St Paul's Church in Cashel Street, Christchurch, was a Category I heritage building registered by 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 ...

. It was demolished after 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

St Paul's Presbyterian Church, Christchurch, 1885

St Paul's was built in 1877 as a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

church on the corner of Cashel and Madras Streets in the

Christchurch Central City Christchurch Central City or Christchurch City Centre is the geographical centre and the heart of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is defined as the area within the Four Avenues (Bealey Avenue, Fitzgerald Avenue, Moorhouse Avenue and Deans Avenue ...

. It replaced an earlier church on the corner of Lichfield and Madras Streets built by a breakaway congregation from St Andrew's Church. Both church buildings were designed by Samuel Farr; the later one commissioned by the reverend John Elmslie. In 1969, St Paul's merged with the Trinity-Pacific Congregational Church taking on a new name – St Pauls Trinity Pacific Presbyterian Church. Rev. Leonard Jones and Kenape Faletoese lead the new multicultural church under its new format. The

Palangi Pālagi (pronounced – ''singular'' ) or papālagi (''plural'') is a term in Samoan culture of uncertain meaning, sometimes used to describe foreigners. Tent and Geraghty (2001) comment that the origin of the Western Polynesian ''Papālagi~Pāla ...

membership of the church declined over the next three decades and by the time of its destruction in the February 2011 earthquake, the church membership was mostly of Samoan heritage. On 5 August 2009, the church was the victim of an arson attack that caused considerable damage. The building was restored, but suffered damage in the

2010 Canterbury earthquake The 2010 Canterbury earthquake (also known as the Darfield earthquake) struck the South Island of New Zealand with a moment magnitude of 7.1 at on , and had a maximum perceived intensity of X (''Extreme'') on the Mercalli intensity scale. Som ...

, and partially collapsed in the February

. By June 2011, the church had been demolished.

Heritage listing

St Paul's was listed as a Category I heritage building by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust on 2 April 1985 with registration number 305. The building was removed from the register during 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Paul's Church, Christchurch Religious buildings and structures in Christchurch Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in Canterbury, New Zealand Presbyterian churches in New Zealand Churches completed in 1877 Buildings and structures demolished as a result of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake Buildings and structures demolished in 2011 Christchurch Central City Former churches in New Zealand Christianity in Christchurch Listed churches in New Zealand 1870s architecture in New Zealand Destroyed churches 1877 establishments in New Zealand