St Patrick's Presbytery (Catholic)

43 Wyndham Street and Hobson Street, AUCKLAND

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St Patrick's Presbytery, Auckland, is the only purpose-built Roman Catholic cathedral presbytery of nineteenth-century date to survive in New Zealand. Erected in 1888, the two-storey building of Gothic Revival design was built as a priests' residence and as the administrative centrepiece of the Diocese of Auckland, the Cathedral complex of St Patricks and the local Cathedral parish. The presbytery was part of an important ecclesiastical complex in the city centre, initially founded in the 1840s by Bishop Jean-Baptiste Pompallier (1801-1871), the pre-eminent Catholic clergyman in early colonial New Zealand. A stone cathedral within the complex was replaced in 1885 by a larger building, the Cathedral Church of St Patrick and St Joseph (NZHPT Registration # 97, Category I historic place). A few years later, the construction of a prestigious new presbytery was underway, commissioned by Bishop John Luck (1840-1896). This replaced a smaller timber structure on the site into which Bishop Pompallier and several other priests had probably moved in 1850, following the conversion to other uses of the first presbytery in the complex, which dated to 1842. Construction of the new building was enabled by a generous bequest from Monsignor Henry Fynes, a previous Administrator of the Cathedral. The brick presbytery was designed by Edward Mahoney and Sons and built by E. J. Matthews. Costing £2,000, the imposing structure was declared to be 'comfortable and convenient, and a great improvement on the previous building.' The presbytery is considered to be a unique example of the strict Gothic Revival ecclesiastical work of Edward Mahoney & Sons, and is said to be one of the most rigorous examples of ecclesiastical domestic architecture of its type to be erected in Auckland, strictly fulfilling the notions of the influential British architect, Augustus Pugin. Pugin's architectural work and writings advocated the use of medieval Gothic architectural forms, and were important influences on church design and associated ecclesiastical buildings in the mid to late nineteenth century. There were close personal ties between Bishop Luck and Pugin that may have influenced the choice of style. Luck had grown up in one of Pugin's former homes in Ramsgate, England, and was friendly with Pugin's son Peter Paul Pugin, who was an architect on a later project for Luck. For a hundred years after its construction, the presbytery continued to be the administrative centre of the Diocese of Auckland, the most populous diocese in New Zealand, which extended as far south as Gisborne and the King Country. It also encompassed an extensive Maori Mission. Clergy based at the presbytery also directly served the cathedral, having responsibilities for conducting services celebrating special religious events, including ordinations and installation of the bishop. The presbytery further served an extensive inner-city parish, with its priests providing a variety of pastoral care, such as ceremonies linked with important life-cycle events among other matters. Members of the parish and others met with the clergy at the presbytery for preparation for baptism, holy communion, confession/reconciliation, confirmation and marriage. Important meetings at the presbytery included an occasion in March 1922 when eighteen of Auckland's city and suburban priests unanimously passed resolutions supporting Dr James Liston who faced prosecution in the Supreme Court by William Massey's government for allegedly making seditious utterances at a St Patrick's night address in the Auckland Town Hall. Liston was ultimately acquitted by an all-Protestant jury and went on to become Auckland's longest serving Bishop. Several Administrators of significance have also served from the building. These include Matthew Brodie (1913-1915), who upon leaving St Patrick's Cathedral became Bishop of Christchurch and the Roman Catholic church's first New Zealand-born bishop; Monsignor Leonard Buxton (1925-1942), whose initiatives included the Roman Catholic publications The Month and Zealandia; and others. The building remains generally well-preserved, although some changes were made in the 1960s and 1970s. The presbytery continues to be used to house the priests of St Patrick's parish and the parish office, and remains an important part of the Cathedral complex.

St Patrick's Presbytery (Catholic), Auckland. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Image courtesy of www.flickr.com | 17/09/2018 | Gary Danvers Collection

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List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 1

Access

Private/No Public Access

List Number

2645

Date Entered

12th December 2006

Date of Effect

12th December 2006

City/District Council

Auckland Council

Region

Auckland Council

Legal description

Allot 33 Sec 18 Town of Auckland and Pt DP 20041 (RT NA457/207), North Auckland Land District

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