NATIONAL MEMORIAL CHURCH

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 307, 23 September 1944, Page 8

NATIONAL MEMORIAL CHURCH

Late Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates NEW STRUCTURE AT MATAKOHE A national memorial in the form of an inter-denominational church to the memory of the late Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates to be erected iu the Matakohe cemetery grounds, has been decided on by the Government after consultation with Mrs. Contes aud relatives and the people ot the Matakohe district. The church will replace the existing church which has served the district for 60 or 70 years, and which was the scene of the funeral cereAnnouncing this yesterday, the I rime Minister, Mr. Fraser, said the Government had entrusted preparation of Pl* ln ® to Mr. H. L. Massey, Auckland, aud had received from him a preliminary design which had met with the approval of the Government and those with whom the Government discussed the memorial. It had been simply designed to meet its character as an interdenominational church, and had the characteristics of the English village church type. A simple tower on the western end dominated the main approach, the base of this tower forming the entrance to the church. A memorial tablet would be set on the wall of the porch. It was intended to build the church iu brick, internally faced with mottled textured bricks of autumn tints, and the roof would be covered with shingles. External facings of the doors and windows would be in cast stone. Internally, the walls would be finished with tinted’plaster, with open timber roof trusses. The font would be in stone and the pulpit, reading desk and pews in timber of simple character embodying carved motifs. The chiirch would not be large, being designed to meet, the needs of the district, and the seating accommodation would be for 106 worshippers. “The church will be erected on a different site from that. occupied by the. existing church, and will be centrally situated in the Cemetery Reserve, with the approach direct from the Coates Highway,” said Mr. Fraser. “The site is prominent, and the church will be a feature of the landscape, visible for miles around. The whole of the existing cemetery and the unoccupied portion of the cemetery reserve will be replanned and lai 1 out in keeping with the new church, the approach to which will be through a memorial gateway. , „ „ “The design submitted by Mr. Massey, said the Prime Minister, “is a beautiful one, and will be a fitting memorial to one whose services to New Zealand, in peace and war. will ever be remembered. It is hoped to have the building finished m time for its dedication and opening on the second anniversary of Mr. Coates s death."