The Church of St Michael and All Angels is an Anglican church in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, New Zealand. The church building at 84 Oxford Terrace, Christchurch, is registered as Category I by

Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...

. Its freestanding belfry is registered separately.

History

Christchurch St Michael and All Angels Church interior DSCN1133

The structure stands on the site of the first church built by the

Canterbury Association The Canterbury Association was formed in 1848 in England by members of parliament, peers, and Anglican church leaders, to establish a colony in New Zealand. The settlement was to be called Canterbury, with its capital to be known as Christchurch. ...

settlers in 1851.

Henry Jacobs Henry Sandy Jacobs (October 9, 1924 – September 25, 2015) was an American sound artist and humorist. Early life and education Jacobs was born in Chicago, Illinois. After a tour in the Air Corps —during which time he acquired some broadcast ex ...

preached the sermon and conducted the service at the opening of the church in July 1851. St Michael & All Angels served as the

pro-cathedral A pro-cathedral or procathedral is a parish church that temporarily serves as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese, or a church that has the same function in a Catholic missionary jurisdiction (such as an apostolic prefecture or apostolic ...

until the completion of

ChristChurch Cathedral ChristChurch Cathedral, also called Christ Church Cathedral and (rarely) Cathedral Church of Christ, is a deconsecrated Anglican cathedral in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It was built between 1864 and 1904 in the centre of the city, ...

in 1881.

The architect of the current church was William Fitzjohn Crisp (1846–1924). He had come out from England in 1864 as the pupil of

Robert Speechly Robert Kelfull Speechly (17 September 1840 – 17 September 1884) was a 19th-century British architect. Life and work Speechly was born in 1840 in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, the son of Thomas Kelfull Speechly and Sarah, née Bellars, and a youn ...

who had been appointed by

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...

to supervise the building of ChristChurch Cathedral. The cornerstone of the church was laid in a ceremony on the Feast of St Michael & All Angels, 29 September 1870. However, problems with the construction of the building led to Crisp returning to Britain in 1871 and

Frederick Strouts Frederick Strouts (1834 – 18 December 1919) was a notable New Zealand architect. He was born in Hothfield, Kent, England in 1834. He arrived in Lyttelton in 1859 and lived in Christchurch. Notable buildings include Ivey Hall at Lincoln Univ ...

(1834–1919) was appointed as supervising architect in June of that year. The building was completed in 1872. The contractor's name was James Schoolbraid (or Schoolbred) (1840-1924) and according to Strouts, he was a very obliging worker. The church was opened on 2 May 1872. Because of a lack of money the chancel was not completed until 1875, and the planned bell tower and spire were never constructed. The church is constructed mostly of matai timber on rubble stone foundations. It is one of the largest timber

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

churches in the Southern Hemisphere. The only alteration to the church structure has been the removal of a tie-beam and secondary arch to give a better view of the east window in 1896. The separate belfry is a survival of the previous church building. It was designed by

Benjamin Mountfort Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort (13 March 1825 – 15 March 1898) was an English emigrant to New Zealand, where he became one of the country's most prominent 19th-century architects. He was instrumental in shaping the city of Christchurch's unique ...

and constructed in 1861. The bell it houses was brought out with the

First Four Ships The First Four Ships refers to the four sailing vessels chartered by the Canterbury Association which left Plymouth, England, in September 1850 to transport the first English settlers to new homes in Canterbury, New Zealand. The colonists or se ...

in 1850 and was rung every hour of daylight to indicate time to the first settlers.

Alfred Averill Alfred Walter Averill (7 October 18656 July 1957) was the second Anglican Archbishop of New Zealand, from 1925 to 1940. He was also the fifth Anglican Bishop of Auckland whose episcopate spanned a 25-year period during the first half of the 20th ...

came to New Zealand in 1894 to be vicar of St Michael and All Angels and rose to be

Archbishop of New Zealand Primate of New Zealand is a title held by a bishop who leads the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. Since 2006, the Senior Bishop of each '' tikanga'' (Māori, Pākehā, Pasefika) serves automatically as one of three co-equal ...

. Associated with the church is St Michael's Church School.

