St Alban's is the second church to be built in Pauatahanui. It is located on the site of the pa Matai Taua, built in 1846 by the Ngati Toa leader, Te Rangihaeata, nephew of Te Rauparaha. In 1857 W. Blackie built a small interdenominational chapel on land donated by a local settler, Thomas Hollis Stace, for the purpose. By 1890 the chapel, which was also used for a schoolroom, was too small. The parish undertook to raise the money for a new church, and eventually the architectural practice of Clere, Fitzgerald and Richmond was commissioned to draw up the plans. The foundation stone was laid in August 1895, and Bishop Wallis consecrated the church in 1898 on St Alban the Martyrs Day (17 June). The original chapel remained standing until 1908 when it was demolished. A simple Gothic Revival church, the building has lancet windows, external timber-framed buttresses and, in the interior, scissor trusses with knee braces. The apse is semi-circular in plan. In general the building is timber-framed, with rusticated weatherboards on the exterior and tongue and groove lining in the interior. It has a steeply pitch corrugated iron roof. St Alban's church has served the Pauatahanui community for over 100 years. It has strong links to the early farming community of Pauatahanui, which raised the money for its construction. St Alban's has architectural significance as a well-resolved timber, Gothic church designed by Clere, Fitzgerald and Richmond, one of the most prominent architectural practices in Wellington. Frederick de Jersey Clere (1856-1952) was a noted architect in Wellington and, from 1883, was Diocesan Architect of the Anglican Church.