Magnificent Chapel At Holy Name Seminary

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30054, 12 February 1963, Page 15

Magnificent Chapel At Holy Name Seminary

The oldest and the newest forms of ecclesiastical architecture have oeen blended to make the new chapel of the Holy Name Seminary one jf the most striking built in Christchurch in recent years. Outside, the motif of the seminary shines in glass mosaic specially executed in Italy. It is surrounded by pillars and an arch of Roman Doric order with frieze and entablature.

Inside, the altar of white Sicilian marble is of arrest - mg contemporary design and these ultra-modern lines are reflected in the baldachino 'canopy) fashioned of stainless steel in cart-wheel shape with fluorescent lighting built into the spokes. Some materials in this chapel come from many countries but most are from Christchurch and the craftsmen were all engaged locally. Seldom these days can such skills in design and workmanship be given full rein and everyone on this job has risen to the occasion. £ 200.000 Contract The Roman Catholic Archbishop and Metropolitan of New Zealand 'Archbishop McKeefry» will consecrate the chapel and massive extensions to the seminary—together costing more than £200.000, on Sunday. March 3. The seminary will then be able to take 150 students. Although comparatively small, the chapel gives the appearance of lofty proportions. Soaring portal frames support a pitched ceiling totally covered in blue glass mosaic from Italy. The bricks which line the walls—9o,ooo of them—were specially made and. fired in Christchurch and then sawn on the exposed surface to reveal a lustrous buff texture achieved by special clays. There are 16 tall but narrow stained-glass windows

made in Melbourne, each bearing a motif highlighting some aspect erf Christian doctrine, and their tops are rounded. To accommodate each window arch, about two dozen gauged bricks were all hand made. Between each set of windows there are chaste stainless steel sconces for candles at each station of the cross, a red cross inlaid m white marble, and a beautiful relief depicting the significance of each resting place on the path to Calvary. Other commanding features of the chapel are four figures of saints beautifully carved in wood at Oberammergau in Bavaria. The Sanctuary Yet the simplicity of the sanctuary domdnaites all else in the chapel. Its rear wall is apsidal (curved in a half circle) and white marble steps surround the altar in a complete circle. The whiteness of the altar stands in crystalline relief on a parquet floor of basket-weave pattern red gum. The floor of the chapel proper is also parquet—New Zealand beech blocks laid in herring-bone pattern over concrete in which are laid hot-water pipes for heating. The pews are of sapeli mahogany. The priests' and working

sacristies are also examples of fine planning from the slim vestment cabinets in the former to the semi-circu-

lar stainless-steel flower -preparation bench in the latter. Above the entrance to the chapel is a choir gallery and organ loft. Huge Bedroom Wing

The chapel is a key but small part of the whole contract. The new bedroom wing is one of the biggest buildings put up in Christchurch last year. On two floors .it has 98 senior students’ bedrooms which any young man would be happy to have. Each has a free-standing bed but the rest of the furniture is all built in a wardrobe with roomy hanging space and slides for body linen, a desk with bookshelves and reading lamp, a stainless steel basin and bench unit with a single tap delivering water at a pre-determined temperature, and electric shaving socket. Another novelty is wall skirting of black plastic rolled on from a strip and curved on to the floor to save awkward comers. Ceilings are all acoustic tile for quietness in study. There are also suites for the professors. Service Rooms The residents are also admirably supplied with service rooms. The infirmary unit has a private clinic, two sick rooms (with night lights in the skirtings), gaily-tiled ablution unit, and special attention to ventilation. The main ablution block has thermostatically-control-led showers and many stain-less-steel fittings. This can be readily reached from the bedrooms or from the playing fields through changing rooms with other rooms nearby in which to clean muddy sports gear, dry clothes on heated pipe racks, and store boots in individual lockers. The students will have a very spacious common room with its own stainless-steel kitchen corner for teas and suppers and concealed space housing a motion-picture projector and recorded music equipment. The extensions also include two large assembly halls which can be divided by folding doors into four lecture theatres. Precast Concrete The whole of these brickfaced extensions are in reinforced precast concrete, raised in slabs weighing over five tons. The architects are Messrs Collins and Sons (Mr J. G. Collins designed major extensions to the former Kincaid homestead in Riccarton road in 1849 and his son, Mr J. K. Collins, planned the present contract); the structural engineers were Messrs Royds and Sutherland; and Mair.donald and Associates were the services engineers. The Fletcher Construction Company built the chapel, bedroom wing, and other extensions. In the Holy Name Seminary, students have three years intensive training in scholastic philosophy and then transfer to Mosgiel for four years of theological studies in preparation for the priesthood.