St James Church, Giles Reid / David Straight, 2020.
St James, Mahora Hastings was designed by Len Hoogerbrug in 1958-59 and completed 1963. When first opened, the building received national praise. However, over the years it was largely forgotten from the main accounts of New Zealand architecture.
The church's congregation fell away and it decided to close its doors in 2017. We started work on a project to gain access and photograph it in 2018. Hoogerbrug sadly died in 2019 and in October, the church was put up for sale. Its future is currently uncertain.
