The former Trinity Methodist Church is registered as a category I historic place 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 ...
, which recognises its historic and architectural significance. Originally a
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
church, it is located on the corner of
Moray Place and Upper Stuart Street, in the heart of the southern city of Dunedin. In 1977 the church was refitted and operated as the
Fortune Theatre
The Fortune Theatre is a 432-seat West End theatre on Russell Street, near Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster. Since 1989 the theatre has hosted the long running play ''The Woman in Black''.
History
The site was acquired by author, playw ...
.
Financial difficulties in 2000 threatened the theatre with closure, and forced the sale of the building to the
Dunedin City Council
The Dunedin City Council ( mi, Kaunihera ā-Rohe o Ōtepoti) is the local government authority for Dunedin in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Dunedin. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Dunedin is Jul ...
, who leased the building back to the Fortune Theatre Trust. The theatre trust closed in 2018. As of July 2021, the building is empty with no current plans for its use.
Background
The Methodist congregation of Dunedin initially met at the Oddfellows Hall and then at the City Council Chambers, previously the
Dunedin Athenaeum and Mechanics' Institute
Dunedin Athenaeum and Mechanics' Institute is an adult education institute based in a heritage building in Dunedin, New Zealand. The private organisation provided classes and a library for members. Presently it operates a subscription lending li ...
, on the corner of Manse and High Streets.
The congregation were gifted a plot of land on
Bell Hill.
A wooden building with a slate roof, designed by W Greenfield, was erected but during construction strong winds damaged the building, which was on an exposed site near the present-day Dowling Street. The structure was required to be fortified with buttresses and a transept, which more than doubled the original tender price of £1100.
The finished building was reportedly draughty, uncomfortable and the lights swayed in strong winds.
Eventually the church was considered unsafe, and services moved to the Lyceum.
When the first minister for Dunedin was appointed,
Isaac Harding (1815–1897), services were held in a canvas tent on Stafford Street. Mr Harding was succeeded by Mr Aldred in 1864, and then by
Reverend A R Fitchett.
The
Otago Gold Rush
The Otago Gold Rush (often called the Central Otago Gold Rush) was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand. This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area – ...
swelled congregation numbers, and plans were made for a new church on Stuart Street.
Existing church building
The Trinity Methodist Church was designed by Scotsman
R. A. Lawson and was opened in 1870. Made out of the local materials
trachyandesite
Trachyandesite is an extrusive igneous rock with a composition between trachyte and andesite. It has little or no free quartz, but is dominated by sodic plagioclase and alkali feldspar. It is formed from the cooling of lava enriched in alka ...
and
Oamaru
Oamaru (; mi, Te Oha-a-Maru) is the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, it is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is south of Timaru and north of Dunedin on the Pacific coast; State Highway 1 and the rai ...
stone, the former church is an example of
Gothic Revival architecture
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th cent ...
and contains a "Rose"
stained glass window which is located at the back of what was later the theatre's main stage.
The building is close to the city's centre,
The Octagon.
The congregation proposed building a nearby Sunday School in 1924, as a memorial to those who had died in the First World War. Instead, a Sunday School was established in the basement of the church, opening on 28 June 1930.
The church closed in 1977, with the final service on Christmas Day of that year.
Theatre
In 1966 the building was structurally strengthened and waterproofed, the Mission organ was enlarged. Other changes included renovation of the interior, reduction of the exterior pinnacles and recladding of the bell tower. In 1977 it was remodelled for use as a theatre.
The
Fortune Theatre company was initially located in the 105-seat Otago Cine Club
theatrette
A theater, theatre or playhouse, is a structure where theatrical works, performing arts and musical concerts are presented. The theater building serves to define the performance and audience spaces. The facility usually is organized to provide s ...
at the rear of the
Athenaeum building of the
Octagon. However, after hiring full-time acting staff in 1977, it was decided that the venue was too small to continue to be viable and in 1978 the company moved to the former Trinity Methodist Church where it remained until its closure in 2018.
Financial difficulties in 2000 threatened the theatre with closure, and forced the sale of the building to the
Dunedin City Council
The Dunedin City Council ( mi, Kaunihera ā-Rohe o Ōtepoti) is the local government authority for Dunedin in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Dunedin. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Dunedin is Jul ...
, who leased the building back to the Fortune Theatre Trust.
'Ghost Hunt'
Not long after the Fortune Theatre moved into the old church, tales spread of "sinister voices" being heard offstage and well-secured lights falling from the lighting grid. A phantom audience member has also been reported by theatregoers on numerous occasions. Reports continued to come from a variety of reliable sources until the claimed hauntings of the Fortune Theatre became a part of Dunedin folklore.
In 2005, the theatre was featured on ''
Ghost Hunt'', a New Zealand television show, as it is claimed that the theatre is haunted. The ''Ghost Hunt'' investigation team visited the theatre and were shown a picture that is claimed to show the ghost of a young woman gliding through a wall of the
foyer
A lobby is a room in a building used for entry from the outside. Sometimes referred to as a foyer, reception area or an entrance hall, it is often a large room or complex of rooms (in a theatre, opera house, concert hall, showroom, cinema, etc. ...
, below a Gothic window.
During the investigation team's visit, they were also able to talk to people who had worked at the theatre and claim to have had
paranormal
Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...
experiences in the building:
A
lighting technician
Electrical lighting technicians (ELT), or simply lighting tech, are involved with rigging stage and location sets and controlling artificial, electric lights for art and entertainment venues (theatre or live music venues) or in video, television, o ...
claimed that he was all alone setting up on stage one day when he "glimpsed a person" over his shoulder on the edge of the stage and thought that "they were reading through some lines, as an actor would" but knew no cast members were around at the time. He turned the stage lights on and "suddenly they were gone".
A man who ran the box office claimed to have had two "disconcerting" experiences. The first experience involved a "young boy sitting in the corner". He initially "thought nothing of it" but the "realisation struck" him that the theatre was closed. He "turned back around, but he'd disappeared." The second experience involved a girl he claims he noticed when he "looked up to the back corner of the audience seating, near where the soundman usually sits" after he heard "a strange noise in the theatre" on one occasion.
[Miller, J., and Osborne, G., (2005)G"host Hunt: True New Zealand Ghost Stories" ]
See also
*
List of historic places in Dunedin
References
{{authority control
Churches completed in 1870
Former churches in New Zealand
Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in Otago
Listed churches in New Zealand
Reportedly haunted locations in Dunedin
Robert Lawson buildings
Theatres in Dunedin
Central Dunedin
Stone churches in New Zealand