page_title: Francis Petre
section_title: 1904 Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch
hierarchical_section_title: Francis Petre / Cathedrals / 1904 Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch
caption_attribution_description: English: St. Patrick's Basilica, Oamaru, Otago, New Zealand.
context_page_description: Francis William Petre, sometimes known as Frank Petre, was a New Zealand-born architect based in Dunedin. He was an able exponent of the Gothic revival style, one of its best practitioners in New Zealand. He followed the Roman Church's initiative to build Catholic places of worship in Anglo-Saxon countries in Romance forms of architecture. Despite these constraints his buildings reveal him as an artist.
  Able to work competently in a wide diversity of architectural styles, he was also notable for his pioneering work in concrete development and construction. He designed numerous public and private buildings, many of which are still standing in and around Dunedin. His outstanding buildings are a few of his churches and seminaries, the basis of his international reputation.
context_section_description: Of all Petre's many designs, the most outstanding is usually considered to be the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch, commonly known as the Christchurch Basilica. Commenced in 1901, it replaced a smaller wooden church designed by Benjamin Mountfort that had been in use since 1864. The cathedral was officially opened on 12 February 1905, a mere four years after construction began. The building, said by some to be based on the 19th-century Church of Vincent-de-Paul in Paris, has been held to be the finest renaissance style building in Australasia.
  Forsaking Mountfort's 19th-century Gothic, Petre designed the new church in a Renaissance, Italian basilica style, albeit with one major exception. Ignoring Renaissance convention, Petre obtained a greater visual impact by siting the Italianate green copper-roofed dome not above the crossing (as in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome), but directly above the sanctuary. In Petre's opinion, this design element, coupled with the Byzantine apse, added extra grandeur and theatre to the high altar set in the tribune. The nave and chancel roofs were supported by colonnades of ionic columns and the entrance facade of the cathedral was flanked by twin towers in the manner of many of Europe's great renaissance churches.
  While often likened to St. Paul's Cathedral in London, it is conceivable that the greatest influence behind this great structure was Benoit Haffreingue. During Petre's formative years studying under Haffreingue in France, Haffreingue had been the driving force of the reconstruction of the Basilica of Notre-Dame in Boulogne-sur-Mer, a French cathedral that has a very similar plan to that of The Blessed Sacrament, including the controversial siting of the dome over the altar rather than the centre of the cathedral.
  The cathedral, constructed of concrete sheathed in Oamaru limestone, was widely acclaimed, causing the famous author George Bernard Shaw to describe Petre as a "New Zealand Brunelleschi". Fifty men were employed on the site, and in excess of 120,000 cubic ft (3400 m³) of stone, 4000 cubic ft (110 m³) of concrete, and 90 tons of steel were used in the construction. Problems with finding suitable stone for the construction of such a large structure caused financial difficulties during the construction, and a special bill was pushed through parliament by then Premier Richard Seddon to aid with the financing of the building. The total cost to the Roman Catholic diocese was £52,000.
  After sustaining minor damage in the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, the cathedral was seriously damaged by the February 2011 earthquake. Both bell towers collapsed and the main dome was destabilised. The upper parts of the cathedral are being dismantled, and the main dome has been removed. In August 2019, there is well founded and widespread speculation that the cathedral would have to be demolished as complete renovation would too costly, and partial renovation would leave the building “not fit for purpose.”
caption: St. Patrick's Basilica, Oamaru, crossing and main dome interior.
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