Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Gothic Revival church in Grafton, New Zealand.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a wooden Gothic Revival church on Khyber Pass Road in Grafton, designed by Edward Mahoney of E. Mahoney and Son and opened in 1880. Its steeple was considered the tallest in Auckland at the time. A timber hall built in 1885 for St Paul's was moved to the site in 1898.
The foundation stone of the new church was laid in 1880 by William Cowie, first Bishop of Auckland, after the 1865 chapel on Symonds Street proved too small. The site on Khyber Pass Road was chosen over Symonds Street because of traffic noise. The parish closed in 1963, and in 1969 the building became the Auckland Anglican Māori Mission.
The church hall became the Tātai Hono marae in 2009, featuring tukutuku panels and whakairo carvings that honor Māori traditions. This space now serves as a gathering place where two cultural worlds meet.
The site sits on Khyber Pass Road in a residential area that is straightforward to reach from central Auckland. Visitors should respect opening hours and remember this remains an active place of gathering and work.
The 1885 timber hall beside the church was built as a temporary place of worship and school for St Paul's, Auckland's first church, after its original building was demolished. Moved here in 1898 and fitted with classrooms, a lean-to kitchen and bathroom, it held a Sunday school of 325 children.
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