What it is
The first church on the hill dates from 1851, designed by Frederick Thatcher, and was named Christ Church Cathedral in 1866. Work on the present building began in 1925 and stretched over four decades: it was dedicated in 1932, completed in 1965 and consecrated in 1972. Marble from the Pakikiruna Range near Tākaka was planned for solid blocks, but after the 1929 Murchison earthquake it was instead ground and mixed into the plaster.
The building, in a modernist take on Gothic Revival, is 58 metres long with a 35-metre tower and seats about 350. The granite steps, quarried at Tonga Beach in Tasman Bay, lead up from the head of Trafalgar Street through the Church Hill reserve.
Getting there by bus
Route 1 (Richmond - Nelson via Waimea Road) stops at Selwyn Place Opposite Cathedral Steps (stop 5020), about 100 metres from the cathedral, at the foot of the steps. Route 1 and the Late Late Bus (8) also stop at Selwyn Place opposite McDonalds (stop 1099), about 220 metres away.
Routes 1 and 4 (The Brook - Airport) stop on Collingwood Street (stops 1226 and 1098), about 270 to 290 metres away, and routes 5 (Motueka - Nelson) and 6 (Wakefield - Nelson) at 84 Rutherford Street (stop 5026), about 350 metres away.
