St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and Warden’s Cottage (Former)

64-66 Melville Street, DUNEDIN

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This imposing church was designed by pre-eminent Dunedin architect Robert Arthur Lawson and opened in 1870. The church and its associated Warden’s Cottage (1885) have outstanding significance through their association with long-serving minister Reverend Andrew Waddell, and his ‘Sin of Cheapness’ sermon that was to change the social and political landscape in New Zealand in the late 1880s-early 1890s. Waddell’s social reform programmes and his community outreach based in his St Andrew’s parish, centred on this imposing Lawson-designed church were a vital part of his mission to the poor of Dunedin’s notorious Devil’s Half Acre. St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church has its origins in the church’s concern for the moral and physical welfare of the hoards that arrived in search of gold in 1861. Knox Church’s Reverend Donald McNaughton Stuart preached in the open air, before a 250-seat canvas chapel was put up. This was replaced by the Walker Street Church (on the corner of Walker (now Carroll) and Melville Streets) which opened on 4 May 1862. To house the growing congregation, a new church, designed by architect Robert Arthur Lawson, opened in February 1870 – known as the St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. After a succession of preachers, Reverend Rutherford Waddell was inducted into the charge in 1879. Waddell was a Christian socialist and railed against the community’s ‘enormous rage to get cheap things.’ In his ground-breaking sermon ‘The Sin of Cheapness’, which was preached to his St Andrew’s congregation in October 1888, Waddell described how some Dunedin women were working from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. finishing moleskin trousers at two and a half pence a pair, earning two shillings per day. Waddell had a forty year association with St Andrew’s. The Gothic Revival-style St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church is built in brick with Oamaru stone facings. The sloping site meant that the church had to be built over two levels, and gives the church a strong presence on this inner city site. Lawson’s unusual design was for a rectangular plan church with battlemented corner towers and a spire. While the spire was never built, the church remained a landmark building in this area of Dunedin. Inside, the soaring ceilings with their timber linings and the stained glass windows provide a contemplative interior, connecting worshippers with their God. Over the latter part of the twentieth century St Andrew’s faced an ageing congregation, declining membership, and demographic changes to its inner city parish. In 1960, the church had a membership of 215; members were down to 65 by 1977. An anniversary service, commemorating Waddell’s ‘Sin of Cheapness’ sermon was held on St Andrew’s Day, 27 November 1977, with lessons read by the managing director of Hallenstein Bros. Ltd and the Secretary of the Clothing Trades Union. A plaque was unveiled commemorating the sermon. On 12 March 1978, the Presbyterians held their last service at St Andrew’s Church, before the congregation merged with that of First Church. The building was sold to the Word of Life Pentecostal Church. In 2000, the building was bought by the Coptic Orthodox Church who have renamed it the Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church. In 2016, St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and Warden’s Cottage (Former) remain home to the Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church.

St Andrew's Presbyterian Church and Warden's Cottage (Former), Dunedin. CCL 3.0 Image courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org | Benchill - Wikimedia Commons | 24/08/2009 | Benchill
St Andrew's Presbyterian Church and Warden's Cottage (Former), Dunedin. Warden's Cottage on Melville Street | Heather Bauchop | 01/02/2016 | Heritage New Zealand
St Andrew's Presbyterian Church and Warden's Cottage (Former), Dunedin. Image courtesy of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa photography collection Reg. No. C.012308 | Burton Brothers studio, maker unknown | No Known Copyright Restrictions

Location

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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

3185

Date Entered

11th November 1982

Date of Effect

5th May 2017

City/District Council

Dunedin City

Region

Otago Region

Extent of List Entry

Extent includes the land described as Sec 23 Blk V Town of Dunedin (RT OT292/88), Otago Land District and the building known as St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and Warden’s Cottage (Former) thereon. (Refer to map in Appendix 1 of the List entry report for further information).

Legal description

Sec 23 Blk V Town of Dunedin (RT OT292/88), Otago Land District

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