The chapel is believed to be the only chapel in the world built as a memorial to nurses who died in WW1 or the 1918 Influenza Epidemic. It remembers all 10 New Zealand nurses who died when the Marquette was torpedoed on 23 October 1915, survivors of the sinking, and the legacy of our pioneering and wartime nurses. It was also New Zealand’s first public hospital chapel, with space originally provided for patients in beds and wheelchairs.
A small museum highlights many of the stories associated with the chapel and includes images of nurses it commemorates.
Flanked by colourful roses and medicinal herbs, the chapel sits in its own beautifully maintained reserve. It is a popular lunchtime retreat for hospital staff.
Christchurch City Council formally took over ownership of the chapel and its site from the Canterbury District Health Board after a land exchange in 2014. The unique memorial is administered by the Nurses’ Memorial Chapel Trust while the Friends of the Nurses’ Memorial Chapel look after its day-to-day care.
Twice threatened with demolition in the 1970s and 1989, the chapel is protected by a Heritage Order in the Christchurch District Plan where it is described as “highly significant”.