The Church of the Good Shepherd in Phillipstown

Phillipstown, New Zealand

Phillipstown is a small inner suburb of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It lies south-east of the city centre being bordered by Tuam Street to the north, Olliviers Road to the east, the Lyttelton rail line to the south, and Fitzgerald Avenue to the west....

, Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

, New Zealand is the oldest and only surviving brick church designed by architect Benjamin Mountfort

Benjamin Mountfort

Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort was an English emigrant to New Zealand, where he became one of that country's most prominent 19th century architects. He was instrumental in shaping the city of Christchurch's unique architectural identity and culture, and was appointed the first official Provincial...

 (1825–1898). It is registered as a "Historic Place – Category I" by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust

New Zealand Historic Places Trust

The New Zealand Historic Places Trust is a non-profit trust that advocates for the protection of ancestral sites and heritage buildings in New Zealand...

.

History

The vicar of Phillipstown, Rev Hannibal James Congdon Gilbert, teamed up with an accountant (James Bowlker) and a storeman (Lewis Aylwin Carrell) to purchase the land for the church for £380 in September 1881. They onsold the Church Property Trustees for a nominal ten shillings in March 1883. The church, constructed in 1885, was designed in the Gothic Revival style

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

 with red brick with contrasting bands of stone, reflecting contemporary English architectural style A similarly detailed but larger church, St Johns Cathedral, was designed by Mountfort and built in Napier

Napier, New Zealand

Napier is a New Zealand city with a seaport, located in Hawke's Bay on the eastern coast of the North Island. The population of Napier is about About 18 kilometres south of Napier is the inland city of Hastings. These two neighboring cities are often called "The Twin Cities" or "The Bay Cities"...

 between 1886 and 1888. This was destroyed by the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake

1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake

The 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, also known as the Napier earthquake, occurred in New Zealand at 10:47 am on Tuesday 3 February 1931, killing 256 and devastating the Hawke's Bay region. It remains New Zealand's deadliest natural disaster...

 and thus left the Church of the Good Shepherd as Mounfort's only surviving brick church.

During an earthquake in September 2010

2010 Canterbury earthquake

The 2010 Canterbury earthquake was a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, which struck the South Island of New Zealand at 4:35 am on local time ....

, the church suffered slight damage to its gable

Gable

A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...

s. Later that month, the church suffered significant damage to its interior due to vandalism. Major structural damage was caused the following February during the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.

Heritage listing

On 2 April 1985, the church was registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust as a Category I historic place, with the registration number being 1855. It is significant as Mountfort's only surviving brick church.