Bishops School

Bishop's School, Nelson, was built in 1881 to replace the brick school building completed in 1844 as part of an education programme established by the Anglican Bishop of New Zealand, George Augustus Selwyn (1809-1878).

"Selwyn had definite ideas on the role of the church in education and wanted to establish a network of schools under the control of the recently established St John's College in Auckland. St John's School, Nelson, as it was to be called, was the first such school that Selwyn established under this system."

Nelson parents, however, opted for a non-sectarian education for their children and the school closed in 1855. Bishop Hobhouse, keen to foster religious education, re- opened the school five years later. Bishop Suter had the old building demolished and a much larger wooden classroom built. The school was closed in 1895 but the New Zealand Historic Places Trust re-opened the restored classroom in 1977.