The St Stephen's Chapel is a historic Anglican church in Judges Bay, Parnell,

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

History

Frederick Thatcher The Reverend Frederick Thatcher (1814 – 19 October 1890) was an English and New Zealand architect and clergyman. He was born at Hastings to a long-established Sussex family. He practised as an architect in London from 1835 and was one of the ...

, the chapel replaced an earlier one that had been built in 1844 by

Sampson Kempthorne Sampson Kempthorne (1809–1873) was an English architect who specialised in the design of workhouses, before his emigration to New Zealand. Life He was the son of Rev. John Kempthorne. He began practising in Carlton Chambers on Regent Street ...

, which had collapsed in July 1845. Thatcher's chapel was opened in early 1857. The chapel is unique in that it was almost certainly built specifically as the place of signing of the constitution of the United Church of England and Ireland in New Zealand, and its floor plan is a Greek Cross as a symbol of the establishment of the church, whilst all other churches built for

Bishop Selwyn George Augustus Selwyn (5 April 1809 – 11 April 1878) was the first Anglican Bishop of New Zealand. He was Bishop of New Zealand (which included Melanesia) from 1841 to 1869. His diocese was then subdivided and Selwyn was Metropolitan (late ...

use the traditional Latin cruciform plan. The chapel fell into disrepair, and was restores in the late 1920s. The chapel and its churchyard were registered on 1 September 1983 by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (now

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 ...

) as a Category I historic place with registration number 22.

Notable burials

* Charles Baker (1803 - 1875), missionary * Josiah Firth (1826–1897), businessman and politician * James Kemp (1797–1872), missionary *

Frederick Whitaker Sir Frederick Whitaker (23 April 1812 – 4 December 1891) was an English-born New Zealand politician who served twice as the premier of New Zealand and six times as Attorney-General. Early life Whitaker was born at the Deanery Manor House, B ...

(1812 – 1891),

premier of New Zealand The prime minister of New Zealand ( mi, Te pirimia o Aotearoa) is the head of government of New Zealand. The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, took office on 26 October 2017. The prime minister (informa ...

(twice) *

Reader Wood Reader Gillson Wood (1821 – 20 August 1895) was a 19th-century New Zealand politician. An architect by trade, he designed the 1854 General Assembly House built as New Zealand's first meeting house for the House of Representatives. Early life ...

(1821–1895), politician and architect

References

Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in the Auckland Region 1857 establishments in New Zealand Stephen's Chapel Churches completed in 1857 1850s architecture in New Zealand Frederick Thatcher church buildings Parnell, New Zealand {{NewZealand-church-stub