Why is this place significant?

Why is this place Category 1 / Category 2?

Reefton (or Reef Town) developed in 1870 with the discovery of alluvial gold in the area. With the influx of miners of different religious denominations, pressure soon mounted to build churches as dedicated places for worship. A small Catholic church was built in Reefton in 1873, and around this time the Anglican community was also looking to build a church. Lay Anglican services had been held by visiting clergymen and a committee was formed in 1872 to work towards building an Anglican church in Reefton. The first permanent vicar, the Reverend Thomas Flavell, was the first vicar of the Reefton Parochial District. In 1873 a new church committee was formed and a Mr Parer supplied plans and specifications for a new church. By this time, the church committee had a harmonium, forms, reading desk and church bell, even before a church was built. New plans were supplied to the committee in October 1874, and there was good support in the form of subscriptions from the town. However, the committee soon experienced financial difficulties. Church services, being held in a hall, were closed down during 1875 and 1876 due to debts. Interest in the diocese surged, however, in October 1876 when the Bishop of Nelson gave Reefton the opportunity for Lay representation on the Diocesan Synod. Mr H D Jackson of Nelson became Reefton's first Synodsman. Plans for building a new church had recommenced by June 1877 and on 24 July 1877 the foundation stone of St Stephen's Church was laid. This ceremony was undertaken in the presence of the Right Reverend A B Suter, Bishop of Nelson and, with full Masonic ceremony, was headed by W McLean. A contemporary newspaper account of the event recorded that files of 'the latest papers' were deposited before the stone was lowered into position. The event was a noted occasion for the township of Reefton and all business was suspended for the afternoon and all banks were closed. The church was constructed over the following months and it opened, free of debt, with a dedication service on 17 February 1878. A new church bell, purchased in 1878, was installed on April 1879. A new harmonium was acquired in the 1880s. An important technological innovation came to Reefton in 1888 in the form of electricity. Reefton's supply of commercial power and electric light, generated by a small hydroelectric scheme, was the first in the southern hemisphere. The event was widely publicised and celebrated. Various buildings and areas in Reefton introduced electric lighting, and by May 1889, St Stephen's Church joined with this technological wave. The Inangahua Times of 20 May 1889 recorded the momentous occasion as follows: The Committee of St Stephen's Anglican Church have led the way amongst the religious denominations in adopting the electric light. In all eleven 16 cp [candle power] lamps have been employed, ten inside, and one outside, in illuminating the building. The congregations have grown so large of late, more particularly on Sunday evenings, that in the over-crowded condition of the church the ordour [sic] from the kerosene lamps had become very offensive. The situation of the electric light will therefore confer a double advantage. It is expected the other churches will also adopt the light without delay. The vestry agreed with the Electric Light Company to use 10 lights on Sundays and three at mid-week choir practice for 3/6 per week. By the end of the 1880s the church had become too small for its congregation. William Hindmarsh, the vicar's warden, submitted plans for expansion but little happened for several years. The church worked through financial difficulties in the early 1890s and by 1896 they again investigated the matter of enlarging the church using Hindmarsh's plans. Hindmarsh's design for the enlargement and interior decorative work involved changing the plan form from a rectangular to a cruciform shape. Transparencies were imported from Scotland as part of the interior design. The church was finally consecrated in January 1899. William Hindmarsh was a gold rush immigrant from Sydney, Australia, who had arrived in Greymouth in 1867. In 1881 he moved to Reefton where he was a sharebroker, commission agent and legal manager of several goldmining companies. It is believed that Hindmarsh's architectural and artistic skills were probably self-taught. Other works by Hindmarsh included Reefton's Masonic Lodge (1891-2) and Reefton's second Methodist church, completed in 1906. An altar was donated in c1908. In around May 1910 the church was repainted and renovated and during this time services were held in the Parish Hall. It was during this time that the hall burned down and some of the seats and the harmonium were destroyed. A new organ was subsequently purchased. In 1910 the Church of England Men's Society formed a branch in Reefton, providing a stimulating fellowship for men of the St Stephen's congregation. In 1934 women were admitted to the Vestry for the first time. St Stephen's Ladies Guild had been established in the late 19th century and in 1927 the Mothers Union was formed to provide spiritual and moral fellowship among members of the church. A number of changes have taken place in recent decades, notably on the exterior of the building such as the addition of Fibrolite cladding. In 1974-5 a new concrete block porch was added, which involved the removal of a window at the point where the porch overlaps, and at the same time the bell tower was removed and some interior doors were widened. In 1990 a dividing wall was installed in the interior and the rear of the church was altered to become a parish lounge. In 1993 a toilet room was added on the north side, off the 1990 lounge. Electric Lighting: Although electricity had been in use in New Zealand since it had been established in 1861 for the private electric telegraph line between Dunedin and Port Chalmers, the first substantial use of electricity in the country was for lighting. Professor Bickerton of Canterbury University College was a great exponent of electricity and promoted its use through a demonstration of electric light at the Christchurch Exhibition in July 1880. Illumination by electric light began to be used for individual places or displays and by the early 1880s the development of technology allowed the use of electricity on a commercial stage. In July 1882 the factory of Roslyn Mills in Dunedin was lit, making it the first practical use of electricity in New Zealand beyond demonstrations and displays. The first private house to be lit by electricity may have been a house at 29 Princes Street in Auckland in November 1882. Certainly by early 1883 several home owners in various parts of the country had made the claim that they were the first to introduce domestic electric lighting. Before long electricity was being considered for municipal street lighting and a number of electric lighting companies in various parts of New Zealand were established to explore possibilities for such lighting. It was a Reefton company, however, who in 1888 were the first in New Zealand to run an electrical system selling power to the public. Consumers were able to purchase electricity for a set charge of £3 per light whether power was used or not. Reefton was described as leading the way above all cities in the Southern Hemisphere and had a brilliantly lit Christmas in 1888, with some 500 lights being supplied. It is not surprising therefore that religious buildings followed the electric lighting trend in the town, with St Stephen's Church being the first of the denominations to do so.

