Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch

The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, sometimes called the Christchurch Basilica, was the Catholic cathedral of Christchurch, New Zealand, standing on Barbadoes Street in the city centre. It was the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Christchurch. Despite the nickname it was not a basilica in the canonical sense; the label came from a design resembling some European basilicas. Architect Francis Petre chose an Italian Renaissance basilica form rather than Gothic, placing a green copper-roofed dome over the sanctuary instead of the crossing, and building walls of poured concrete faced with Oamaru limestone. Construction began in 1901 and the cathedral opened on 12 February 1905. It was widely regarded as the finest Renaissance-style building in New Zealand and as Petre's best design, and was registered as a Category I heritage item in 1983. The 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes closed it and brought down its front towers and destabilised the dome. The decision to demolish it was announced in August 2019 and demolition was completed in 2021.