St Ninian’s Church (17-19 St Georges Road)

St Ninian’s Church is Avondale’s oldest building. Construction on the Presbyterian church started on 14 November 1859, and opening services were held on Easter, 8 April 1860. The building was built atop scoria boulders and constructed using hand-hewn kauri planks with kauri pews (bench seats). It served as the Whau District’s first school building (the desks fixed to the wall so they could fold away for Sunday services) and also served as the community’s first public hall until the building was constructed across the road.

In the 19th century, the Avondale parish extended as far as Helensville. In July 1873, Rev. David Hamilton died on his way to preach at Whatipu. His grave was the first interred in the little cemetery attached to the church (the cemetery was closed except for family plots in 1914). Other noted people buried in the cemetery include John Neale Bethell (of Bethell’s Beach), William Forsyth (builder of the public hall), and Jessie MacKenzie (the “Danish Princess”).

The church was dedicated in 1935 to St Ninian, a 5th century missionary to the Southern Picts of modern-day Scotland and northern England. The church manse (home provided for parish ministers) was built in the 1870s on Blockhouse Bay Road. On 8 October 1972, St Ninian’s merged with three other local Methodist and Presbyterian churches and relocated to the Avondale Union Parish Church on Rosebank Road. In 1984, the church building officially closed and was sold to the Auckland City Council along with the cemetery in 1988. The Saint Ninians Reserve opened shortly afterwards and the former church is now a venue for hire.

Turn right and go to the reserve in front of the church.