Benjamin Mountfort
English / New Zealand architect and photographer · New Zealand · On the map · Architects · Lived 1825 to 1898 · aged 73
Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort was an English emigrant to New Zealand, where he became one of the country's most prominent 19th-century architects.
Benjamin Mountfort is read about 7 times a day, in 17 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 1 November 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 100 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?People around Benjamin
Close ties
Also in Deutsch
Media & music
Photos 9
Canterbury College, designed by Benjamin Mountfort in 1877, is dominated by a central clock tower, with a medieval style great hall to the right.
Canterbury College, The Great Hall, pictured to the right of illustration above
St Augustine's Church in Waimate. Mountfort's Gothic in wood, designed in 1872, has the campanile of a medieval cathedral in miniature, neighboured by the roof of a chateau, entered by the lychgate of an English parish church, all successfully harmonised into a New Zealand landscape.
The construction of ChristChurch Cathedral, designed by George Gilbert Scott, was supervised by Benjamin Mountfort who designed the spire.
The ChristChurch was completed in 1904. Until the 2011 earthquake and the collapse of the spire, the building remained almost unaltered.
Canterbury Museum, designed by Benjamin Mountfort. Completed in 1882, in the style of a French chateau.
Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings. One of Mountfort's earliest New Zealand Gothic buildings, in the style he made his trademark.About this person
He was instrumental in shaping the city of Christchurch's unique architectural identity and culture, and was appointed the first official Provincial Architect of the developing province of Canterbury. Heavily influenced by the Anglo-Catholic philosophy behind early Victorian architecture, he is credited with importing the Gothic Revival style to New Zealand. His Gothic designs constructed in both wood and stone in the province are considered unique to New Zealand. Today, he is considered the founding architect of the province of Canterbury.
