Thursday 14 March 2013
Council heritage grant for Little Akaloa church

St Luke’s Anglican Church in Little Akaloa is to be the recipient of up to $33,860 from the Christchurch City Council’s Heritage Incentive Grant Fund.

The fund can be used for maintenance and seismic upgrade work for the church which is listed as a Protected Building in the Banks Peninsula District Plan and a Category 1 building by New Zealand Historic Places Trust.

Christchurch City Council Natural Environment and Heritage Manager Helen Beaumont says the Council recognises the need to invest in heritage buildings like St Luke’s.

“This grant will help to ensure St Luke’s future, it’s protection and continued use once earthquake repairs and upgrading have been completed. The building is very much a part of the identity of Little Akaloa’s community and the Council is pleased to be able to provide funding towards a project where the building is largely in its original condition.”

The Vicar of St Luke’s, the Reverend John Major, says the people of Little Akaloa as well as visitors who holiday and travel through the area see St Luke’s as an important focal point in the community.

“The generosity of the Council’s Heritage Incentive Grant is deeply appreciated and it encourages the community of Little Akaloa in its commitment to restore and maintain their unique church and its ministry into the future. Through this grant we are able to remember the past, give life to the current community and look to the future.”

The building was damaged in the recent earthquakes and is currently being repaired and upgraded with the addition of new structural steel.

The church was constructed in 1905-06, with local farmer John Henry Menzies largely responsible for the building’s design, construction, decoration and raising the financing. The building’s design which blends European neo-gothic with internal Māori style decorative patterns and motifs is considered unusual.

The payment of this grant is subject to the applicants entering a ten year Limited Conservation Covenant with the Council to further protect the building.

For more information on Heritage Incentive Grants visit www.ccc.govt.nz/heritage

ENDS

Fact file

• St Luke’s Anglican Church is located on Chorlton Road in the settlement of Little Akaloa on Banks Peninsula.
• The building is owned by Anglican Church Property Trustees.
• John Menzies’ integration of Māori decorative forms rather than more conventional expressions of the Arts and Crafts movement was unusual. Other designers did not take this approach until the interwar period.
• The building is also an unusual design in that it is made of unreinforced concrete with a pebble dash external coating and an internal veneer of limestone.
• The attached bell tower has the same form of construction and surface finishes except for the roof which is tiled and not slate.
• John Menzies was a self-taught carver.

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