This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1993. The following text is from the original Proposal for Classification report considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration. St Mary's Church, Matawai is a small scale Gothic revival timber church built in 1916 and constructed in November 1917, to serve the Matawai parochial district. The township of Matawai was growing rapidly at that time due to the proposed construction of a railway line to link Gisborne through to the Bay of Plenty. The architect was Frederick de Jersey Clere, St Mary's is an example of a typical Clere country church having many standard features of his work, including vertical board and batten cladding and lancet windows with shallow trefoil head in rectangular frames. It is the twin church of St Paul's Motu, also designed by Clere and almost identical in detailing with the exception of the gable ends.
Location
List Entry Information
Overview
Detailed List Entry
Status
Listed
List Entry Status
Historic Place Category 2
Access
Private/No Public Access
List Number
7184
Date Entered
6th June 1994
Date of Effect
6th June 1994
City/District Council
Gisborne District
Region
Gisborne Region
Legal description
Lot 4 Blk V DP 1879 Matawai Township (RT GS3A/835), Gisborne Land District