St Mary's Cathedral Church, also known as St Mary's Church or St Mary's-in-Holy Trinity, is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

located in Parnell Road, Parnell, a suburb of

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand. The building served as the

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

church and principal Anglican church of the Diocese of Auckland until 1973 when the chancel of Holy Trinity Cathedral, for which the foundation stone was laid in 1957, came into use. This wooden

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

church was designed by the prominent

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

architect

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 uniqu ...

and completed in 1897. It replaced the earlier Old St Mary's Church. In 1982, St Mary's Church was moved across Parnell Road to its present site beside the Holy Trinity Cathedral. The church was 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; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of ancestral sites and heritage bui ...

as a Category I building in 1981.

History

The original church, which came to be known as Old St Mary's, was built in 1860. The foundation stone for the current church was laid in 1886. At more than long, it is the largest wooden Gothic church in the world. Its English-born architect,

, had become one of New Zealand's most eminent architects, responsible for many of the Gothic Revival buildings in

. St Mary's is generally regarded as the most impressive of his wooden church designs. The original intention had been to build the church in stone, but the plan had been rejected as too expensive. Mountfort seems to have ignored the perishable and limited qualities of wood, and built a vast church worthy of the finest stone. St Mary's covers an area of and has architectural features normally associated only with the great

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

cathedrals of Europe. Bishop William Cowie instigated the decision to make St Mary's the cathedral church in 1887, and the first part of the church, consisting of the chancel and three bays of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, has been consecrated and used since 1888. The church was completed to its present state with the addition of the four final bays and consecrated in 1898. It was Mountfort's final large-scale work. Externally, the most noticeable architectural features of the long

rectangular In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a rectilinear convex polygon or a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal (360°/4 = 90 ...

building are the numerous

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s of the mostly single-story structure. The gables, often placed above lancet-shaped windows, serve to accentuate the Gothic motifs. This is particularly evident on the exterior of the

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...

, where three tall, narrow windows rise up into the gables. The tribune itself is three sided, with the wooden construction making the traditional Romanesque curve in stone impossible. The opposing end of the church, containing the principal entrance, displays the full height of the building with one large gable, containing not only ground-floor windows but two levels of

clerestory A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, a ''clerestory' ...

windows above. The gable here slopes at two angles. The architect's reasoning for this was to increase the height of the gable at the

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

's centre, rather than allow it to rise uniformly according to the width of the building. This central steeper roof pitch increased the ceiling height to the central

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

, as would be found over the central aisle of a true Gothic cathedral. However, the resultant effect has been to create a gable that appears to be designed to bear the weight of heavy snowfall. In an area where snow does not occur, this gives the façade, with its protruding decorated

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

above the first clerestory, an almost 'whimsical

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

chalet A chalet (pronounced in British English; in American English usually ), also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, typical of the Alpine region in Europe. It is made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof and wide, well-su ...

atmosphere', which adds greatly to the building's distinctness. Almost a hundred years later, this feature was subtly suggested in the corresponding roofline of the new cathedral nave. In 1982, St Mary's Church was moved into the precinct of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, a major feat of engineering when the church was transported across the road and turned 90° onto its present site.

Heritage registration

St Mary's Cathedral Church was registered by the

as a Category I building on 26 November 1981 with registration number 21.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Cathedral, Auckland Mary's Cathedral

Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in the Auckland Region Churches completed in 1897 Benjamin Mountfort church buildings Listed churches in New Zealand 1890s churches in New Zealand Gothic Revival church buildings in New Zealand Romanesque architecture in New Zealand Parnell, New Zealand 19th-century Anglican church buildings in New Zealand Wooden churches in New Zealand Selwyn churches