged the building : in 1881, 1888, 1901, 1922, and 2010. The February 2011 Christchurch earthquake destroyed the spire and the upper portion of the tower, and severely damaged the rest of the building. A lower portion of the tower was demolished immediately following the 2011 earthquake to facilitate search and rescue operations. The remainder of the tower was demolished in March 2012. The badly damaged west wall, which contained the rose window, partially collapsed in the June 2011 earthquake and suffered further damage in the December 2011 earthquakes. The Anglican Church decided to demolish the building and replace it with a new structure, but various groups opposed the church's intentions, with actions including taking a case to court. While the judgements were mostly in favour of the church, no further demolition occurred after the removal of the tower in early 2012. Government expressed its concern over the stalemate and appointed an independent negotiator and in September 2017, the Christchurch Diocesan Synod announced that ChristChurch Cathedral will be reinstated after promises of extra grants and loans from local and central government. By mid-2019 early design and stabilisation work had begun.
Since 15 August 2013 the cathedral community has worshipped at the Cardboard Cathedral.
History
Construction
Construction of the cathedral took 40 years, with construction paused at times due to a lack of funding.The origins of the cathedral date back to the plans of the Canterbury Association, which aimed to build a city around a central cathedral and college in the Canterbury region, based on the English model of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. In the original survey of central Christchurch, undertaken in 1850, it was envisaged for the college and cathedral to be built in Cathedral Square. The area set aside for the college was found to be insufficient, and Henry Sewell suggested in June 1853 to move it to land reserved for the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. This transaction was formalised through The Cathedral Square Ordinance 1858 passed by the Canterbury Provincial Council in October 1858. The ordinance allowed for Colombo Street to go through the middle of Cathedral Square at a legal width of with the cathedral to the west.
Henry Harper, the first Bishop of Christchurch, arrived in 1856 and began to drive the cathedral project. Most Christian churches are oriented towards the east, and to comply with this convention, Harper lobbied to have the eastern side of Cathedral Square to be used. That way, the main entrance would face Colombo Street, resulting in praying towards the east in line with custom. The Cathedral Square Amendment Ordinance 1859, formalised this change.
In 1858 the project was approved by the diocese and a preliminary design was commissioned from George Gilbert Scott, a prolific British architect known for his Gothic Revival churches and public buildings. Scott never visited Christchurch, but handed over the oversight of the project to Robert Speechly. Scott had earlier designed a timber church, the plans for which arrived with the Reverend Thomas Jackson in 1851, but were never used.
Just before work on the foundations began, the alignment of Colombo Street through Cathedral Square was changed by introducing a curve towards the west, with the western side of the legal road having a radius of 3 chains 75 links, to place the cathedral slightly further west, making its tower visible along Colombo Street from a distance.
Scott's original design was for a Gothic-style cathedral, primarily constructed in oak timber to make it resistant to earthquakes. Bishop Harper and the Cathedral Commission, however, argued that the cathedral should be built from stone. Scott's revised plans received in 1862, showed an internal timber frame with a stone exterior. Superintendent James FitzGerald suggested an iron or steel frame to reduce cost, but Harper rejected this as he believed some bishops refused to consecrate iron-framed churches. Continuing pressure for an all-stone church, and concerns over the lack of timber in Canterbury, led to Scott supplying alternative plans for a stone arcade and clerestory. These plans arrived in New Zealand in 1864.
The cornerstone was laid on 16 December 1864, and by April 1865 the foundations had largely been completed, but work stopped soon after due to a lack of funds. The square was essentially abandoned for the next 8 years, becoming overgrown with grass. Speechly's contract expired in 1868, and he left for Melbourne. Commentators of the time voiced their disappointment at the lack of progress. The novelist Anthony Trollope visited in 1872 and referred to the "vain foundations" as a "huge record of failure", describing the square as a "large waste space" with "not a single brick or single stone above the level of the ground".
