Hanover Street Baptist Church, Dunedin
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Hanover Street Baptist Church was the first Baptist church in Dunedin, New Zealand.
The present building, the second for the congregation, was designed by Edmund Anscombe (1874-1948) and completed in 1912. As its name suggests, the building is located in Hanover Street, one kilometre northeast of the city centre, close to the city's medical school.
Initially Dunedin Baptists worshipped with other Free Church groups in Dunedin until they established themselves in Dunedin's first Baptist church; The Hanover Street Baptist Church and Sunday school were founded in 1863.
Superintendent of Otago Thomas Dick (1823 – 1900) was one of the initial trustees of the church when it was founded in 1863.
Dr William Purdie, an Edinburgh graduate was a founding father of the church and an early and distinguished medical pioneer in Dunedin.
A number of distinguished New Zealand politicians and other famous New Zealander's have had a major part of their life involved in the church including Dame Silvia Cartwright former Governor-General of New Zealand who spent most of her younger years in Dunedin involved in the church.
The congregation moved to another site in the early 1990s.
The building was unoccupied for a couple of years before being turned into a string of unsuccessful Dunedin restaurants and nightclubs.
The building features stunning architecture and stained glass windows, some of which were removed when the building was converted from a church to a bar, most likely held somewhere in storage. The current inside flooring is apparently built some three feet above the original church floor and whilst the overhead balcony pews appear to be intact, they do not appear to be in good condition.
One of the church's most interesting features is a stunning pipe organ, which is believed to be only the second of its kind in New Zealand (The other being at the Dunedin Municipal Chambers - the pipe organ has not been serviced for some time and it is doubtful what kind of working condition (if any) it is in. The building also has a bell tower, a prominent feature of the Dunedin skyline.
The building has been classified by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, but is in need of major renovation to restore its original character.
The business now occupying the former church is The Monkey Bar, which has a sister bar of the same name in Timaru.
