St Luke's 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 / ...

was registered as a Category II historic place with the

New Zealand Historic Places Trust 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 ...

. Built on one of the five sites set aside in the

central city In urban planning, a core city, principal city metropolitan core, or central city, is the largest or most important city or cities of a metropolitan area. A core city is surrounded by smaller satellite cities, towns, and suburbs. A central city ...

in the original survey of Christchurch for the Anglican church, it was demolished in July 2011 following damage sustained in the February

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...

History

The site bounded by Manchester, Lichfield and Peterborough Streets was one of five sites set aside 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. ...

in the original survey of Christchurch, which was carried out during 1850. A church, the Chapel of Ease, was built on the site between 1858 and 1860. After St Michael and All Angels, it was the second Anglican church in Christchurch. The result was described as "ugly and barn-like". This first church had a frontage onto Peterborough Street, and it was extended in 1871 based on a design 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 ...

. The Chapel of Ease was demolished in 1908. St Luke's was designed by

Cyril Mountfort Cyril Julian Mountfort (5 October 1853 – 23 November 1920) was a New Zealand ecclesiastical architect. He was the second son of Benjamin Mountfort. Biography Mountfort was born on 5 October 1853; his surname is recorded as 'Mountford' on his ...

, the son of Benjamin Mountfort, in

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 ...

style. St Luke's design is similar to two churches designed by Mountfort Senior in the 1880s; The Church of the Good Shepherd in Phillipstown (demolished in 2011) and St John's Cathedral in Napier (destroyed in the

1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Si ...

). The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Julius on 3 September 1908. Construction took 13 months and the contract value was £9,800. The church was consecrated on 17 October 1909 by Bishop Julius, and the sermon read by Archdeacon Averill. Of the series of eight stamps issued by

New Zealand Post NZ Post ( mi, Tukurau Aotearoa), shortened from New Zealand Post, is a state-owned enterprise responsible for providing postal service in New Zealand. The New Zealand Post Office, a government agency, provided postal, banking, and telecommunica ...

for Christmas 1995, the four highest denominations ($0.80 to $1.80) depicted scenes from the stained glass windows of St Luke's. The church was badly damaged in the February

deconsecrated Deconsecration, also called secularization, is the act of removing a religious blessing from something that had been previously consecrated by a minister or priest of that religion. The practice is usually performed on churches or synagogues to b ...

, and demolished the following July. The church can be seen in Gerard Symth's video chronicle of the earthquakes, ''When A City Falls''. The congregation is still meeting, despite the earthquake damage, and counselling services continue. Services are currently held in the Mary Potter Community Centre, and at the central-city Knox presbyterian church, as well as weekday morning prayer on the St Luke's site but the rebuilding of a church on the site is uncertain.

Heritage registration

The church was registered by the

as a Category II heritage building with registration number 3353. The adjacent St Luke's Vicarage was registered on 15 February 1990 as a Category I heritage building with registration number 3132 and remains standing, under restoration as a residential dwelling.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Lukes Church, Christchurch NZHPT Category II listings in Canterbury, New Zealand Religious buildings and structures in Christchurch Churches completed in 1909 20th-century Anglican church buildings Anglican churches in New Zealand Buildings and structures demolished as a result of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake Christchurch Central City Former churches in New Zealand Listed churches in New Zealand 1900s architecture in New Zealand Buildings and structures demolished in 2011

History

Heritage registration

Further reading

References