St Andrew’s on the Terrace, built in 1923, has architectural significance for its English Baroque style and as one of a small number of large churches of its era made of reinforced concrete. It has historical significance as an excellent representation of the long history of Presbyterianism in the Wellington region.
The Ngāi Tara people were the early inhabitants of Wellington and the harbour was named Te-Whanganui-a-Tara after the rangatira of the same name. In the seventeenth century Ngāti Ira of Hawkes Bay joined Ngāi Tara and extensive intermarriage occurred between the tribes. Their neighbours in the region were Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne, Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Māmoe. During a period of upheaval in the 1820s and early 1930s following the Pākehā introduction of muskets into te ao Māori, Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Mutunga also migrated south. The land on which the church was built was included in an 1839 land purchase by the British colonising firm the New Zealand Company.
The building is the second Presbyterian church to be built on its current site on The Terrace and the fourth in the area. When the third wooden church (1879) burned down in 1920, it was decide the replacement would be made of reinforced concrete. Construction of the new church, designed by noted ecclesiastical architect Frederick De Jersey Clere began in 1922, and was completed in February 1923.
Notable architectural features include a classical styled first storey with portico supported by columns and a second storey more typical of the English style of the early eighteenth century. It is the only example of English Baroque architecture in New Zealand. The interior was redesigned in 1962 by church elder and architect Ian Calder to refocus attention on the domed chancel and wooden Iona cross. A new pipe organ was also erected, and the pulpit was moved to the south side of the apse. The building was earthquake-strengthened in 2008.
St Andrew’s on the Terrace has a longstanding history of community work and progressive stances. During the Great Depression it operated a rest-room for unemployed men that was highly utilised during the cold winter nights, and the church helped to fund and establish nearby Everton Hall on Everton Terrace in 1976 with earlier student accommodation supported by the church since 1958. Women gained more formal recognition within St Andrew’s on the Terrace than in other churches of the time, with their first woman elder in 1961 and their first female ordained minister in 1965. The church took progressive stands on significant occasions during the 1980s, supporting HART (Halt All Racist Tours) in their opposition of the Springbok tour in 1981 and Homosexual Law Reform Act in 1986. More recently it has hosted Alcohol Anonymous meetings, supported the Aotearoa Living Wage campaign and the LGBTQI+ community. In 2014 the church defied a directive by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand to ban ministers from performing same-sex wedding ceremonies. Interim minister Jim Cunningham stated, ‘we see sexual orientation and gender identity as irrelevant in the celebration of a couple's union. It is the quality of the relationship, the love and commitment that matters.’ The church is also an important music venue and in 2021 the restoration of the church’s Croft organ was completed.
The Ngāi Tara people were the early inhabitants of Wellington and the harbour was named Te-Whanganui-a-Tara after the rangatira of the same name. In the seventeenth century Ngāti Ira of Hawkes Bay joined Ngāi Tara and extensive intermarriage occurred between the tribes. Their neighbours in the region were Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne, Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Māmoe. During a period of upheaval in the 1820s and early 1930s following the Pākehā introduction of muskets into te ao Māori, Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Mutunga also migrated south. The land on which the church was built was included in an 1839 land purchase by the British colonising firm the New Zealand Company.
The building is the second Presbyterian church to be built on its current site on The Terrace and the fourth in the area. When the third wooden church (1879) burned down in 1920, it was decide the replacement would be made of reinforced concrete. Construction of the new church, designed by noted ecclesiastical architect Frederick De Jersey Clere began in 1922, and was completed in February 1923.
Notable architectural features include a classical styled first storey with portico supported by columns and a second storey more typical of the English style of the early eighteenth century. It is the only example of English Baroque architecture in New Zealand. The interior was redesigned in 1962 by church elder and architect Ian Calder to refocus attention on the domed chancel and wooden Iona cross. A new pipe organ was also erected, and the pulpit was moved to the south side of the apse. The building was earthquake-strengthened in 2008.
St Andrew’s on the Terrace has a longstanding history of community work and progressive stances. During the Great Depression it operated a rest-room for unemployed men that was highly utilised during the cold winter nights, and the church helped to fund and establish nearby Everton Hall on Everton Terrace in 1976 with earlier student accommodation supported by the church since 1958. Women gained more formal recognition within St Andrew’s on the Terrace than in other churches of the time, with their first woman elder in 1961 and their first female ordained minister in 1965. The church took progressive stands on significant occasions during the 1980s, supporting HART (Halt All Racist Tours) in their opposition of the Springbok tour in 1981 and Homosexual Law Reform Act in 1986. More recently it has hosted Alcohol Anonymous meetings, supported the Aotearoa Living Wage campaign and the LGBTQI+ community. In 2014 the church defied a directive by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand to ban ministers from performing same-sex wedding ceremonies. Interim minister Jim Cunningham stated, ‘we see sexual orientation and gender identity as irrelevant in the celebration of a couple's union. It is the quality of the relationship, the love and commitment that matters.’ The church is also an important music venue and in 2021 the restoration of the church’s Croft organ was completed.
