The Baber Chapel opened in 1968, complete with plain coloured glass windows.

In 1981 it was decided to replace these with stained glass windows designed by Beverley Shore Bennett (a member of the Board at the time). Beverley provided her designs, and a cost estimate, in 1985 and the Marsden Old Girls Association agreed to raise the funds.

The windows were fashioned from French slab glass by Millers Studios in Dunedin, with whom Shore Bennett already had a working relationship with, having engaged them to create her windows for the Wellington Hospital chapel in the 1960s [link to artwork page when live].

It is not clear exactly when all the windows were installed, but they were there by May 1987 when the Chapel was further refurbished.

The windows are distributed in a regular pattern across ten bays: most with an upper row of six thin, narrow windows, and a lower row of three wider, shorter ones. The exception to this pattern is a bay that has a Fire Exit door, three small windows, and one large window. From a vantage point looking towards the altar, the right-hand wall has 30 narrow windows and 15 wide windows. On the left-hand wall are 27 narrow windows and 15 wide windows. All windows have an abstract design made using bold colours in irregular blocks. Each window is counter-sunk 60mm.

The Baber chapel is named after Esther Mary Baber, a lifelong educator who owned and ran the Fitzherbert Terrace School from 1907-1920, upon whence she sold it to the diocese of Wellington who renamed it 'Samuel Marsden Collegiate School'. Baber continued as Headmistress at the school until 1931, seeing it through its relocation to its current Karori site. She passed away in 1956, leaving a large bequest to the school's chapel fund.

This work, and the others in the Chapel, are able to be viewed by appointment.

See also:

• Contact Us [Samuel Marsden Collegiate School website]