First Church of Otago

[2] Prior to the construction of the church, smaller earlier buildings had been used by the congregation,[3] but the rapid rise in the city's population meant that a larger, more permanent structure was necessary.

[6] The current church stands on the stump of Bell Hill, a major promontory which initially divided the heart of Dunedin in two.

Much of the excavated soil and stone was used in the reclamation of land which now forms the Southern Endowment of South Dunedin.

The spire is unusual as it is pierced by two-storeyed gabled windows on all sides, which give an illusion of even greater height.

Some members of the Presbyterian synod felt the metropolitan church should not have been so privileged over the country districts where congregants had no purpose designed places of worship or only modest ones.

Externally, First Church successfully replicates the effect, if on a smaller scale, of the late Norman cathedrals of England.

The building is constructed of Oamaru stone, set on foundations of basalt breccia from Port Chalmers, with details carved by Louis Godfrey, who also did much of the woodcarving in the interior.

Other notable features of the building include stained glass windows dedicated to those fallen in war and to the Otago Mounted Rifles.

At that time the only such set in a Presbyterian church outside the United Kingdom and claimed to be the southernmost ring of bells in the world.

[11] A miniature of the church was created by Lawson in the city's Northern Cemetery as a family tomb for noted early Dunedinite William Larnach.

[12] Regular Sunday services are held in the church in English (10.00am), Cook Island Maori (12.00 Noon), and Samoan (2.00pm).