Appendix B: Conservation Plan
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Appendix B CONSERVATION PLAN AS LODGED Conservation plan All Saints’, Palmerston North Revised February 2018 IAN BOWMAN Architect and conservator Contents 1 Introduction 4 1.1 Background to the plan 4 1.2 Methodology for the plan 4 1.3 Photographic sources 4 1.4 Copyright 5 1.5 Contributors to the plan 5 1.6 Scope and limitations 5 1.7 Heritage status and legal description 5 1.8 Acknowledgements 5 2 History of the place 6 2.1 History of the church 6 2.2 Chronology of events 8 2.3 People and organisations associated with the buildings 9 3 Describing the place 14 3.1 Architecture 14 3.2 Schedule of spaces and fabric 18 3.3 Materials used in the building 18 4 Assessing the place 19 4.1 Significance assessment 19 4.2 Summary statement of heritage significance 22 4.3 Degree of significance 23 5 Conservation issues 27 5.1 Influences on conservation policy 27 5.2 Threats to heritage values 34 6 Managing the place 37 6.1 Policies and priorities 37 Bibliography 46 Published 46 Unpublished 49 Websites 49 Appendix 1 50 ICOMOS New Zealand Charter for the Conservation of Places of Cultural Heritage Value Revised 2010 50 2 Appendix 2 57 Detailed schedule of spaces and fabric 57 Exterior 57 Interior 60 Appendix 3 64 Criteria for assessment of heritage values 64 Appendix 4 66 Ranking heritage values and significance 66 Appendix 5 69 History of building materials used 69 Appendix 6 73 Contemporary architectural styles - the New Zealand scene 73 3 Conservation Plan • All Saints, Palmerston North 1 Introduction This revision of the 2008 Conservation Plan was commissioned by the All Saints’ Church Building Advisory Board. 1.1 Background to the plan A conservation plan is a guide to the long term care of a heritage place by owners, managers and users; in particular it acts to ensure that the heritage values associated with these places are maintained or, where warranted, enhanced. Within such plans the conservation policies and actions recommended relate to the established range and extent of heritage values identified, and are determined through an assessment of the degree of potential threat to those values. Their selection is also informed by the ICOMOS New Zealand Charter for the Conservation of Places of Heritage Value, which outlines appropriate principles to assist owners, managers and heritage professionals to conserve and manage heritage places throughout New Zealand. (ICOMOS, Charter for the Conservation of Places of Cultural Heritage Value, 2010) 1.2 Methodology for the plan This Conservation Plan aligns with the methodology described in J.S. Kerr's The Conservation Plan; A Guide to the Preparation of Conservation Plans for Places of European Cultural Significance (National Trust of Australia, 1990), but has been adapted to meet New Zealand requirements. Consistent with this guide, the plan contains the following sections: • History of the place: an outline of the physical and social history and significant people or organisations associated with the building and setting; • Describing the place: a summary of relevant place related information associated with the building (e.g. legal description, land area, controlling authorities, zoning) as well as a description of its development, construction, materials and setting; • Assessing the place: an assessment of the heritage values and degree of significance attributable to the building and setting based on the criteria within the Heritage New Zealand (HNZ) Sustainable Management of Historic Heritage Guidance Information Sheet 2, 2007; • Conservation considerations: an outline of the key legislative/non- legislative requirements and potential threats that have a bearing on the future management of the building; • Managing the place: a description of policies and prioritized actions to guide future management and conservation of the building in a way that respects and retains its assessed heritage values. 1.3 Photographic sources The author took contemporary photographs. The sources of other photographs are identified under each photo. 4 1.4 Copyright This plan is the copyright of Ian Bowman, architect and conservator. 1.5 Contributors to the plan Comments on the 2008 plan were made by Brent Costley, member of the Church Building Advisory Board and long-time parishioner of All Saints’ and these comments have informed this current plan. The sections on the social history and the list of significant parishioners was written by Mike Chilton, Development Consultant to All Saints’ and are incorporated from the 2008 plan. Ian Bowman, architect and conservator, compiled and wrote the remainder of the plan. 1.6 Scope and limitations This plan is not a structural or fire safety survey and does not address specific issues of Building Act compliance. No condition report was commissioned with this conservation plan. Assessments of fabric and spaces are visual only and from the ground and all easily accessible locations. 