Construction Professionals: Mr Parer supplied plans for a new church in 1873 but it is not clear if these plans were used for the church as built in 1877-8. William Hindmarsh designed the additions of 1898-9. St Stephen's Church is located on a small rise, at the north-east corner of crossroads where Buller Road joins with the Walsh Street and Church Street intersection, within the township of Reefton. Its immediate setting comprises a small gently sloping grassy area and sealed pathway, with several shrubs and trees to the north and west of the building. A modern skyline garage is situated to the east of the building. Across the road, at 1-17 Church Street on the south-east corner of Church Street and Walsh Street, stands the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Other historic features located very close by include a war memorial obelisk on Buller Road, and the vacant lot at the north-west corner of Church Street and Bridge Street is the site where the former Sisters of Mercy Convent stood until its destruction by fire in late 2007. The building is of simple Gothic design and is constructed of timber, with a corrugated iron roof. The exterior weatherboard walls have been reclad in Fibrolite. Windows are simple lancet style with sashes, and carved bargeboards at the main gables echo that Gothic style with a pointed arch at the apex. A simple metal structure adjacent to the concrete block main entrance porch on the south elevation holds the church bell. A small diesel shed added on the north elevation has a lean-to roof and flue. The plan is cruciform. The interior walls are matchlined, with hardboard below a dado rail. The timber wall lining of the eastern wall comprises panelled timber with simple trefoil decorated arches. The ceiling has diagonal match-lining and the trusses comprise paired cross braces. Windows are leaded and the central lancet in the altar windows is also partly coloured. A painted Gothic arch near the altar contains the following painted words: 'Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness'. A modern dividing wall, of timber and glazing, with glazed double doors at the centre, separates the main body of the church from a parish lounge.

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Please note that entry on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rarangi Korero identifies only the heritage values of the property concerned, and should not be construed as advice on the state of the property, or as a comment of its soundness or safety, including in regard to earthquake risk, safety in the event of fire, or insanitary conditions.