Life after death for disused church
An historic board and batten church for sale in South Taranaki has attracted a frenzy of interest as the deadline for tender offers draws close.
The St John the Divine Anglican Church, at Otakeho, near Manaia, was built for £500 in 1894 but is likely to exceed its $74,000 rateable valuation.
Viv Scott, of McDonalds Real Estate, Opunake, said the three open ‘‘homes’’ had attracted a steady line of would-be buyers and curious onlookers.
‘‘Every time the phone has gone in the office it has been an inquiry about the church,’’ Scott said.
Scott sold two previous churches, which became a second hand store and a wedding venue.
‘‘I’ve sent out about 20 tender documents, and we have more than 100 attend the open homes but that is not to say all of those are going to put in an offer,’’ Scott said.
A final open home yesterday before tenders close this coming Thursday attracted a number of people who believed the category 2 historic church could be used as wedding venue, or extra family accommodation, either on the present site or elsewhere in Taranaki.
Minor repairs would be required to brace a wall which had slipped off the piles if the building was located elsewhere, an engineer’s
report showed.
Marriage celebrant Herman Visagie and Cameron Curd were keen to use the steeped pitched gable roof and rimu interior building as a wedding venue and living area.
‘‘We’ve been looking at old buildings, such as churches and dairy factories which are unused, to live in,’’ he said.
‘‘These buildings have such a good feel about them, they have a lot of energy.
‘‘We would keep the shape as it would just be a beautiful place to live in.’’
The church, beside Surf Highway 45, is the oldest on the Waimate Plains, and contained several memorials dedicated to local families, notably le Fleming, and Young, who had farmed the district.
Some of the memorials included an organ donated in 1916, a stained glass window, a baptismal font, a lectern, and a framed poem dedicated to the church by Sam Hunt, are among the excluded chattels, which may remain with the new owners, Scott said.
There was also a war memorial board dedicated to those from the district who lost their lives in both World Wars, a coat of arms, bell, a carved wooden hymn board and a memorial gate. St John the Divine was deconsecrated on November 26, 2017.