1.7 Heritage status and legal description All Saints’ was included on Heritage New Zealand’s New Zealand Heritage List/Rarangi Korero, category 1, list number 191 on 16 November 1989. The church is listed on the Palmerston North District Plan, listed in Appendix 17A “Schedule of Buildings and Objects of Cultural heritage Value, Category 1”, as “All Saints’ Church, 344-348 Church Street, Palmerston North, legal description Pt Sec 838 Town of Palmerston North. 1.8 Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the assistance of David Chapple and Vince Neall. 5 Conservation Plan • All Saints, Palmerston North 2 History of the place 2.1 History of the church1 In 1872, the first Anglican service in Palmerston North was held in a sawmill. Regular services for the Anglican pioneer families were then held in the Courthouse, on alternate Sundays with Presbyterians. In 1875 Bishop Octavius Hadfield (1814-1904) purchased bush-covered section 838, Palmerston North for use by the Anglican Church. That same year, the foundation stone for the first church, a simple wooden structure, “1875, First Anglican Church erected in Palmerston had been laid by Sunday School North”, C96 Churches, Palmerston North Library teacher Mrs G M Snelson. The building was constructed by Meyricj, Perrin and Oakley, builders. The Rev. Henry Bevis was the priest in charge of the district, which extended from the Rangitikei River to the Manawatu River. Land was purchased next to the church and a vicarage was built. The arrival of full-time vicar Reverend John Lloyd Keating boosted attendance and by 1881 the parishioners began considering a new church. On 1 December, 1881, a foundation-laying ceremony was held for the church, which was designed by Mr E Larcomb. It “consisted of a nave about thirty feet wide by fifty-six feet long, the chancel being formed by the old church.”.2. In 1891 the church was enlarged to accommodate a growing congregation, and again in 1901 when a south aisle was added with space for an extra 90 seats. By 1904 the church required substantial maintenance and the parish agreed that a new church was “1910, The Borough Council Offices and All Saints necessary. Anglican Church”, C42 Churches, Palmerston In 1905, determined that the parish North Library should have 'a brick church really worthy of being the House of God', Archdeacon C. Coleridge Harper commissioned the architect of the Anglican diocese Frederick de Jersey Clere to 1 from NZ Historic Places Trust field record form 2 Dent., Rev. G W, A Short History of the Parochial District of All Saints Palmerston North, J M Dent and Sons, London, 1928, 12. 6 complete plans for a new church. Clere's initial design for the brick church was rejected as it provided less seating than required and incorporated elements better suited to a timber church. Yet the desire for a new church remained and in 1910 the site was prepared for the new building by moving the much enlarged 1881 timber church to the rear of the property. In 1913, amid growing concern that the nearby Grand Hotel Original plans by Clere, page 20 Palmerston North Library (1906) overshadowed the church, Clere was commissioned to complete a new design for the building. Archdeacon Harper declared the plans were suitable, amongst other things, for the “tower will rise several feet above the top of the Grand Hotel tower”. Contributions for the construction of the church were slow and it wasn’t until Revd. Rosher assisted by Vicar’s Warden E H Morrah, a bank manager, and secretary of the Building Committee galvanised the parish into seriously raising funds, that the possibility of actually constructing the church became a possibility. Stalls, plays, and donations brought forth money, but the most successful idea for raising funds was by buying a brick for Mr Harry White, page 37 a shilling. Palmerston North Library Tenders were called in December 1912, and a tender of £7,800 was accepted in February, 1913. The foundation stone was laid on 1 November, 1913 by the Right Rev. Thomas Henry Sprott, Bishop of Wellington with many others in attendance including James Nash, Mayor of the Borough of Palmerston North. The successful tenderer was John Henry Meyer who began construction on the new All Saints' building in February 1913. Harry White was selected by the contractor to construct the tower. The symmetrically designed interior allowed 7 Conservation Plan • All Saints, Palmerston North seating for up to 950 people and incorporated a small chapel and baptistery. On May 6 1916 the church was dedicated by the Bishop and was finally consecrated on 29 October, 1916. In 1926 the church spent £600 on the organ3 In 1936 the church weathered a cyclonic storm with little damage, although St Columba’s in Linton suffered extensive damage. In 1939 the Sanctuary was furnished with the stone altar designed and carved by Mr Guernsey, whose studio was in Christchurch.