The architect was the New Zealander, Francis William Petre (1847-1918), who also designed St Joseph's Roman Catholic Cathedral in Dunedin. The design is based on old Roman basilicas, but is neo-classical in style, derived from eighteenth century French examples. Read more about it and see a 1905 photo here .

To quote from the Visitors' Guide to the Cathedral:

"This Cathedral stands today as an enduring symbol of the vision and courage of a bishop and the faith and generosity of his people. It had its beginnings in a small, wooden building, erected on this site in 1860. The land had been granted to the Church by the Provincial government and the small building; served as chapel and home for the first resident priest appointed to the Christchurch Mission. "The original Church of the Blessed Sacrament, opened in 1864 and greatly enlarged in later years, became the Pro Cathedral of the Diocese of Christchurch upon its establishment in 1887. Its First bishop, the Rt Rev John Joseph Grimes SM, dreamt of replacing the ageing, inadequate church with a Cathedral that would honour God and grace the young and growing city. At the turn of the last century that dream became a reality. "The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament is regarded as one of the finest examples of church architecture in Australasia, its architect, F W Petre, specialised in the building of churches and achieved considerable recognition in the fields both of architecture and engineering. The Cathedral so impressed George Bernard Shaw that he hailed its architect as a "New Zealand Brunelleschi" "The foundation stone of the Cathedral was laid in 1901 and the contractors, J & W Jamieson, completed the building in four years. Fifty men were employed on its construction, which required more than 120,000 cubic ft of stone, 4000 cubic ft of concrete and 90 tons of steel. The Cathedral was blessed and opened on the 12 February 1905, at a total cost of fifty, two thousand pounds. "The Cathedral is often referred to as "the Basilica". While its style is Roman Renaissance and based on that of the old Roman basilicas, it contains much that is original. Normally the dome would be sited above the junction of the nave and the transept. By placing the dome above the sanctuary the architect provided a visual climax to the interior, which is rich in movement and delightful in its simplicity. "The whole of the interior presents a harmony of spacious arcades, colonnades with their varied capitals and an interplay of gracious arches The ambulatory and gallery provide a cool special feeling and the beauty of the interior is further enhanced by the mosaic tiling in the sanctuary and ceilings of embossed zinc. "To conserve the fabric of the building, an extensive programme of cleaning and repair was undertaken in 1970. As part of the conservation project the interior was re-ordered to meet the needs of contemporary liturgy and refurbished under the directions of F Miles Warren, of Warren & Mahoney, architects of the Christchurch Town Hall."

The earthquake on 21 February 2011

At 1.15pm local time on Monday 21 February 2011 Christchurch was struck by the second earthquake within 6 months. The first had resulted in widespread damage but no deaths. The cathedral remained intact. But the second earthquake has devasted the city and resulted in at least 65 deaths. The cathedral was extensively damaged. You can see the extent of the damage [ http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/02/22/article-0-0D4EAF3F000005DC-460_964x631.jpg here<a> or in Sam Lockton's photo below. The spire on the Anglican cathedral which we climbed up in January 2006 has also gone. Many other buildings, even though they were built to withstand earthquakes, have suffered major damage. Some are flattened.

It has been reported that It would take 60 stonemasons three years to rebuild the cathedral, that the wages bill alone could be up to $40 million and that the total cost could be $100m. Faced with this prospect, the cathedral authorities are weighing up the advantages of building a new cathedral for about $40m. As well as the cost saving an advantage of a rebuild would undoubtedly be that a new building could be made more resistant to possible future earthquakes.