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This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1980. The following text is the original citation considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration. Consecrated in 1926 by Archbishop Averill this is the fourth church on this site. It was designed by Auckland architectural firm Jones and Palmer. The stone masonry was by Liddles of Auckland. This church features massive walls of blue stone, quarried locally with contrasting brick ornamentation around arched doors and windows. The roof is slated while above the main entrance there is a lead-capped spiral. The church commemorates the famous missionary Henry Williams. The hand organ, the second oldest in New Zealand, once belonged to Archdeacon Henry Williams. In the adjoining graveyard dating from about 1826 several important people in European history lie buried. St Paul's Paihia is a magnificent church in an attractive setting and its association with the important historical figure of Henry Williams makes it one of New Zealand's most notable churches.

Williams Memorial Church of St Paul (Anglican), Paihia. CC BY 2.0 Image courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org | Adamina | 17/12/2008 | Adamina - Wikimedia Commons

Williams Memorial Church of St Paul (Anglican), Paihia | Tatum Hoskin | 28/02/2021 | Heritage New Zealand

Williams Memorial Church of St Paul (Anglican), Paihia. Interior | Tatum Hoskin | 28/02/2021 | Heritage New Zealand

Location

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List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 1

Access

Private/No Public Access

List Number

3824

Date Entered

6th June 1985

Date of Effect

6th June 1985

City/District Council

Far North District

Region

Northland Region

Extent of List Entry

Extent includes the land described as Lot 8 Blk I DP 1217 (RT NA397/50) North Auckland Land District and the building and structures known as Williams Memorial Church of St Paul including churchyard and grave monuments and markers (Anglican), thereon. Registration covers the church, its fixtures and finishes. It also includes recent modifications as well as the churchyard and all associated structures, such as fences, gravestones, markers and other memorials. The church and churchyard are associated with extensive archaeological deposits, including burials and the potential remains of earlier, nineteenth-century churches.

Legal description

Lot 8 Blk I DP 1217 (RT NA397/50) North Auckland Land District

Overview

Status
Listed

List Entry Status
Historic Place Category 1

Access
Private/No Public Access

List Number
3824

Date Entered
6th June 1985

Date of Effect
6th June 1985

City/District Council
Far North District

Region
Northland Region

Extent of List Entry

Extent includes the land described as Lot 8 Blk I DP 1217 (RT NA397/50) North Auckland Land District and the building and structures known as Williams Memorial Church of St Paul including churchyard and grave monuments and markers (Anglican), thereon. Registration covers the church, its fixtures and finishes. It also includes recent modifications as well as the churchyard and all associated structures, such as fences, gravestones, markers and other memorials. The church and churchyard are associated with extensive archaeological deposits, including burials and the potential remains of earlier, nineteenth-century churches.

Legal description

Lot 8 Blk I DP 1217 (RT NA397/50) North Auckland Land District

Detailed List Entry

Construction Professional

Biography

The Auckland-based partnership of Gerald Edgar Jones and Arthur J. Palmer was established soon after the end of World War I, and lasted until the early 1930s. Before their collaboration, Jones had been apprenticed to the Auckland architect Edward Bartley and worked in his own practice from 1906, while Palmer had been employed in the office of Sir Aston Webb in London. The two men took up adjoining offices in the Victoria Arcade after Jones returned from the war, 'drifting into a partnership' as Palmer later recalled. As the son of an engineer, Jones excelled in draughting, while Palmer drew up the specifications. Palmer had been born on Norfolk Island into a missionary family and through these connections he obtained a number of ecclesiastical, and related commissions. These included the conversion of the 1840s Melanesian Mission building at Mission Bay into a museum, as well as the construction of the City Mission in Grey's Avenue, Auckland and the Williams Memorial Church in Paihia. He was also responsible for Mt Roskill Fire Station and several residences. Jones helped with the design of several of these buildings and also worked on projects on his own account, including four houses in Victoria Avenue, Auckland. The partnership foundered during the Depression, after which Jones took up employment with the Ministry of Works.

Name

Jones & Palmer

Type

Architectural Partnership

Biography

No biography is currently available for this construction professional

Name

Liddle & Sons

Type

Builder

Construction Details

Description

Site of first church and creation of churchyard

Finish Year

1828

Start Year

1826

Type

Other

Description

Site of second church

Finish Year

1856

Start Year

1855

Type

Other

Description

Site of third church

Finish Year

1874

Start Year

1873

Type

Other

Description

Foundation stone laid 17 March 1925.

Finish Year

1926

Start Year

1925

Type

Original Construction

Notable Features

Registration covers the church, its fixtures and finishes. It also includes recent modifications as well as the churchyard and all associated structures, such as fences, gravestones, markers and other memorials. The church and churchyard are associated with extensive archaeological deposits, including burials and the potential remains of earlier, nineteenth-century churches.

Reference

Completion Date

7th July 2002

Report Written By

Martin Jones

Information Sources

Auckland Star

Auckland Weekly News

Boese, 1977

Kay Boese, 'Tides of History: Bay of Islands County', Whangarei, 1977

Evening Post

Evening Post, 27 Jun 1919, p.7.

Pickmere, 2000

Nancy Pickmere, The Story of Paihia, Kerikeri, 2000

Reynolds, 1990

David Reynolds, 'Proposal to Erect a Church Hall in the Burial Ground, Church of St John the Apostle', NZHPT Auckland Regional Office Report, Auckland, 1990 (held by NZHPT, Auckland)

Ross, 1967 (4)

R. M. Ross, 'Church (Anglican), Taumarere', unpublished ms., Auckland, 1967 (held by NZHPT, Auckland)

Thomson, 1988

William Thomson, 'The Historic Churchyard Cemetery of the Williams Memorial Church of St Paul, Paihia', NZHPT Northland Regional Committee Report, Opua, 1988 (held by NZHPT, Auckland)

Report Written By

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.

Further Information

Current Usages

Uses: Funerary Sites

Specific Usage: Cemetery/Graveyard/Burial Ground

Uses: Religion

Specific Usage: Church

Uses: Religion

Specific Usage: Churchyard