At Te Puna in the Bay of Islands there is a monument known as “The Marsden Cross”. It commemorates the site of the first mission settlement and the first Christian service conducted in New Zealand by the Rev. Samuel Marsden. The service was held on Christmas Day, 1814, in an open space by the beach and attended by Maoris and Europeans. Rough planks and an upturned boat served for seats, and a temporary altar and reading desk were draped with black native cloth and European white duck. Some three weeks later, on the second Sunday in 1815, another service was held, this time in a building sufficiently advanced in construction at the Mission Station to be used as a church. This was probably the first church building in New Zealand.
At other centres the same urgency was given to a place of worship. At Waimate North, where the first inland settlement was established in 1831, a temporary church measuring 20 by 40 ft was erected in six weeks. At Kaitaia the earliest raupo church was built in 1833. By 1840–the commencement of official colonisation–these and other settlements had replaced the primitive structures with properly designed churches built of timber, in some cases seating from 300 to 400 people. The designs were somewhat crude examples of colonial Georgian architecture with truncated towers or belfries. Later still, somewhere between 1870 and 1880, these were again replaced by churches with steep roofs, tall spires, and larger windows designed in the manner of the Gothic revival which was then the prevailing fashion in church architecture.
The oldest surviving church is at Russell in the Bay of Islands, then known as Kororareka. It was built about 1834 but, it too, was remodelled in 1871 and given a steep pitched roof and larger windows, but it retained the original fabric, hence its claim for seniority. This church was closely associated with important political events of the early colonisation period and has therefore been classed as a “National historic place”. These examples merely demonstrate that the church is an essential part of organised European settlement. It shares the vicissitudes of human existence. In primitive conditions a humble structure meets the common need, but when life is affluent in material things, the church is built in noble proportions and resplendent in craftsmanship of the finest quality.
During the ensuing century and a quarter, New Zealand has grown to nationhood and in the process has had its periods of prosperity and recession. If we sought carefully enough, all these events could be traced in our church building history; yet there is a distinction from economic progress, in that the church is always dissociated from materialism by the nature of its message; hence in each epoch it receives the offerings of mankind in forms he values highly, especially in matters of craftsmanship and artistic skill. Consequently, the structure of the church building and its treatment change in periods of time. For example, the marked changes in form and decoration between medieval Gothic and Classical Renaissance are due to the social organisation and artistic outlook of the respective periods. This does not imply any change in the function of the church which unlike buildings for material usage remains constant and steadfast. It is merely a different dress, and this dress is always the most fashionable of its day. Nor does it restrain the critic in his reasoned approval or condemnation of a particular architectural phase; it merely establishes the social significance of the church in human society and recognises the spirit behind the offerings made by man, be they rated good or bad artistic expression.
Viewed as a whole, New Zealand church architecture does not, at first glance, seem to fit into any precise social pattern. Compare for a moment the monumental classical treatment of the Baptist Tabernacle in Auckland with St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral in the same city, or with All Saints, Palmerston North, or St. John's, Invercargill; all of which follow the verticality of Gothic. Again, compare Auckland's St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church with its Greek Doric portico and Wren-like tower with Dunedin's First Church, of the same denomination, with its lovely tapering spire designed in the Gothic manner. This is not the whole story. The published design for Wellington's Anglican Cathedral now in course of construction has a Romanesque influence, and the interior of St. John's Cathedral in Napier is reminiscent of Byzantine.
Cumulatively, the picture presents a series of exercises in architectural history rather than the work of a distinctive phase of human endeavour. Yet it is characteristic of its period because, for the greater part of New Zealand's development, architectural expression throughout the world was in a state of indecision. Medieval Gothic which produced some of the finest stone buildings of all time, and the succeeding Renaissance, had outlived their structural significance. The industrial revolution was creating a new social order and science evolving new structural materials and methods without acceptable new forms of expression. In consequence, old dresses were applied to the new structures. Some designers used a Classical treatment based upon Renaissance, or Greek, Roman, or Byzantine; others tried various phases of Gothic or Romanesque, most of them cloaking a structure of timber, concrete, or steel. It was known as the “Age of Revivals” but could be better termed “A period of indecision”. This was New Zealand's architectural heritage, and in consequence every town and city has examples of church architecture designed in a variety of styles which, while presenting a picture of architectural confusion, is as much a concise period of history as any one originally conceived style.
