The mystery of the face

​At the top of the beautiful Good Samaritan window in Old St Paul’s Cathedral in Wellington is a little mystery.
Carved into wood high up is a face, it is hardly visible from the ground and no one knows exactly who it is. It is only one of the odd mysteries of the lovely old church.
There are a number of possibilities, including William Levin (yes the town of Levin is named for him) for whom the window was made, it might also reflect one of the faces from the window or just be a cheeky member of the building crew.
But there is another person whose name is prominently connected with the church, builder John McLaggan who with his team of carpenters, are responsible for building it.
John was born in Scotland in about 1803. It’s unclear when he came to New Zealand but about the 1840s with his wife Margaret.
Along with being a carpenter, John had political ambitions - he stood along with Edward Jerningham Wakefield for the Wellington provincial council which he won but fortunately it was the only time he dabbled in politics, at least for the church.
The land for Old St Paul’s was bought in 1845 and by 1865 the foundation stone was laid and John and his team of eight carpenters got to work.
Built in the gothic revival style and of New Zealand timbers it also includes a piece of wood - hidden in a pillar and inscribed with McLaggan’s name and those of his whole team.
The church was consecrated in 1866 and opened for worship.
McLaggan then won the contract to construct a deep water wharf - Queen’s wharf. It was a huge complex task especially competing with the ocean - and that ships were coming into it before it was even finished.
Meanwhile McLaggan was also the city’s undertaker (perhaps on the basis he could build coffins) and owned a saw mill in the Wairarapa - probably a necessity with how much wood he was using.
He won a contract to make the wooden seats, pulpits and reader’s desk for Presbyterian St Andrew on Lambton Quay (the building was later shifted to Tinakori Road)
McLaggan died in 1886 and he and his wife are buried in the Bolton Street cemetery.