NEW CHAPEL AT CLAREMONT

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27875, 25 January 1956, Page 3

NEW CHAPEL AT CLAREMONT

Marist Brothers Help In Construction

FIRST ADDITION TO ST. JOSEPH’S Marist Brothers and students at St. Joseph’s Novitiate, Claremont, near Timaru, have been working long hours this summer as builders’ labourers, assisting in the construction of their new chapel in the grounds of “Claremont House,” the homestead of the former Claremont estate. Work has progressed steadily since the foundation stone was laid, at a private ceremony, early in October last year. In the four months since then the walls have reached the height of the band under the eaves, and work will soon begin on the roof.* Concrete blocks have been cast by the brothers and students, mortar mixed, and timber carried to the site to assist the contractor’s men in their work. The new chapel, which is the first addition to the property since “Claremont House” was bought by the Order in 1933, will be of concrete block construction with an Oregon roof faced with concrete tiles. The timber for the roof and floor was milled from trees behind the old homestead. The chapel will be 84ft long, by 30ft wide, and rising to 30ft at the apex. Until their chapel is built the brothers and students will continue to use the old dining room in the homestead as their chapel. The new building will seat about 120. There are four brothers at St. Joseph’s and 24 students. “Claremont House” was built by George Hampton Rhodes, who bought the estate in 1884. A Captain Tosswill first took up the property, and built one of the first cob houses in the district. He sold out to Mr J. C. McKerrow, who in turn sold to Messrs Perry and Wright. It was from them that Mr Rhodes, the son of George Rhodes of “The Levels,” bought the property. He sold it in 1908, after building “Claremont House,” one of the most substantial homes in the district at that time, and erected at a cost of £5OOO. It was built of bluestone quarried on the site, with facings of Oamaru stone, and it was roofed with slates brought out from England. Building began in 1887 and the house was completed towards the end of 1888.