All Saints progress urgent

It is in the nature of a front door to be at the front of a building. There will be a body of academic research that backs up what instinctively makes sense. If you can’t see the way in to a building, you won’t go looking for it.

And you won’t go in.

That point of principle has recently emerged as a sticking point between Palmerston North’s All Saints parish and Heritage New Zealand.

It raises the possibility Heritage NZ could withhold its blessing for $7 million worth of plans to strengthen and enhance the century-old brick building and reopen it to the congregation and the general public.

Its concern is that the new entrance involves demolition of the baptistry wall, a small but central part of the front facade.

So where does it think the main door to All Saints church should be?

Somewhere around the south side, tucked away off the street, exposed to winds that can be even more cutting than the prevailing westerly, has been suggested.

So has the western end of the front, where the porch is too narrow to allow pall-bearers carrying a casket to pass through, and which is probably unsafe as a principal fire exit.

All Saints parish has already considered and rejected and is refusing to revisit those options.

Its plan seeks to overcome the age-old problem of there being no covered area for churchgoers and other church users to congregate outside the building by constructing a new, glazed gathering space extending out to the footpath.

The baptistry wall would have to go to create the main entry to the church proper, its stained glass windows relocated, and the font moved to a more central location.

Passersby would be able to see straight through the church to the memorial east window.

It is a plan the city council has decided to support to the tune of $300,000, although its advocacy as well as this gesture of support might yet be needed. Priest and fundraiser John Hornblow has spoken about his frustration with Heritage NZ’S latest stance.

The parish has already bowed to its advice in designing its plans for the historic, earthquakeprone building.

It threw out the idea of some sort of brick extension – the current wisdom is where new is added to old, there should be no attempt at imitation,.

It withdrew plans criticised by Heritage NZ and public alike that would wrap an ultra-modern construction around the front of the building.

There was a feeling that with the latest re-design leaving the tower standing unencumbered, its appearance from The Square retained, that the plans were on the last stretch.

Somewhat bewildered, the parish is refusing to invest more time and money carrying out Heritage NZ’S latest bidding.

As Hornblow says, if the church cannot create an entrance and a space that helps it fulfil its mission, there is no point in spending up to $7m on it. A church is not a building.

Not unless it works.

One thing Hornblow has suggested the parish could do, but does not want to do, is walk away from the project and find a building that could be a contemporary and living church.

That would leave the historic building at the mercy of whoever could afford to make it safe.

Hornblow said it would be a travesty to see it become a museum piece like Old St Paul’s in Wellington – preserved, but no longer a church with a religious purpose.

The last thing Palmerston North needs is a stalemate, while deterioration of the closed-up building is allowed to continue.

There is no need for the city to allow its church saga to go the same way as the 7-year tussle over what to do with Christchurch’s wrecked cathedral.

The Manawatu¯ earthquake hasn’t even happened here yet.

But still, it threatens the future of a rare treasure in Palmerston North’s collection of buildings worthy of heritage recognition.

END NOTE:

Two interesting, if slightly secondary matters, arose during the hospital nurses’ strike last week.

Firstly, visitors to Palmerston North Hospital were allowed to park free of charge in the hospital grounds.

This was some sort of goodwill gesture toward family members and volunteers who helped keep patients comfortable and supported while striking nurses took their demands for safer staffing and better pay to the streets.

And secondly, there was parking available in the streets around the hospital. It begs the question of whether a hospital and its neighbourhood would function so much better if it wasn’t for the patients and staff that are its reason for being.

If the church cannot create an entrance and a space that helps it fulfil its mission, there is no point in spending up to $7m on it.