St Mary of the Angels on Boulcott St. is a particularly striking example of the Gothic revival architecture that can be found around Wellington City. The church is the third to be built on the site after it was damaged by fire near to the end of the 19th Century. Its design being a product of Wellington architect Frederick de Jersey Clere who favoured this Gothic style.
The architects partiality to concrete construction is celebrated here in that most of the building is reinforced concrete, giving it unique character unlike any other ecclesiastical construction of revival style found on Wellington.
It is of no surprise that St Mary and the others specimens found in the city were designed in Gothic revival style. A style which gained favour steadily throughout the 19th Century and came to be symbolic of Christianity and its ideals because it was regarded as pure design. God’s true design. Values which Augustus Welby Pugin held in high regard and advocated in his extensive writings on Gothic architecture and design (Clark, 1928).
He believed the style, associated with the Arts and Crafts movement, to be of form true to function. He believed in its honesty. He was enthused by its application of structure as aesthetic, it told no lies. Why not celebrate the screws and bolts and hinges which remained integral structural elements? To Pugin, beauty lay in the skeleton of a building, a concept which became the very foundation of his reformed Gothic style. And it was Pugin who was responsible for bringing the rationality and strict principles of Neo-Classicism to Gothic revival (Clark, 1928).
Gothic attributes are plenty and easily identifiable on the exterior of St Mary of the Angels. First and foremost are the abundance of Ogival arches. These pointed arches adhere to strict mathematical equations. They are structurally fundamental and load bearing but also aim to add height to the building. Fluted turrets also frame the church and contribute height. Loftiness and elegance both being important powerful characteristics of Gothic revival architecture making it distinct from other styles. This value of height is clearly associated with proximity to God (Rosemary, 2001).
Reference list
Clark, K. (1928). Churches. In J. Piper & J. Betjeman (Eds.), The Gothic Revival (pp. 123-145). London, England: Constable and Company Ltd.
Clark, K. (1928). Pugin. In J. Piper & J. Betjeman (Eds.), The Gothic Revival (pp. 164-204). London, England: Constable and Company Ltd.
Rosemary, H. (2007). The professor of ecclesiastical antiquities. God’s architect: Pugin and the building of romantic Britain. (pp. 243-258). London, England: Allen Lane.
History of St Mary of the Angels. Retrieved from http://www.smoa.org.nz/about/history.php
Images retrieved from http://www.smoa.org.nz/gallery/building.php
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