The Durham Street Methodist Church was a former heritage-listed

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

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

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 ...

, New Zealand. Built in 1864 in the

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 ...

style, it was, prior to its destruction, the earliest stone church constructed in the

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

region. The church was severely damaged by an earthquake on 4 September 2010, but collapsed during a following earthquake on 22 February 2011, killing three workers who were removing the organ. Prior to its demolition, the church was, in 1985, registered as a "Historic Place – Category I" by

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; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of Archaeology of New Zealand, ancest ...

. The heritage registration was lifted in 2011 and the ruins of the church were destroyed.

History

Christchurch was mainly 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 ...

settlement. The congregation of Methodists was small, but active. The first Methodist Chapel, which was located in High Street, was sold in 1864. An architectural competition was held for a new church in Durham Street. The winning architectural firm,

Crouch and Wilson Crouch and Wilson was an architectural practice based in Melbourne, Australia in the late nineteenth century. The partnership, between Tasmanian-born Thomas Crouch and recently arrived Londoner Ralph Wilson, commenced in 1857 in Elizabeth Street. ...

from Melbourne, had entered a design in the

style in the 1863 competition. Local architect Samuel Farr, who had come to

Akaroa Akaroa is a small town on Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand, situated within a harbour of the same name. The name Akaroa is Ngāi Tahu, Kāi Tahu Māori language, Māori for "Long Harbour", which woul ...

in early 1850, came second in the competition and was engaged for the construction supervision. In early 1864, the

foundation stone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

was laid by

Samuel Bealey Samuel Bealey (1821 – 8 May 1909) was a 19th-century politician in Canterbury, New Zealand. Bealey came out to Canterbury in 1851, a pastoralist with capital to invest in farming. He married Rose Ann, daughter of Archdeacon Paul in 1852. Hav ...

who at the time was Superintendent of Canterbury Province. The building was officially opened on Christmas Day 1864 and Canterbury thus had its first church built of permanent materials. The stone used includes

Halswell Originally a separate village, Halswell is now a residential suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, located southwest of Cathedral Square on State Highway 75. History Halswell is named after Edmund Halswell QC (1790–1874), a government off ...

and

Port Hills The Port Hills () are a range of hills in Canterbury Region of New Zealand, so named because they lie between the city of Christchurch and its port at Lyttelton, New Zealand, Lyttelton. They are an eroded remnant of the Banks Peninsula Volcano ...

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

and Charteris Bay

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

. A gallery was added to the building in 1869 and a schoolroom was built next to it in 1875. A

parsonage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, pa ...

was subsequently erected facing Chester Street. In 1951 a Memorial Chapel was added, dedicated to those killed in both World Wars.

Heritage listing

On 2 April 1985, the church building was registered with the registration number 3099 by the Historic Places Trust as a Category I heritage building. An atrium was built in 1987 to connect the church to the Aldersgate building next door which houses offices for both the church and the Christian Methodist Mission. In 2011, the heritage order was lifted.

Earthquakes

The 1888 North Canterbury earthquake caused a spire in the south-eastern corner to tilt, leading to its subsequent removal. The church and hall were severely damaged in the September 2010 earthquake and the aftershock the following

Boxing Day Boxing Day, also called as Offering Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part ...

. The building collapsed the following February in the

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. New Zealand Daylight Time, local time (23:51 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the Canterbury Region ...

while a team of eight workers from the

South Island Organ Company The South Island Organ Company is a manufacturer of pipe organs in Timaru, New Zealand. The company, in business since 1968, has manufactured and restored over 300 pipe organs throughout New Zealand, Australia and Oceania. Founders South Island ...

were dismantling the organ, killing three of them.

Replacement building

A replacement building opened on 29 March 2020. The courtyard contains a plaque commemorating the three people killed in the 2011 earthquake.

Interior

The interior plan reflected the standard

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

Methodist layout of a meeting hall surrounded by galleries and was designed to accommodate 1200 people. The cedar

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

, centred on the back wall, was accessed by a double staircase. The

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

, installed in 1902, replaced an earlier hand pumped organ which had been installed in 1874. The replacement organ was built by Ingram & Co. in

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

, United Kingdom and was valued at $1 million prior to the church's destruction. Four sets of memorial

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

windows were installed at different times.

Gallery

Durham St Methodist Church and school room.jpg, Photo from 1921. The building at right angles is the school that was added in 1873, which can't be seen from Durham Street these days, as the view is blocked by the Methodist Mission Durham Street Methodist Church 2010a.jpg, The church in November 2010 with steel bracing after the

2010 Canterbury earthquake The 2010 Canterbury earthquake (also known as the Darfield earthquake) struck the South Island of New Zealand with a moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.1 at on , and had a maximum perceived intensity of X (''Extreme'') on the Mercal ...

Durham Methodist Church.jpg, Ruins of the church in June 2011

References

External links

* {{Authority control Gothic Revival church buildings in New Zealand Religious buildings and structures in Christchurch Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in the Canterbury Region Churches completed in 1864 19th-century Methodist church buildings Buildings and structures destroyed by the 2011 Christchurch earthquake Former churches in New Zealand Christianity in Christchurch Listed churches in New Zealand 1860s churches in New Zealand Stone churches in New Zealand Methodism in New Zealand