The city of Christchurch was founded in 1850 with the aim of making this settlement New Zealand’s seat of learning.

It’s grand gothic architecture mirroring that of Oxford and Cambridge, indeed the very name Christchurch comes from Christ Church in Oxford. Central to this early vision in the very heart of this city was to be a Cathedral, the spire of which, in a world with no high rise buildings, would command the city skyline.

The first Bishop of ChristChurch, Henry Harper, was instrumental in the plans to build the city a Cathedral and in 1858, when the adult male population of the city was a mere 450 the project was set underway. George Gilbert Scott the pre-eminent gothic architect of the day was commissioned to draw up plans from England, he himself never actually visited the city.

This was just the beginning of a very long build process, fourteen years into the city’s life in1864, the foundation stone was laid, to much pomp and ceremony. The foundations were poured and then, sadly they were left abandoned for lack of funds, as the rapidly expanding city focused on other tasks.

In 1865 renewed vigour was given to the project when the man now known as ‘The father of Canterbury architecture’ Benjamin Mountford, took on and adapted Scott’s original design, adding the west porch, tower balconies, font, pulpit and stained glass.

The Cathedral was not completed in its entirety until 1904 at a grand total of £64,000, it had taken 46 years to plan and build. The result was however the most visited and easily recognisable church in the country, an iconic building.

However, The Cathedral has not just sat calmly in her vidual over the city, having been rocked by several earthquakes over the years, which have each inflicted varying degrees of damage.

In 1881 a stone was dislodged from the finial cap, immediately below the terminal cross, by an earthquake, within a month of the cathedral's consecration.

1888 saw approximately 8 meters of stonework fall as a result of the 1st September earthquake in North Canterbury and the stone spire was then replaced.

Then in 1901 an earthquake in Cheviot caused damage, again to the spire, this time the stone construction was replaced with a more resilient structure of Australian hardwood sheathed with weathered copper sheeting and with an internal mass damper.

The recent earthquakes of September and Boxing Day 2010 caused only minor superficial damage.

Then at 12.51pm Tuesday 22^nd February 2011 came an aftershock off Lyttleton of 6.3.  This quake struck a fatal blow to the building as we knew it. Many buildings and structures surrounding The Cathedral collapsed in ruins and the spire of this great building could not hold on, it collapsed leaving only the lower section of the tower standing. Though much of the cathedral’s roof and walls remained intact at the time they have subsequently become very unstable. The front gable, which holds the rose window, sustained major structural damage and is currently held in place by a massive custom built steel structure.

The Cathedral’s collapse became a focus for the media. Indeed on the afternoon of 22^nd February as news of the damage within the central city spread through the suburbs and across the nation, it was the fact that The Cathedral had collapsed which seemed to bring home to people just how serious the day’s events had been. Astoundingly despite concerns to the contrary at the time, no one was killed within The Cathedral itself. 

This is not just a building where Christians come to worship this is a place of beauty, peace and serenity open to all, a symbol of a city's unity. 

Image kindly donated by Neil Macbeth 

Image kindly donated by ChristChurch Cathedral