Church of the Redeemer, Jamaica

The Church of the Redeemer is the oldest Moravian Church building in Kingston, Jamaica and houses a congregation of the Jamaican province of the Moravian Church. It was opened in 1918. The name, which is unusual for a Moravian church, was bestowed by its builder Jonathan Reinke "because he did not want people to speak of Reinke's church".^[1]

History

First building

Kingston's first Moravian Church (at 23 Hanover Street) was a large house which was adapted for the purpose and consecrated on 1893-04-14.^[1] This building and the Mission House next door (at 25 Hanover Street) were destroyed in 1907 by an earthquake.^[2] Two shed's were erected to replace them while a new Church building was constructed.^[2]

Present building

The building at the corner of North Street and Duke Street was consecrated by Bishop Westphal on 1918-05-08.^[3] The total cost of the building, site and out buildings was £3,124.^[3]

Manse

A new manse, on the north side of North Street a block to the east, was completed in 1927 at a cost of £921.^[3] The manse site was sold to the Gleaner Company for £4,000 in 1949^[2] and a new manse purchased in Antrim Road, Vineyard Town.^[4]

Hall

A church hall was opened on 1930-12-30 by Lady Stubbs, wife of the Governor. This was destroyed by the hurricane of 1951.^[5] A replacement hall was opened in 1962-02-28 at a cost of £16,000.^[6]

Organ

A pipe organ was installed in 1932, reconstructed in 1945 and destroyed during the 1951 hurricane.^[5] A replacement was installed in 1953 at a cost of over £3,000.^[7]

Clergy

Notes and references

Bibliography

Hastings, S U & MacLeavy, B L (1979), Seedtime and Harvest (A Brief History of the Moravian Church in Jamaica 1754-1979), The Moravian Church Corporation 

External links

• Aerial view of the church.
• Aerial view of the site of the 1927 manse.
• Aerial view of the site of the 1949 manse.