Heritage

Church built to specifically cater for needs of children

church

Christ Church was commissioned on Ascension Day in 1927 by Lady Lucie Macmillan. It was built specifically to cater for the needs of children. PHOTO | DOUGLAS KIEREINI

In the 1840s, the Holy Ghost Fathers from the French Catholic Church dedicated themselves to working with newly freed slaves in the islands of Haiti, Mauritius and Reunion. By 1860, they had started buying men and women out of slavery in Zanzibar and quickly expanded their activities to mainland East Africa.

The Holy Ghost Fathers opened schools, hospitals and taught people marketable skills. They pioneered missionary activity in Africa and ultimately sent more missionaries than any other spiritual order of the Catholic Church.

The area between Lavington and Spring Valley in Nairobi was known as St Austin’s Mission at the turn of the 19th Century. It is generally regarded as the birthplace of modern coffee farming in Kenya.

St Austin’s was a congregation of the Holy Ghost Fathers. The fathers established a commercial coffee plantation that was quite successful, but as the spiritual and vocational needs of the community grew, the coffee gave way to institutions such as the St Austin’s Catholic Church, St Mary’s School, Loreto Convent Msongari Girls Secondary School and the Strathmore School.

The area became a sort of a mini-Vatican. I was, therefore, surprised to find an old Anglican church on Church Road, which leads directly to St Austin’s Church.

Christ Church. or The Children’s Church as it is more affectionately known, was commissioned on Ascension Day in 1927 by Lady Lucie Macmillan, who also built the Macmillan Library in memory of her husband.

The church was built specifically to cater for the needs of children and there were minders and play facilities on the compound. Parents would drop off their children and either wait outside or go on a frolic of their own, to return later.

It sits on about two acres of land and the title is registered under the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK). The church is gazetted as a national monument.

The church walls are built of treated timber weather boarding resting on a dressed stone raised plinth, under a clay tiled roof, supported by an intricate web of treated timber trusses. Windows are carried in timber frames with wrought iron handles and glazed in stained glass.

Doors are made of panelled timber hung on recessed pointed arch frames, reflecting the neo-Gothic style that was so popular during this period. Internal walls are clad in white timber boards while the floor is finished in a smooth cement screed.

I would say that the building is in a fair state of decoration for its age.

The seating capacity of the church was initially about 150 but this was increased to 200 in 1988 by extension of the north wing. As usual, the pews are beautifully hand crafted and polished.

There is a crèche at the left rear, closed off in glass, for those over exuberant babies who throw tantrums just when you are in deep meditation.

Regular services are held every Sunday at 7.30am, 9am and 11am, with the 9am service targeting families and the youth. Oversight falls under the jurisdiction of the ACK Diocese of All Saints Cathedral, Nairobi.

The church also runs a primary school for about 15 destitute children during the week in a timber structure on the compound.

When an asset is declared a national monument, the holder becomes a custodian or trustee on behalf of, and for the quiet enjoyment of the citizens of Kenya.

Like a museum, the asset should be made accessible to the public during normal working hours and, if possible, a guide made available to take visitors around.

It would also be useful to provide a pamphlet with a brief history of the asset so that a permanent record is maintained for visitors and prosperity. This way, more Kenyans can get to learn and understand our precious heritage.