Accepting this pattern of design as characteristic of its period, it is possible to assess the quality of the extant examples from 1870 to the outbreak of the First World War. Gothic was the most favoured style for church architecture. There are examples in nearly every town and city, some good, but many of indifferent quality. The Presbyterian First Church in Dunedin is, probably, the finest example in the Dominion. It has the vitality and richness of detail so characteristic of the style. The exterior is dominated by its lovely spire and the interior has a splendid timber vault patterned in the manner of the larger English parish churches. Designed by R. A. Lawson, it may be considered the masterpiece of this gifted architect. Christchurch Cathedral was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, a famous English architect of the Gothic Revival period. It, too, has merit but would have greater serenity if its setting gave some relief from the turmoil of modern traffic. Other examples are St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral and St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Auckland, Nelson Cathedral, and the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Wellington. The latter is built of timber and is one of the few larger timber churches which uses this material in a logical and convincing manner. Another timber church equally satisfying is St. Mary's Cathedral Church in Auckland.
All the examples quoted were adaptations of the prevailing English stylistic fashions of church architecture. Considering that New Zealand was at its formative stage, beset with all the problems of colonisation, many of its church designs were meritorious, but few possess the outstanding qualities of their English predecessors. The modern critic seeks something indigenous–an expression of distinctive New Zealand qualities either geographical or structural. In this respect there is sincerity in the very simple chapels of the very earliest period, but few of these now remain. The two timber churches already mentioned, St. Paul's in Wellington and St. Mary's in Auckland, both have an indigenous quality–a feeling of rightness for their environment and an honest use of their building materials. An interesting early example is the Maori church at Otaki, near Wellington, designed about 1850 in the form of a Maori meeting house. It provides a spacious auditorium, supported by tall central columns, lighted by lancet windows at the chancel end and decorated with painted Maori rafter patterns. A more recent example on the same theme is All Saints Church, Ponsonby, designed by Dr Toy, which received a merit award from the Institute of Architects. Another example of individuality is a recently built church at Waiho, South Westland, where architects Turnbull and Rule placed plate glass behind the altar, thereby giving a view of the magnificent alpine environment.
The most successful group of early churches possessing these indigenous qualities was the so-called Selwyn churches, constructed by the famous Bishop, throughout the Auckland Province in the fifties and sixties of last century. Mostly built of timber as the logical building material, notwithstanding the Bishop's love of stone architecture, they were designed for the most part by the Rev. Frederick Thatcher, a cleric with architectural design training. They express the timber structure in a manner reminiscent of English “half timber” work, have shingle roofs and an interior of distinctive local character. There are many examples; the most successful are probably All Saints, Howick, and St. John's College Chapel, both at Auckland.
The population of New Zealand has increased by nearly three-quarters of a million people since the end of the Second World War. Existing towns and cities have expanded and new communities been developed, thus creating a need for many new churches. Scientific research in building has produced many new materials and methods of construction. A democratic society has in great measure levelled class incomes, and the resulting increase in building costs has focused attention on the maximum use of space and the elimination of all unnecessary decoration. Over the years aesthetic research has developed a better understanding of contemporary artistic expression and evolved principles of design based upon structure, function, and economy.
The age of indecision has passed and for a time there is unanimity in the methods of architectural expression. In consequence, the new churches being built throughout the Dominion are very different from the older ones. There is greater uniformity in pattern, but with distinctive individuality; they are free from traditional design and offer the opportunity of expressing artistically the contemporary age in which we live. Some will be rated good and some poor design, but all of them should have a common approach so noticeably lacking in the indecisive age through which we have passed. There is hope, too, that the emphasis now given to site and environment may encourage an indigenous character in New Zealand church architecture.
In conclusion, it can be said that all discussion or argument about church design revolves about the common purpose of building and equipping it to serve best its purpose and to express in its treatment the ideals of truth and beauty. The church is thus recognised as the pivot of human society. Its message remains constant and in this respect it stands apart from the dissensions of mankind, but submits with good grace to the changing pattern of human expression.
by Cyril Roy Knight, M.A., B.ARCH. (LIVERPOOL), F.R.I.B.A., F.R.S.A., F.N.Z.I.A., Professor Emeritus, University of Auckland.