Our Lady of Victories Church, Christchurch

Our Lady of Victories Church is a church building in Christchurch, New Zealand, in the suburb of Sockburn. It was designed by Charles Thomas for the Our Lady of Victories Parish. The building has won several awards for its architectural design and engineering, and is a significant building in Thomas' legacy. It is the only church designed by Thomas that was built.

Thomas designed the building in 1964, encouraged by Bishop Brian Ashby to freely pursue his vision for what the building ought to be, scraping an earlier design that was more traditional. Thomas used religious symbolism in his design and was inspired to develop the layout in response to emerging changes in the liturgy then endorsed by Vatican II. The building broke conventional church design by rejecting rectangular form in favour of a diamond shape, with a prominent hyperbolic paraboloid roof.

Ashby played an important role; he enabled Thomas to conceive the building and the internal layout using a modern design language that embodied the spirit of Vatican II, and helped the project to secure more funding so that it could be realised despite initial budget constraints.

The original layout and interior design has changed over the years since it was first built, however Thomas did act as a consultant in 2019 during a substantial restoration of the roof. In the present day, the building continues to operate as a church and is also used by Our Lady of Victories School.