The New Church of St. Mary of the Angels, Wellington

New Zealand Tablet, 30 March 1922, Page 9

The New Church of St. Mary of the Angels, Wellington

The Church of St. Mary of the Angels in Wellington has been pronounced by a high authority to be the best parish church in Australasia. This is high praise, but we do not think it too high, for it has so manj points of excellence, that their combination, in our opinion, places it the first in the highest rank. For convenience, for its acoustic properties, for its beauty of proportion, and detail, it is as nearly perfection, as anything we have seen, and the faults generally appertaining to any one style are not anywhere apparent, and yet nothing seems to be lost or missing.

Frequently the first thing that strikes a visitor on entering a Gothic church, is the large number of obtrusive pillars, which are beautiful, no doubt, in themselves, but from a congregational point of view spoil the building. his is very noticeable in the old cathedrals, especially those with central towers, where fully half their floor area is out of sight of the Altar. In St. Mary’s, Wellington, the parts lying outside the arcade are used as ambulatories, etc., and the main body of the seating is in the nave and in fully view of the altar. Acoustically, the church seems perfect, no echo and no reverberation, each note from the organ is clear and distinct, and a speaker from the sanctuary steps feels that he need make no effort to reach his most distant auditor. The site of St. Mary of the Angels is that upon which the first Catholic church in Wellington was erected, and it is the third building to occupy it, the last one being so damaged by fire, about four years ago, that it was decided to remove it. For a city edifice its position is a good one, standing, as it does, in a triangle formed by streets converging on two sides and a steep green covered cliff behind it. The general plan of the church is cruciform with nave and sanctuary and two large chapels forming the transepts, that of the Blessed Virgin being on the right and that of St. Joseph on the left. The axis of each chapel runs parallel with the nave, and, so there has been no necessity to break .the equal spacing of the nave arches. This has been a great saving in expense, and has added much to the beauty of the design and to the acoustic properties of the building. The architects have had considerable experience in concrete work and several churches built of this material are from their designs, and they have in hand at the present time, seven others, and it has always been their endeavor to express in their work the points in which concrete excells. The result is an airiness in construction which no other material (excepting, perhaps, steel) could give. Its plastic properties enables a repetition of forms to be obtained at the minimum of cost, and so a richness of surface ornament can be produced, which in these times, could not be hoped for in any other material. These points, in conjunction with an internal finish of pure white, have produced a novel effect, which makes St. Mary of the Angels without doubt an epoch-making building. The main entrance is flanked by twin towers and approached by two flights of steps, the combination making a facade distinctly Continental in character and effective to a high degree. The plan of the church consists of a porch, vestibule, and, to the right of that, a square chamber containing the staircase leading to the choir and organ gallery. A nave, thirty-three feet wide, with aisles six feet wide, parallel to it the sanctuary, two side chapels and two , large sacristies and under the southern tower the baptistery. The whole length of the church is divided into nine bays, two nearest the altar being set at an angle which produces an apsidal termination to the church. Above each arch is a series of panels, indicating the triforium of the earlier churches, and above these are the clerestory windows, perhaps the most striking feature of the building.