Prominently positioned on a corner in the heart of its surrounding suburbs, St Peters Anglican Church provided a striking contrast to another earthquake-damaged church we visited earlier. Unlike Holy Trinity in Avonside, which was completely demolished but incorporated several elements of the earlier building in their new one, St Peters chose restoration and additions completely in sympathy with the historic exterior of the building.
We entered through the lychgate approach (“corpse gate” – where bodies lay guarded and waiting for the vicar in earlier times), which was retained from the earlier 1858 building and then we strolled along the long, straight pathway to enter this beautiful building.
It was exciting to have the architect of this repaired and redeveloped St Peters, with us to explain how he progressed the planning, additions, and modernisation, with a strong correlation to the original. We could sight lines of additions and alterations in the interior which did not detract from the original. From the outside, this wonderful building looks to have retained its character and valuable historical exterior as well. This lovely old stone church building is a treasure to retain for Christchurch. Clearly, character can be kept and a strong degree of history preserved. (Report by Judy Calder)
