St Mary's Old Convent Chapel was erected in Ponsonby, Auckland in 1865-1866 as the first purpose-built chapel built by the Sisters of Mercy in New Zealand. The timber building formed the spiritual centrepiece of St Mary's Convent, designed as a Mother House for the order in Auckland. The Sisters had been founded in Dublin in 1839 as an apostolic order, dedicated to caring for children, the sick and the poor. Some of their number were recruited in Ireland by Bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier (1801-1871), to help serve in the newly created Roman Catholic Diocese of Auckland from 1850. After occupying a small convent on the site of the present St Patrick's Cathedral in Wyndham Street, Auckland, the Sisters began construction of a Mother House on a 7.2 hectare site in Ponsonby in 1861. Overlooking the working class suburb of Freemans Bay, the convent formed part of a larger concentration of Catholic buildings on the 17.4 hectare Clanaboy estate, which had been purchased by Bishop Pompallier in 1853 and renamed Mount St Mary.
The chapel was designed in Gothic Revival style, like the main accommodation block of the convent completed in 1862. Officially opened on 5 August 1866, the cruciform-shaped church was built with a steeply pitched roof and centrally located spire, incorporating a nave, two transepts and chancel. The chapel was designed and built by Edward Mahoney (1824/25? - 1895), a prominent Auckland architect who erected numerous Catholic structures and who - like the original Sisters - also came from Ireland. The chapel's internal layout was designed for the religious formalities of the convent rather than parish services, with two rows of stalls on either side of the nave facing across the central aisle. Architecturally, the chapel has been seen as the bridge between Mahoney's first tentative expression of the Gothic style as seen in the Church of the Immaculate Conception (constructed in 1858 at Mount St Mary) and his later ecclesiastical designs, which expressed Gothic Revival ideas more fully.
The chapel lay at the centre of convent life for over 100 years, with Bishop Pompallier holding Mass there twice a week and hearing confessions. The chapel was also the spiritual focus of pupils at St Mary's College - constructed within the convent complex in 1864 - and additionally served as a parish church for Ponsonby between 1870 and 1886. The building has been associated with many significant individuals within the Catholic church, including Mother Cecilia Maher, superior general of the Auckland Sisters of Mercy for 22 years from the 1850s, and Mother Mary Bernard Dickson, who had nursed in the Crimean War with Florence Nightingale and founded the Sisters of Mercy community in Wellington in 1861. Comparatively few changes were made to the chapel before a new main convent building and chapel were built on an adjacent site in 1971, although additional stalls had been added in circa 1900, probably to accommodate large numbers of nuns. Passing out of daily use in the 1970s, the Old Chapel was conserved after concerted efforts to save the building. Annual fund-raising concerts were held by past pupils of Dame Sister Mary Leo, New Zealand's most celebrated singing teacher, who included Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. The well-preserved chapel is currently (2006) used for religious education, weddings and christenings, among other activities.
St Mary's Old Convent Chapel is considered to be historically significant for its associations with the Sisters of Mercy, who were the first canonically consecrated religious women to become established in New Zealand. It is also important for its links with the establishment of St Mary's Convent, one of the earliest purpose-built convents in the country, as well as the more general development of the Roman Catholic church, Irish immigration, gender, and care for disadvantaged groups in New Zealand. The building is architecturally significant as the earliest purpose-built convent chapel to survive in the country, and for its connections with Edward Mahoney and Gothic Revival design. It also has aesthetic value for its simple design. Employed for 140 years as a place of worship, education and gathering, the chapel has very strong spiritual, social and cultural values. It is also part of larger historical and cultural landscape with firm Catholic associations, which incorporates places such as St Mary's Convent cemetery, St Mary's College Hall, the Bishop's House and the former Bishop Pompallier's House.
The chapel was designed in Gothic Revival style, like the main accommodation block of the convent completed in 1862. Officially opened on 5 August 1866, the cruciform-shaped church was built with a steeply pitched roof and centrally located spire, incorporating a nave, two transepts and chancel. The chapel was designed and built by Edward Mahoney (1824/25? - 1895), a prominent Auckland architect who erected numerous Catholic structures and who - like the original Sisters - also came from Ireland. The chapel's internal layout was designed for the religious formalities of the convent rather than parish services, with two rows of stalls on either side of the nave facing across the central aisle. Architecturally, the chapel has been seen as the bridge between Mahoney's first tentative expression of the Gothic style as seen in the Church of the Immaculate Conception (constructed in 1858 at Mount St Mary) and his later ecclesiastical designs, which expressed Gothic Revival ideas more fully.
The chapel lay at the centre of convent life for over 100 years, with Bishop Pompallier holding Mass there twice a week and hearing confessions. The chapel was also the spiritual focus of pupils at St Mary's College - constructed within the convent complex in 1864 - and additionally served as a parish church for Ponsonby between 1870 and 1886. The building has been associated with many significant individuals within the Catholic church, including Mother Cecilia Maher, superior general of the Auckland Sisters of Mercy for 22 years from the 1850s, and Mother Mary Bernard Dickson, who had nursed in the Crimean War with Florence Nightingale and founded the Sisters of Mercy community in Wellington in 1861. Comparatively few changes were made to the chapel before a new main convent building and chapel were built on an adjacent site in 1971, although additional stalls had been added in circa 1900, probably to accommodate large numbers of nuns. Passing out of daily use in the 1970s, the Old Chapel was conserved after concerted efforts to save the building. Annual fund-raising concerts were held by past pupils of Dame Sister Mary Leo, New Zealand's most celebrated singing teacher, who included Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. The well-preserved chapel is currently (2006) used for religious education, weddings and christenings, among other activities.
St Mary's Old Convent Chapel is considered to be historically significant for its associations with the Sisters of Mercy, who were the first canonically consecrated religious women to become established in New Zealand. It is also important for its links with the establishment of St Mary's Convent, one of the earliest purpose-built convents in the country, as well as the more general development of the Roman Catholic church, Irish immigration, gender, and care for disadvantaged groups in New Zealand. The building is architecturally significant as the earliest purpose-built convent chapel to survive in the country, and for its connections with Edward Mahoney and Gothic Revival design. It also has aesthetic value for its simple design. Employed for 140 years as a place of worship, education and gathering, the chapel has very strong spiritual, social and cultural values. It is also part of larger historical and cultural landscape with firm Catholic associations, which incorporates places such as St Mary's Convent cemetery, St Mary's College Hall, the Bishop's House and the former Bishop Pompallier's House.
