Registration Type

Historic Place Category 1

 

Register Number

47

 

Date Registered

7-Apr-1983

 

Legal Description

Lot 3 DP 50663 (CT CB29B/1137), Canterbury Land District

 

Extent of Registration

Extent of registration includes the land described as Lot 3 DP 50663 (CT CB29B/1137), Canterbury Land District and building known as Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament (Catholic) thereon.

 

City/District Council

Christchurch City

 

Region

Canterbury Region

 

Summary

The first church on this site was a small wooden building erected in 1860 on land granted to the Roman Catholic Church by the Canterbury Provincial Government. This was replaced by a larger church, which became the Catholic pro-cathedral in 1887. By the turn of the century, a new building was needed to accommodate the growing Catholic population. Francis William Petre was contracted to design it. He was already well-known as a church architect, having completed the Cathedral Church of St Joseph in Dunedin, St Patrick's Basilica in Oamaru, and the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Wellington. Petre persuaded the then Bishop, John Joseph Grimes, that a cathedral based on the rectangular plan of the early Christian basilicas, and neo-classical in style, was more appropriate and more affordable than the Gothic style that the Bishop initially favoured. The final design varies from the standard plan of early basilicas in that the central dome rises above the sanctuary rather than above the junction of the nave and transept.

The foundation stone was laid in 1901. Construction requried more than 120,000 cubic feet of steel (3398 cubic metres), 4,000 cubic feet of concrete (114 cubic metres) and 90 tons of steel. Fifty men were employed to work on the cathedral and the tile mosaic in the sanctuary was laid by Italian workmen brought over from Sydney. Despite some controversy between Petre and Grimes over cost and design, the building was completed by 1905. It is built primarily in Oamaru stone with a core of poured concrete, characteristic of Petre's work.

Described as one of the finest examples of church architecture in Australasia, the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament is a superb example of Petre's work. George Bernard Shaw, when he toured New Zealand in 1934, compared the cathedral to the work of the great Italian Renaissance architect, Filippo Brunelleschi. From a technical point of view the building of the cathedral involved new and significant methods of construction. It dominates the Barbadoes Street townscape and has been the heart of the Canterbury diocese for over ninety years.

 

Current Use

• Religion - Church

 

Former Use

• Religion - Church

 

Themes

• Places to Visit

 

Construction Professionals

• Petre, Francis William - Architect

 

Construction Dates

• Other: 1899 (circa) - 1901 (circa)
• Original Construction: 1901 (circa) - 1905 (circa)
• Modification: 1970 - 1980

 

Information Sources

• 'The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch, New Zealand', Christchurch, 1993
• Peter Shaw, A History of New Zealand Architecture, Auckland, 1997

 

Links

• www.chch.catholic.org.nz/

 

Report Written By

Melanie Lovell-Smith

 

Report Completed

15-Aug-2001