In 1873 a new resident architect, New Zealander Benjamin Mountfort, took over and construction began again. Mountfort had been passed over to manage the project when it was first mooted 10 years previously. The reasons at the time had been that the bishop wanted an English architect, with Harper describing Mountfort's other buildings as lacking "taste and strength of composition". During the intervening decade, however, Mountfort had proven himself quite capable with projects including the Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings and Canterbury Museum. Mountfort adapted Scott's design, including: adding balconies and pinnacles to the tower; adding porches to the north and west; increasing the height of the south porch; extending the run of interior columns; and decorative details such as the font, pulpit and stained glass. He also rearranged the pattern of the roof slates. Banks Peninsula totara and matai timber were used for the roof supports. By the end of 1875 the walls were high, and the first service was held within them.
The nave, long, and tower were consecrated on 1 November 1881. In 1894, Elizabeth, the widow of Alfred Richard Creyke, arranged for the western porch to be built in his memory. When Mountfort died in 1898, his son, Cyril Mountfort, took over as supervising architect. He oversaw the completion of the chancel, transept and apse, construction of which began in 1900 and was finished by 1904. The Christchurch Beautifying Society planted two plane trees to the south in 1898.
The Rhodes family, who arrived in Canterbury before the First Four Ships, provided funds for the tower and spire. Robert Heaton Rhodes sponsored the tower in memory of his brother George and the spire was added by George's children. The steps of the wooden lectern were sponsored by George's children. The family donated eight bells and a memorial window, and paid for renovations as required.
The spire reached to above Cathedral Square, and public access provided for a good viewpoint over the centre of the city. The spire was damaged by earthquakes on four occasions. The tower originally contained a peal of ten bells, cast by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough, and hung in 1881. The original bells were replaced in 1978 by 13 new bells, also cast at Taylors.
In 1999 the cathedral underwent significant earthquake strengthening, which reinforced the roof and the walls. This was credited with keeping the building fabric intact during the major earthquakes of the 2010s, and saving the lives of people within the building during aftershocks.
Heritage listing
On 7 April 1983, the church was registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust as a Category I historic place, registration number 46. It is the only church designed by Scott in New Zealand. Its design was significantly influenced by Mountfort. It is a major landmark and tourist attraction, and for many it symbolises the ideals of the early settlers. There are numerous memorial tablets and memorial windows, acting as a reminder of the early people and the region's history. For example, a list of the 84 members of the Canterbury Association was first compiled for volume one of A History of Canterbury. Even before the history was published in 1957, a memorial tablet of the members was installed in the western porch in 1955.Visitor centre
During the 1990s, largely under the guidance of dean John Bluck, the cathedral underwent redevelopment and renovation. The operation and maintenance of the cathedral was costing close to a year, and it was decided that money from visiting tourists could be captured to meet the shortfall. The decision to add a visitor centre was controversial; some objected to the idea of operating a trade business in a church on religious grounds. The design of the new building was also a point of contention, with the Historic Places Trust threatening to block any alteration of the cathedral.The final design was a two-storey building on the north side of the cathedral, partially buried underground to minimise the impact on the profile of the cathedral. The profile of the building was designed to complement that of the neo-Gothic cathedral. The centre was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth on 4 November 1994.
Interior
The high altar's reredos was made from kauri planks from an old bridge over the Hurunui River and includes six carved figures: Samuel Marsden, Archdeacon Henry Williams, Tāmihana Te Rauparaha, Bishop George Selwyn, Bishop Henry Harper and Bishop John Patteson.The pulpit, designed by Mountfort, commemorates George Selwyn, the first and only Bishop of New Zealand. Mountfort also designed the font, which was donated by Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Dean of Westminster in memory of his brother, Captain Owen Stanley of HMS Britomart, who arrived in Akaroa in 1840.
The cathedral contains the throne and memorial to Bishop Harper, the first Bishop of Christchurch and the second Primate of New Zealand, who laid the foundation stone in 1864 and preached at the consecration service in 1881. In the west porch are stones from Canterbury Cathedral, Christchurch Priory, Tintern Abbey, Glastonbury Abbey, Herod's Temple, St Paul's Cathedral and Christ Church, Oxford.
The north wall includes a mural dado of inlaid marble and encaustic tiles, donated by the Cathedral Guild in 1885, which includes fylfot motifs. A memorial window above the mural was donated in memory of Sir Thomas Tancred, Bt.
On the south side of the nave there is a Watts-Russell Memorial Window in memory of her first husband.
The Chapel of St Michael and St George was opened by Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg, VC, the Governor-General, on Remembrance Day and dedicated to Archbishop Campbell West-Watson.