St Paul's Church, Christchurch, Gothic Revival church in Canterbury Region, New Zealand
St Paul's Church was a Presbyterian church on the corner of Cashel and Madras Streets in Christchurch Central City, designed by Samuel Farr and built in 1877. It replaced an earlier church by the same architect at Lichfield and Madras Streets, and from 1969 was known as St Paul's Trinity Pacific Presbyterian Church. The building was demolished by June 2011 after the February 2011 earthquake.
St Paul's was built in 1877 on the corner of Cashel and Madras Streets, replacing an earlier Presbyterian church at Lichfield and Madras Streets. Both buildings were designed by Samuel Farr; the later one was commissioned by Reverend John Elmslie. In 1969 the congregation merged with the Trinity-Pacific Congregational Church to become St Paul's Trinity Pacific Presbyterian Church, led by Rev. Leonard Jones and Kenape Faletoese. The church was demolished by June 2011 after the February 2011 earthquake.
The congregation shifted from predominantly European to Samoan over three decades, reflecting how communities in the city changed and transformed their spaces. This change shows how different groups shaped the church's identity and meaning for local residents.
The church no longer stands: it was demolished by June 2011 after the February 2011 earthquake, so there is no building to enter on the Cashel and Madras Streets corner. Visitors can instead look for the site in the Christchurch Central City and note that the Category I registration (number 305, dated 2 April 1985) was removed from the register during 2011.
St Paul's was registered as a Category I heritage building on 2 April 1985 under registration number 305, and the listing was removed during 2011. The church had already been damaged by an arson attack on 5 August 2009 and by the 2010 Canterbury earthquake before its partial collapse in February 2011.
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