Sydenham Church Now Half Finished

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31588, 27 January 1968, Page 14

Sydenham Church Now Half Finished

The new Anglican Church of St Saviour, Sydenham, is already half built and it is hoped that the official opening will be on All Saints’ Day (November 3), on which day the first church in Buchan Street was opened 97 years ago.

The cost of the concrete church, at the junction of Colombo and Roxburgh Streets, will be about $BO,OOO. Seating is being provided for a congregation of about 380, and for 50 more in the foyer. Many items from the old church, including the pulpit, lectern, font, stained memorial windows, and bell, will be transferred to the new church. Most of the stained windows will be placed above the sanctuary and in the lady chapel. The bell will be hung in a tower which will rise 48 feet above the main entrance foyer on Colombo Street, to a height of 73 feet. A feature of the new church will be an $ll,OOO organ, now being assembled by a Christchurch organ builder. The organ from the

old church will be used in the chapel of the Upper Room at Christchurch College. A vestry each for the vicar and the choir will be included in the main building of the new church, to the right of the sanctuary: and on the left there will be a church office. The second phase of the building programme includes a church hall, a kindergarten, classrooms and kitchens, and will be started towards the end of the year. Its cost is estimated at about $16,000. The minister at St Saviour’s (the Rev. J. F. Ellis) said yesterday that the construction of th< hall would depend largely on the finance available. In the last eight years the parishioners themselves had raised $56,000 towards the cost of the church. Mr Ellis said that the future of the old church was not certain; it would probably be used for various church activities before being sold. The drawing by the architect (Mr J. A. Hendry) shows the church as it will look when both stages have been completed, viewed from Colombo Street.