Rebuilt church ready for Xmas
For the first time since the earthquakes, the congregation of the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church will celebrate Christmas under their own roof.
The central Christchurch congregation has spent five years and
$8.5 million planning and rebuilding, following the collapse of their historic church in the February 2011 earthquake.
As midnight on Christmas Day they will gather for their first service in the new building, which is opposite the Avon River at the corner of Oxford Tce and Madras St.
Minister Chris Chamberlain said they were ‘‘delighted that the project has been delivered in time for Christmas, on budget and without too many hiccups’’.
‘‘It is nothing like the old one – we loved it, but it was quite restrictive for a contemporary seven-daya-week church operation,’’ Chamberlain said.
The new building incorporates parts of the 130-year-old church that they managed to salvage and re-use, including the 1891 pipe organ, Oamaru stone columns, and timber.
The church has a high roof and an exposed timber ceiling with hexagonal detailing and a large spectacular skylight in the shape of a cross.
A full-height window has views of the city centre.
The new facility includes the main church, which doubles as a
250-seat auditorium, a chapel, meeting spaces, a cafe and offices.
After a long planning process, it took about 12 months to build. In the meantime, the church used portable buildings on the site.
The project was funded by $7m in insurance payouts, supplemented by internal fundraising and a mortgage.
The previous church on the site was a grand brick building that sat behind tall pillars. It collapsed on February 22, 2011, after being severely weakened in the September 2010 quake.
"It is nothing like the old one – we loved it, but it was quite restrictive for a contemporary seven-day-a-week church operation."
Minister Chris Chamberlain
When the rubble was cleared, the land became the first site of the city’s 185 white chairs earthquake memorial, representing each person who died in the February 2011 quake. The memorial is now several blocks south.