Community future for iconic church

Community future for iconic church

After much uncertainty about the future of St Gerard’s Church and Monastery, new owners are now embarking on earthquake strengthening of the church – and are open to ideas about what the iconic buildings could be used for.

When the church was closed in 2021 and sold in 2023, Wellingtonians worried what might happen to the city’s iconic and much-photographed buildings.

But the owners say they want to ensure the buildings are preserved, and that whatever the future use may be for them, it’s likely the community of Mt Victoria and the wider city will be able to enjoy them.

The church and monastery are listed in category 1 of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga’s Historic Places, and are well-known Wellington landmarks.

A trust called St Gerard’s Limited bought the buildings in March last year.  Sean Kelly is named as the Director. 

Jason Foote is a spokesperson for the owner.

“We are very excited to be taking on the challenge of caring for St Gerard’s Church and Monastery.

“Quickly our group has developed a very strong affinity for this amazing building and its storied history.

“The motivation for buying St Gerard’s came from the desire to begin a project within New Zealand related to conservation. A suitable project had been discussed and sought for a number of years before St Gerard’s came to market and the pivot from conservation of natural history to architectural and cultural heritage occurred.” 

The group had ideas of how the community could use the space, but they believed it was too early to commit to any particular idea while the major task of seismic works remained.

“While there are endless possibilities and ideas for the building, we first must complete the major seismic improvements before any of these can be realised.

“We have a strong desire to utilise the church in such a way that it is open to the local Mt Victoria residents as well as the wider Wellington community.”

Scaffolding would go up on the city-side of the church in coming months, and the initial focus would be restoration of the damaged slate roof.

The seismic work was a ‘significant undertaking’ and would take ‘a number of years’ once underway, he said.

The eventual use for the church and monastery was not yet settled, although developing the monastery as a hotel had been ruled out.

The group said that while commercial return was on ‘some importance’ the real motivation was the ‘unique opportunity to care for and restore an iconic Wellington landmark for future generations of Wellington.’

The owners had engaged with both Heritage NZ and Heritage Wellington, who they said would be vital partners in the future works at St Gerard’s.