St Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin 2.41

St Patrick's Basilica in South Dunedin, New Zealand (opened in 1894) is a Catholic church and was the architect Francis Petre's first departure from the Gothic style exemplified in his St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin.The BasilicaThe exterior is incomplete and is "only a shadow of what the architect intended", but the impressive interior is completely realised. With St Patrick's Basilica, Petre turned to the Palladian Revival style with which he is most associated. The interior in contrast to the earlier neo-Gothic style of the cathedral, is richly embellished with classical detailing.Its single greatest feature is the deeply embossed High Renaissance ceiling, a feature which occurs in many variations in his later work, most notably in St Patrick's Basilica, Oamaru (ceiling installed in 1898) and Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington (1901). In many respects St Patrick's Basilica foreshadows Petre's Wellington cathedral (the other Petre church most like St Patrick's Basilica), the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch (1905), and the last of his major churches, Sacred Heart Basilica, Timaru (1911).