The parish of Thorndon was administered by the Society of Mary (Marist Fathers) for eighty-five years until 1935,[3] although secular or diocesan clergy were also stationed there.

[8] The first church to be built on the Hill Street site was the wooden, neo-Gothic, St Mary's Cathedral, blessed and opened in 1851.

Designed by architect Francis Petre, with an axis of east–west rather than the west–east of its predecessor, Sacred Heart was built on a classical basilican plan.

However, its portico of Ionic columns of Oamaru stone, whose pedestals rest on elongated plinths, and a high pediment closely reflect those of a Roman or Greek temple, and, in that respect, its most obvious model is the Maison Carrée, Nimes, which has full-length, Corinthian, columns.

[12] The frieze of the cathedral pediment carries the Latin inscription in gold letters: S.S. Cordi Jesu Dedicatum.

[7] The marble altar is fronted by a three part mosaic of the annunciation, with the Angel Gabriel on the left and the Blessed Virgin on the right.

[16] The sanctuary is dominated by a large painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Enrico Refto above the cathedra of the archbishop.

At the top of the westernmost arch of the cathedral, above the sanctuary, is a large, sculpted, Oamaru stone emblem of the Sacred Heart.

The names of all the bishops and archbishops in Wellington have recently been inscribed on the panels of the pulpit although the original dedication by the priests to the memory of Father Lewis remains recorded at the base of the structure.

His tomb in the present cathedral is approximately on the Hill St side of the baptismal font at the cross-aisle (see photograph above right).

[20][21] The Blessed Sacrament Chapel, built to the north, at right angles to the main axis of the building, can accommodate about 60 worshippers.

The chapel houses five examples of fine English Victorian stained glass from the studios of the Atkinson Brothers given by the parish of St Joseph, Mt Victoria.

There is also a fine icon of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St Mary his mother by contemporary iconographer Michael Galovic (installed in 2007).

The statue was placed in the tower in memory of the consecration of the diocese in 1855 to the Immaculate Conception, which Bishop Viard had carried out, after he had proclaimed the newly pronounced dogma, as a specific remedy against any recurrence of the series of severe earthquakes felt in the province of Wellington over several months in that year.

[26] Some eyewitnesses attested that when the cathedral tower fell, the statue hung momentarily in mid air before descending slowly and gracefully and in an upright position to the ground where it landed completely undamaged.

[20][27] In 1984 the statue of Mary, now painted white except for the crown and girdle, was placed in the cloister courtyard to remain "the sign and warrant of her protection of the city.

Behind the cathedra in the sanctuary is a bronze and enamelled processional cross designed and made by Graham Stewart for the visit of Pope John Paul II to Wellington in 1986.

At the base, the solid foundation represents the faith given by Jesus Christ; above that, the essentials of that faith are then shown in panels on each of the four sides of the stone (the seven sacraments, the Ten Commandments, the crucified Saviour within the Holy Trinity, and the fourth panel is the cathedral itself represented by the initials "J" and "M" for Jesus and Mary with two hearts).

[31] There are two instrumental (piano, guitars, organ) and vocal ensembles to lead congregational hymn-singing for at least one Sunday Mass each week.

While firmly based on Gregorian chant, the choir sang (accompanied by one of the organs or the Cathedral Orchestra when that was appropriate) a wide repertoire ranging from Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Thomas Tallis and William Byrd to George Frideric Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Anton Bruckner, Gabriel Fauré, Herbert Howells, Maurice Duruflé, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Morten Lauridsen, James MacMillan, Douglas Mews, Eric Whitacre, Ola Gjeilo and many other composers including occasional commissioned contemporary works.

[31] Sacred Heart Cathedral was also a well-used concert venue (500 people can be seated[33]) for outside orchestras and performance groups because of the building's size and its fine "warm" acoustics.

[36] Ward had prayed daily in the Basilica (or its predecessor, St Mary's Cathedral – see below) for all of his thirty-seven years as a member of the New Zealand Parliament.

In the words of The New Zealand Herald, "unbent beneath the weight of his 91 years ... in his scarlet vestment, [Archbishop Redwood] was a commanding and impressive figure."

It was then transferred across the road to Parliament Buildings by his colleagues and family before being transported to Bluff where the interment took place.

The organist was Miss Josephine Mulligan whose contributions included Frédéric Chopin's Marche Funebre at the commencement.

The Dominion thought that "it was appropriate because of the interest of the late Prime Minister in young people that boys figured largely in the singing of the Mass" which was entirely sung in plain song.

[39] The crowd was so great in the church – even the organist needed an official invitation – that the boys in the choir were forced to sing from the chancel galleries high above the altar.

[40] After resting briefly in St Patrick's Cathedral, he was buried at Bastion Point (where the Savage Memorial was eventually constructed).