Consecrated in 1976, it is the second church on the site, replacing the earlier St Canice's designed by Francis Petre and completed in 1888.

[1] However, under the supervision of parish priest Father Thomas Walshe, the first Catholic church in Westport was opened on 17 March 1868.

[3] The church, initially called Star of the Sea, but quickly renamed St Canice's after the patron saint of Walshe's birth city of Kilkenny in Ireland, was located at the corner of Bright and Queen Streets,[4] some 850 metres (930 yd) north of the present St Canice's.

[11] Scott's appointment was controversial at the time, as Charles Thomas, a Christchurch architect, had already done preliminary work for the new church.

[17] Like all of Scott's churches, the design of St Canice's is predicated on a strong geometric concept—in this case a fan—and embodied much experimentation, and interplay of coloured light with a complex geometry.

A series of four stepped triangular sections are arranged radially, rising up above the altar, and clerestory windows use Scott's typical coloured acrylic glazing, in red, green, yellow and blue.