WHAKAPAPA
Photograph: Rev. George Kirkwood, 1911.
From the Annual report of the Methodist Home Mission.
The church building is in the background.
The connection with Mere Rikiriki, links directly to the beginnings of the Rātana movement. Rikiriki had lived at Parihaka as a follower of Te Whiti and Tohu and was influential in the philosophy that underpins the Rātana faith. Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana brought his new born twins to his aunt for her to bless and she named them Te Ārepa (Alpha) and Te Ōmeka (Omega).
An article published by the Auckland Star (“A Ratana Church. The Official Opening” - Volume LVII, Issue 217, 13 September 1926, Page 10 see image on the left) on 13 September 1926, describes the opening of the Rātana Church at Raetihi. Tahupōtiki Ratana himself officiated at the ceremony, which was attended by 400. The article states that the church, originally built by the Maori Methodists, was given to the Rātana movement by Mr Gray, the owner of the land on which the building stood.
The twin towers were added to the church in 1957, with the domed roofs added in 1958 and the exterior cladding of the towers was changed to flat sheet asbestos in 1960.
The primary heritage significance of the building is based on the association of the place with the Rātana Church, and the broader social changes that the Rātana movement represents. The earlier history of the building and any other associations with the local community and other organisations such as the Wesleyans or the Anglicans, contribute further to the understanding of this place.
The oldest section of the building, the former church, is a single volume space, a simple gabled timber structure. The interior follows the form of the exterior. This section of the building is currently clad in profiled metal sheet cladding, weatherboard profile, a recent alteration.
On each side wall of the church are three lancet windows. The original timber joinery has been replaced with aluminium joinery. The earlier cladding was timber weatherboards. Examples of the timber joinery are still in place within the tower sections of the building. The interior of the church was finished in painted tongue and grooved match lining.
The building is in poor condition. The cladding on the towers is broken in places and these significant features of the building are not currently watertight. The structural framing is water stained but not visibly damaged. The older church building has been re-clad with profiled metal sheet cladding, and the original timber windows have been removed and replaced by aluminium joinery. The ‘new’ joinery openings are not fully weather tight. The jamb liners and cills are deteriorating badly.
The interior of the church has been re-lined, most likely a layer added over the original timber lining boards.
For many years the building lacked any spouting on the west side of the main roof. Other rainwater goods have been poorly installed. Many years of water run-off fromthe roof has contributed to the issues with general dampness and decay of the
building fabric, and has also resulted in some slumping of the foundations.The building has no thermal insulation.
The existing tower structure- foundations, structure and cladding, are in poor condition.
This is shown in the photographs of the interior included in Bruce Sedcole’s 1979 assignment. At the back end of the church is a smaller gabled room centred on the building, a vestry. The minor gable and the back wall of the church, are still clad in timber weatherboards. There is a fixed timber window with glazing beads in the south wall.
The twin towers at the front of the building are clad in flat sheet fibrolite. The historic photograph above (collection of Carol Treanor) clearly shows that the towers were finished in weatherboards. This is also confirmed by Deidre Brown in her 1992
B. Arch dissertation.
Photograph of a wedding party outside the Raetihi Temepara. c. 1958 - Collection of Carol Treanor.
Participants in Maori Land March gathered outside on a marae near Te Whare Whakamoemiti, Raetihi.
Christian Heinegg, 1975 from the National Library of New Zealand Collection Ref. 35mm-87535-37-F
Nā Graeme Burgess
Burgess Treep & Knight Architects
“The proposed works are necessary for the survival of the building.
The restoration of the building will reinforce the heritage values of
the place and will ensure its continued use as a whare whakamoemiti,
a centre of the community.”
The Rātana Temepara, 'Te Whare Whakamoemiti', at Raetihi Marae has a very strong presence for a building of its size. The building sits on the ridgeline of the marae property, above the other buildings on the marae. It is clearly visible on the ridge-line looking east along the main street of Raetihi, and is also highly visible from the Raetihi-Ohakune Road.
The building has a simple form. The main body of the building is a simple gabled room, an older timber Gothic church building that has twin towers added to create the form of the Rātana Temepara. The south end of the building, the back of the church, ends in a minor gable, a vestry room or chancel. At the north end a pair of tall rectangular towers capped in bell form roofs frame the end of the building. These towers, symbolic of the Rātana Church, were added to the building in the
1950s. The twin towers were first used in the design and construction of the first Rātana Church, Piki Te Ora, opened at the Rātana Pā in 1928. This building, drawn as a sketch plan to Rātana’s instruction up by Whanganui architect Clifton Hood, was inspired by Rātana’s 1924 world tour, where he was impressed by the form of Christian churches in Ngagasaki. The twin towers frame the building and are symbolic of the Rātana faith.
According to Bruce Sedcole, in an undergraduate research project (Victoria University School of Architecture) written in 1985, the building was formerly an Anglican church, built around 1908, on this site.
Deidre Brown, in her architectural thesis of 1992 (Auckland University School of Architecture Bachelor of Architecture) sets out the early 20th century history of the church building and the marae. The land for the marae was gifted by Poria Kete to
Ngāti Uenuku. On this land, the people built a meeting house named Ko Te Whakaaro Kotahi Ki Te Whakapono, a dining hall and a Methodist (Wesleyan) church. The church was opened in 1912 by Rātana’s aunt, Mere Rikiriki.
In the Annual Report of the New Zealand Methodist Home Mission for the year ending 31 December 1911 (pub. Wilson and Horton 1912) p.14-15 Rev George Kirkwood, of Waimarino, reported, ‘On May 7 I made a
start to build the Māori church at Raetihi, building it myself with some of the Māoris
[sic] to help me. Size of the church 48 x 20, height 12 feet stud. Working at the church all this month. His photograph (left) is taken
from an elevated position, perhaps the small brow on the opposite side of the Raetihi-Ohakune Road. This is almost certainly the same building. It has the same simple gabled form with three lancet windows visible on the side of the building.
