CATHEDRAL DESIGN.!

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20276, 10 April 1934, Page 11

CATHEDRAL DESIGN.!

Work of New Zealand Architect. “ ECCLESIASTICAL GEM." The architect responsible for the design of the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Barba does Street a work highly praised by Air G. B. Shaw—was Mr F. YV. Petre. He also drew the plans for the Roman Cat hoi .v Cathedral in Dunedin and the Basilica in Wellington. Air Petre died some years ago. Ecclesiastical and other authorities in the citv applaud Air Shaw s discrimination in selecting the Catholic Cathedral as an outstanding feature of New Zealand architecture. It has. in fact, been called “ the ecclesiastical gem of the Southern Hemisphere,” though a -correspondent recently said that “ it was not worth photographing.” A daughter of the late Air Petre, Aliss Gertrude M. Petre, who is in business in the city, yesterday expressed her thanks to Mr Shaw for his remarks. It was verv pleasant, she said, to think that her father’s work was being appreciated. He, himself, had always regarded the Basilica in Wellington as being his best piece of work, but he had been very pleased with the Cathedral in Christchurch. Intended for the Sea. Air Petre, who died in 1918 at the age of seventy-three, was a New Zealander, having been born in Wellington in 1845, but was a member of a noble English family. His father, the Hon Henry Petre, was the second son of Lord Petre of Writtle. Essex. At the age of seven years Air Petre was taken to England and received his education and early training in that country. At first he was intended for the sea, and was actually working in the Bermudas shipyards for a time. He qualified then as a civil engineer and again changed his course. It was a choice between sculpture and architecture that he made, and finally gave all his attention to the latter, working under the late Air Pugin, a well-known English historical architect. Thus he came to New Zealand sixty years ago and set up as an architect in Dunedin, later also having an office in Christchurch. He married a daughter of the late Air E. B. Cargill, a son of the founder of the Otago province. His widow died in Christchurch last year, but his six sons and seven daughters are all living, though widely scattered throughout the world—and not one of them is an architect. Work of His Design. The late Air Petre early in his career achieved success, and verv little of his time was given to the smaller creations, though there are a number of houses in this and the southern city that were the work of his planning. A typical house of his creation is the structure now known as the Student Union Building, at the corner of Hereford and Alontreal Streets. It was that halftimbered style that he favoured. He designed also the A.M.P. building in Cathedral Square and the first Alount Alagdala building. The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Barbadoes Street is a Byzantine style structure and was modelled after the style of a cathedral in France. St Paul’s Outside the Walls, in Rome, is also of similar style, it is stated. The Christchurch Catholic Cathedral was the result of many years of endeavour on the part of the late Bishop Grimes, and he called Air Petre in with the object of getting something different and original as distinct from the Gothic architectural styles mostly followed in New Zealand. The present cathedral was begun in 1901 and was opened in February, 1905. “ Architectural Purist.” “It is a remarkable building, both outside and inside,” said an architect yesterday. It was truly Byzantine in style, but its form and feature showed the originality of the designer. Miss Petre also remarked that her father was a purist in architectural styles, and had never attempted to break away from the classical in gaining originality. His library was still in her possession and many of the bocks in it were of great value from an architectural viewpoint. He had the plans and structural detail of all the famous buildings of the world, and these'were now of great interest in that many of the buildings had been destroyed during the war and by other causes.