A “mothballed” Wellington church, “ransacked” by vandals and covered in graffiti, has been listed for sale.
The Anglican Diocese of Wellington closed St John’s Wainuiomata at 117-119 Main Road, Kicks Hill, around a decade ago and considered building housing on the site.
Despite vandalism in recent years, the deconsecrated concrete block has “good bones”, and the spectacular stained-glass windows, designed and hand-crafted by the original vicar, Reverend Doctor Ross Wards, have survived.
The diocese hopes another Christian denomination or a developer buys the site.
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Diocesan manager Ben Pringle, who is charged with selling the property, told OneRoof: “We don’t tend to sell churches unless we really have to. We [were] thinking, ‘Could we potentially do a housing development there?’, and we anticipate there could still be a housing development on the site.”
He said the Wainuiomata community needed more housing, and development would be one of several positive outcomes for the site. “We worked through a few different scenarios and ultimately just decided [that] it’s not something that we can resource, but we’d like to see what could be possible.”
The stained glass windows are intact, but the building has suffered damage. The Anglican Diocese of Wellington hopes a church group might buy the property. Photo / Supplied
The 3532sqm section is zoned for residential development. Photo / Supplied
He added: “Certainly, we expect there’ll be some church groups that have got the elbow grease and the dream to refurbish the church and restore it to its former glory. That would be lovely. It has good bones. Maybe something like the Erskine Chapel restoration.
“But, if there were a developer with real vision for the site who could see the opportunity for housing units to be built in there, then we’d equally welcome that outcome.”
The original St John’s Anglican Church was established as an offshoot of the Avalon parish as Wainuiomata expanded rapidly in the post-war years, Pringle said.
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The valley experienced a population boom through the 1950s and 1960s, becoming one of New Zealand’s fastest-growing urban areas and quickly outgrowing the original church building.
Rev Dr Wards served the parish from 1981 to 1988 and was there when the new church opened. By then, however, Wainuiomata’s growth had begun to slow as manufacturing jobs disappeared and the local economy weakened during the 1980s.
“It had quite a relatively short lifespan,” Pringle said. “The anticipated ongoing growth of Wainuiomata didn’t live up to expectations, which explains why the church struggled to meet the expected demands.”
Pringle was also involved in the sale of another church building, Holy Trinity in Avalon. The Wellington Chinese Methodist Church bought the property for just over $1.2 million for its worshippers.
The Anglican Church sold its Holy Trinity church building in Avalon to the Wellington Chinese Methodist Church in 2024 for just over $1.2m. Photo / Supplied
“We don’t tend to sell churches unless we really have to. My understanding is [the Chinese Methodist congregation] is actively worshipping at Holy Trinity Avalon now. That is a really good outcome.”
After St John’s Wainuiomata closed, the diocese let the vicarage to tenants, but ultimately demolished the house because it would have been too difficult to bring up to Healthy Homes standards, Pringle said.
“We had a tenant there. But the vicarage was in a pretty poor state. The costs that we would have had to incur for Healthy Homes standards were just too great, so the parish decided the best option was to demolish it.”
Once the vicarage was demolished, vandals moved in. “The site has been essentially mothballed. After we demolished the vicarage two to three years ago, there was even less of a regular presence there [and] it has become a target for antisocial behaviour.”
Professionals listing agent Kaleb Barton, who was also involved in the sale of Holy Trinity Avalon, said the church had been “completely ransacked”.
He noted that selling a church was different from selling ordinary residential real estate. In the case of the Avalon church, the diocese received nine offers from a mix of developers and church groups. He expected a similar mix of offers for this listing, and revealed during his interview with OneRoof that he was about to show a church group around the property.
“We sold the last one via a tender, and we are selling this one again via a tender as well. The diocese has a strong preference to see [the property] used as a church.”
The property comprises two buildings. At the foot of the driveway sits the original church, which is currently used as a community sports facility, while further up the site is the 225sqm 1980s-era church building.
The combined RV of the two titles is $1.68m, while the total land size is 3532sqm.
- 117-119 Main Road, Wainuiomata, Lower Hutt, is for sale, tender closing November 4
