The Auckland Baptist Tabernacle was formed by
Richard Shalders and 14 others in 1855 in the then fledgling colonial town of
Auckland. By the late 1860s, a sizeable chapel had been built on
Wellesley Street and the church flourished. In 1881,
Thomas Spurgeon, son of the famous
C. H. Spurgeon, accepted the role of pastor and the church rapidly outgrew first the Wellesley Street Chapel, and then the Symonds Street Choral Hall. A prominent site at the top of Queen Street was secured. Initially it was intended that the church would face Karangahape Road but the plans were revised so it was actually constructed with the main
façade on Queen Street. This meant the portico was visible from the harbour. Although one of the biggest buildings to be constructed in the city at the time, it took only one year to build from 1884 to 1885. As well as having very good acoustics its auditorium was also the largest room in the city, able to accommodate over 1500 people. The building was opened to the wider community on 12 May 1885, where a special tithe was taken to cover the final £100, rendering the church debt free. A Greenwich clock was gifted by Greenwich Baptist Church, pastored by Thomas Spurgeon's non-identical twin brother. The clock remains a feature of the auditorium today. One of the elders of the Baptist church who championed the construction of the Auckland Tabernacle was
Charles Blomfield. Blomfield was a sign writer and interior decorator who operated from a shop adjacent to the Tabernacle, although he is mostly known for his landscape paintings, especially of the
Pink and White Terraces. The neo-classical stencil work on the ceiling of the main auditorium was done by Charles and his brother Samuel. ==References==