Heritage registration

The church was registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust as a Category I heritage building on 2 April 1985 with registration number 294. It is significant as it was the first church on the

Canterbury Plains The Canterbury Plains () are an area in New Zealand centred in the Mid Canterbury, to the south of the city of Christchurch in the Canterbury region. Their northern extremes are at the foot of the Hundalee Hills in the Hurunui District, and in t ...

and was the pro-cathedral for some years. Architecturally, it is notable as a timber Gothic building. The belfry of the church is also recognised as a Category I structure. It was registered under number 295 on the same day.

Earthquakes

The wooden building survived three major earthquakes in 2010/11 almost unscathed and is the only Anglican church that remained in use in the central city. The plans had been drawn with regard to the threat of tremors. At a meeting of parishioners held on 14 December 1869, the general concept for the new church was agreed on, including the building material: "Owing to the late severe shocks of earthquake the vestry came to the conclusion that it would be useless to attempt building any part of stone. Therefore it was decided that wood should be the material." The earthquake referred to was the one that hit Christchurch on 5 June 1869, with

Julius von Haast Sir Johann Franz Julius von Haast (1 May 1822 – 16 August 1887) was a German-born New Zealand explorer, geologist, and founder of the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch. Early life Johann Franz Julius Haast was born on 1 May 1822 in Bo ...

giving some scientific commentary. St John's Church in Hereford Street, the first Anglican church in Christchurch built of permanent materials in 1864–1865, was damaged in that earthquake. The earthquake, centred under Addington or

Spreydon Spreydon is a suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, south-south-west of Cathedral Square. The most central street through Spreydon is Barrington Street. Spreydon is flanked by the suburbs Hoon Hay, Sydenham, and Lower Cashmere. State Highway ...

, had an estimated

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

of 5 and a ground shaking intensity of MMI 7. In March 2011, a Lenten service at St Michael's and All Angels Church was attended by

Victoria Matthews Victoria Matthews (born 1954) is a Canadian Anglican bishop. From 2008 until 2018, she served as Bishop of Christchurch in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. In 1994, she became the first woman ordained bishop in the ...

, Bishop of Christchurch, and

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

, Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs. As part of the service, Rudd lit a candle in memory of those who died in the 22 February 2011 earthquake.

The organ

The present fine Henry Bevington and Sons

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

was installed in 1873. It was enlarged in 1895/6 by Fincham and Hobday. The organ was damaged in the 22 February 2011 earthquake and subsequently removed for repairs. A temporary replacement was an organ built from parts of instruments damaged during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

bombing raids on Britain. The church is fund-raising to help meet the last of the NZ$500,000 organ restoration costs. The Bevington organ was reinstalled with improvements by the

South Island Organ Company The South Island Organ Company is a manufacturer of pipe organs in Timaru, New Zealand. The company, in business since 1968, has manufactured and restored over 300 pipe organs throughout New Zealand, Australia and Oceania. Founders South Island O ...

in 2013.

List of vicars

The following vicars have served at St Michael and All Angels: Rev

* Octavius Mathias, 1852–1860 *

, 1863–1873 * Henry J. Edwards, 1873–1876 * Edward Gorton Penny, 1876–1881 * Walter Harper, 1882–1893 *

, 1894–1910 * Harry Darwin Burton, 1910–1915 * Charles E. Perry, 1916–1936 * Cecil Muschamp, 1937–1951 * Cecil Gault, 1951–1963 *

Tim Raphael Timothy John Raphael (26 September 192920 November 2016) was an Anglican priest. Raphael was educated at Christ's College, Christchurch and the University of Leeds. after which he was a Scientific Officer at RAE Bedford. He trained for ordinati ...

1963–1965 * Philip Baker 1965–1986 * Ivan Smith 1986–1990 *

Jonathan Kirkpatrick Jonathan Richard Kirkpatrick (born February 1958) was Dean of Dunedin from 1996 until 2001. He obtained an honours degree in theology from the University of London. He came to New Zealand in 1991 with his partner, Tim Barnett, to be vicar at ...

1991–1996 * Peter Williams, 1997–2013 * Andrew Starky, 2013–2017 *Christopher Orczy, 2018–present

Notes

References

* {{Christchurch earthquakes 1870s architecture in New Zealand 19th-century Anglican church buildings 2011 Christchurch earthquake Anglo-Catholic churches in New Zealand Benjamin Mountfort church buildings Christchurch Central City Churches completed in 1872 Gothic Revival church buildings in New Zealand Listed churches in New Zealand Churches in Christchurch St Michael and All Angels