Built in 1894, St Andrew’s Anglican Church in Manakau was designed by renowned New Zealand architect Frederick de Jersey Clere (1856-1952) and has continued to serve the Manakau community since. This church is of historical, architectural, social, and spiritual significance. It has played an important role in the community’s social and religious milestones including baptisms, weddings, and funerals since its establishment, not long after the founding of the township of Manakau in the late 1880s.
After the Wellington-Manawatu Railway’s completion in 1886, the township of Manakau was established. With the growth in the town’s population there were three practicing religions. The Anglican, Methodist, and Brethren congregations held services in different buildings throughout the town, with St Andrew’s Anglican Church being the first purpose-built church in this township. The land for St Andrew’s Church was donated by Rev. James McWilliam, a CMS missionary in Otaki. The church was erected by voluntary contributions aided with a loan from the Diocesan Pension Fund Trustees, and was opened on December 23 1894 and consecrated on Palm Sunday, April 7 1895.
St Andrew’s Church was designed in Neo-Gothic style by Frederick de Jersey Clere and is one of the smallest and simplest churches he designed, among over a hundred others of his in the province of Wellington. The church was built to seat 80 people by local builder Charles Nees, who also built the neighbouring Manakau School. The timber church has a narrow nave, a separate chancel at the east end with a lean-to for the vestry, and steeply pitched roof originally with a distinctive bell tower. The church also features decorative crosses at the west end, lancet windows, and a porch on the western aspect that moves away from the traditional Gothic style to suit New Zealand weather conditions.
St Andrew’s has been well maintained over the years. It has been repainted several times and underwent a considerable amount of repairing and strengthening in 1952. The minutes from the church vestry meetings reveals that St Andrew’s acquired a Gospel Hall previously used by the Plymouth Brethren in 1909, and moved this hall to St Andrew’s in either in 1910 or 1911, but it was blown down in a spectacular gale in February 1936. In 1913, the original church bell was given to Te Horo after a new one was donated to St Andrew’s. In 1995 the old bell belonging to St Andrew’s was rediscovered and a new belfry based on the original belfry on the roof was built and installed outside on the lawn near the church doors.
With the establishment of the Parish of Otaki, outlying vestries collapsed into one in Otaki and St Andrew’s lost a large number of its congregation. St Andrew’s today is still a functioning church and is part of the Anglican Parish of Otaki.
After the Wellington-Manawatu Railway’s completion in 1886, the township of Manakau was established. With the growth in the town’s population there were three practicing religions. The Anglican, Methodist, and Brethren congregations held services in different buildings throughout the town, with St Andrew’s Anglican Church being the first purpose-built church in this township. The land for St Andrew’s Church was donated by Rev. James McWilliam, a CMS missionary in Otaki. The church was erected by voluntary contributions aided with a loan from the Diocesan Pension Fund Trustees, and was opened on December 23 1894 and consecrated on Palm Sunday, April 7 1895.
St Andrew’s Church was designed in Neo-Gothic style by Frederick de Jersey Clere and is one of the smallest and simplest churches he designed, among over a hundred others of his in the province of Wellington. The church was built to seat 80 people by local builder Charles Nees, who also built the neighbouring Manakau School. The timber church has a narrow nave, a separate chancel at the east end with a lean-to for the vestry, and steeply pitched roof originally with a distinctive bell tower. The church also features decorative crosses at the west end, lancet windows, and a porch on the western aspect that moves away from the traditional Gothic style to suit New Zealand weather conditions.
St Andrew’s has been well maintained over the years. It has been repainted several times and underwent a considerable amount of repairing and strengthening in 1952. The minutes from the church vestry meetings reveals that St Andrew’s acquired a Gospel Hall previously used by the Plymouth Brethren in 1909, and moved this hall to St Andrew’s in either in 1910 or 1911, but it was blown down in a spectacular gale in February 1936. In 1913, the original church bell was given to Te Horo after a new one was donated to St Andrew’s. In 1995 the old bell belonging to St Andrew’s was rediscovered and a new belfry based on the original belfry on the roof was built and installed outside on the lawn near the church doors.
With the establishment of the Parish of Otaki, outlying vestries collapsed into one in Otaki and St Andrew’s lost a large number of its congregation. St Andrew’s today is still a functioning church and is part of the Anglican Parish of Otaki.
