COATES CHURCH

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 161, 10 July 1945, Page 4

COATES CHURCH

NATIONAL MEMORIAL FEATURES OF BUILDING After months of planning it is expected that an early start will be made by the Government on the building of the national church at Matakohe in memory of the late Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, a former Prime Minister of New Zealand. Since the exterior design and sketch plans were considered and approved by Cabinet last year, complete working drawings have been prepared by the Auckland architects, H. L. Massey and partners, and tenders for the work are now being called. The church will be inter-denomi-national and will have seating accommodation for a congregation of a hundred. It will stand on an elevated site overlooking the main highway, and will be adjacent to the -district cemetery, which will be concerted into, a cemetery park by -placing all 5 the tombstones as flat slabs on the ground.^ With dark purple burnt brick walls the church will have an autumn tinted tiled roof of tiles specially burnt at Taumarunui to tone with the brick work. The walls will be 12ft high, and the height of the building to the top of the gable will be 271't. An outstanding feature, a square brick tower, will rise to 32ft, on top of which will be a copper-sheathed spire tapering to a pinnacle at 52ft. ,In the entrance porch will be a circular memorial window, 3ft in diameter, of stained t glass, underneath which will be a memorial plaque, probably of carved stone. The entrance doors will be surrounded by mouldings of pre-cast stone.

Of rural English design, the church will have the main trusses exposed inside, and all the woodwork will be of New Zealand timbers, finished to show to advantage the natural grain. The bosses to the trusses will have carvings of Maori ornaments, and the ends of the pews and the pulpit will also be carved •in Maori style. The plastered walls will be tinted a warm parchment shade. All windows will be leaded, and the three chancel windows, of which one will be high above the altar, will be of tinted glass, the high window being of rose colour.

In dimensions the church will be 73ft long, with a maximum width of 35ft, while the nave will be 50ft by 21ft. The chancel will be at the eastern end and the entrance at the western end, while at one side will be a small vestry. Large piers will enhance the appearance of the entrance gates.

The location of the old church, 60 yards distant, will be permanently marked by the placing of a commemoration tablet.