After the Exchange Buildings demolition, following damage from the second peat slip in 1886, it was decided a more permanent church was required in Stanley.  Work began on the church in March 1890, with the foundation stone being laid by Governor Kerr and Bishop Stirling.

In February 1892, Bishop Stirling consecrated the new Christ Church Cathedral.  Sir Arthur Blomfield designed the church, named after the church in Canterbury, from where much generous help had come.  The estimated cost had been set at £6,000, but it actually came to nearly £9,000, still without the tower completed.  Austrian stone masons were employed to build the tower in 1902, resulting in Stanley’s most prominent building, seating a congregation of up to two hundred and seventy, towering over central Stanley.