B.
Benjamin Mountfort's birthday
Behind the scenes
Benjamin Mountfort was born today in 1825.
We are fortunate to be the custodians of a watercolour by Mountfort himself of one of his most exquisite churches
Benjamin Mountfort Holy Trinity Church, Avonside. Watercolour
Collection of the Church of the Most Holy Trinity, Anglican Parish of Avonside
On 29 October 1874 the foundation stone was laid, as described here in The Star.
Star , Issue 2073, 29 October 1874, page 3
And we all know what happened on 22 February 2011.
The church has now been demolished and the site has been cleared.
Interior of Holy Trinity Church, photographed 27 February 2011. Reproduced with kind permission of the Parish Administrator, Holy Trinity Anglican Church.
Related
Collection
Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Sadly demolished due to damage sustained by the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, Holy Trinity Church was one of architect Benjamin Mountfort’s most accomplished designs. To complement the church, Mountfort also designed all the interior fittings and furniture. Completed more than twenty years after he arrived in the colony, the Holy Trinity Church was the first church Mountfort was able to design using stone. Mountfort trained in England under the notable Gothic Revival architect Richard Carpenter, and his Revival style suited the Canterbury Association’s ambition to transplant English culture in the colony. Some of his buildings in Ōtautahi / Christchurch were demolished over the years, and the earthquakes of 2011 also took their toll, but Canterbury Museum, the Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings and Trinity Congregational Church survived – with the last two currently undergoing major restoration and strengthening projects.
(Pickaxes and shovels, 17 February – 5 August 2018)