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Centennial Chapel

Te whare karakia iti rautau

The Dedication of our magnificent Centennial Chapel in October 2016 was a remarkable milestone in the history of St Andrew’s, as it returned the Chapel to where it belongs, at the heart of the College.

This beautiful 750-seat Chapel is used for worship, celebrations, assemblies, presentations, and special musical events, and is also home to The Village Presbyterian Church on Sunday mornings.

With its striking pitched rooflines, steel skeleton and expansive use of glass opening to the greater school campus and playing fields, the new Chapel is a thoroughly modern building.

However the past has also been remembered in the Chapel’s design, as it incorporates many features of the Memorial Chapel, which was sadly decommissioned following the Canterbury earthquake of 2011.

Original stonework, stained glass windows, oak doors, ceremonial chairs, the Book of Remembrance, bell, gargoyles, communion table and baptismal font are all sympathetically incorporated in the new building, along with around 1000 of the original bricks, which have been integrated with new bricks on the Chapel’s exterior.

A special Memorial Wall runs the full length of the Chapel on the Normans Road side, and integrates different rooms designed for special purposes.

The Centennial Chapel is a unique example of church architecture in New Zealand and its Dedication marked a momentous milestone, not only in St Andrew’s history but also in the renewal of Christchurch.

We are proud to have the Centennial Chapel recognised with the below awards:

  • New Zealand Architecture Awards 2018 John Scott Award for Public Architecture;
  • New Zealand Architecture Award for Public Architecture;
  • Canterbury Heritage Awards 2018 Future Heritage Award Winner;
  • Canterbury Architecture Awards 2018 Public Architecture Award Winner;
  • Christchurch Civic Trust Award 2017;
  • New Zealand Commercial Project Awards 2017 National Education Category Winner and Gold Award Winner;
  • NZ Interior Design Awards 2017 Winner Civic.