DSDN 171 Blog 5 Locovisual

St Mary of the Angels is a Catholic Church located in the corner of Boulcott Street and Willis Street in Wellington central. It is a typical neo-Gothic style church. This is a historic place designed by British architect Frederick DE Jersey Clere in 1922. Around that time (in the early 19th century), Frederick de Jersey Clere was influenced by Gothic Revival style lead his best known design of his architecture design is St Mary of the Angels for Catholic church after he emigrated from UK to New Zealand.

The strong sense of vertical French Gothic style (Kernohan, 1994) church gave up the idiomatic wood structure and used concrete as the modern building material. The design adopts a reinforced concrete material the first reason is the 1874 St Mary of Angels Church was destroyed by fire because of wood structure in 1918. "St Mary of the Angels is believed to be the world's first neo-Gothic church built using reinforced concrete construction." (Enduring Concrete Award 2010:  St Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street in Wellington, 2010) It is the reasons of the St Mary of the Angels Church to receive the Enduring Concrete Award for 2010. The appearances of the majestic St Mary of the Angels collect the main features of Gothic such as the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress.

St Mary of the Angels is classified as the New Zealand Historic Places Trust gives a “Category I” status to places of special or outstanding historical or cultural heritage significance or value, historic place. (St Mary of the Angels, Wellington, 2012) Maintain such memorial significance as the Catholic Church itself is to its history of protection and development.

All photos are from the gallery of http://www.smoa.org.nz/

References:

Enduring Concrete Award 2010: St Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street in Wellington. (2010). Retrieved Jun 1 2012 from http://www.smoa.org.nz/about/concrete-award.php

Kernohan, D. (1994). Wellington's old buildings. Wellington, Victoria University Press.

St Mary of the Angels, Wellington. (2012). Retrieved Jun 1 2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mary_of_the_Angels,_Wellington