1864 Church Rediscovered

Long forgotten and misreported as having been demolished in the subsequent history of Christchurch is an 1864 church on Manchester Street.

In 1862 the Congregational Society purchased a site for their proposed church at the corner of Worcester and Manchester Streets. Designed by Samuel Coleridge Farr (1827–1918), the Province's first architect, a chapel was constructed of Oamaru stone in 1864 on the Southern part of the Manchester Street frontage.


In 1874 the adjoining Trinity Congregational Church was built on the corner of Worcester and Manchester Streets to a design in the Gothic Revival style by Benjamin Mountfort.


The old chapel then served as the Society's school, with another storey in mismatching stone added after 1902. The building and the adjoining church were sold to the State Insurance Company in 1973.