Taranaki Cathedral

rdf:langString Taranaki Cathedral

rdf:langString The Taranaki Cathedral, the Church of St Mary, is one of the heritage buildings in New Plymouth and the newest cathedral in the Anglican Communion. The church was designed by Frederick Thatcher, a London-trained architect, one of the first settlers arriving in New Plymouth in 1843. He came with the intention to become a farmer, but was drawn into design and civic administration. He designed St. Mary’s Church at the direction of Bishop George Selwyn. St Mary's was a parish church from 1842 to 2010 and it was consecrated as a cathedral in the Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki on 6 March that year. On 28 June 1984, the building was registered as a Category I heritage structure by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (now Heritage New Zealand), with registration number 148. The cathedral is a member of the Community of the Cross of Nails and is a centre for Peace and Reconciliation. The Cathedral was closed after a structural assessment following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. As of 2022, it was still closed. Whilst the church building is closed Sunday services continue in the Peace Hall across the road.