The stone church of St Barnabas at Fendalton, picturesquely set amongst mature trees, is a notable feature of Fendalton Road. It was built to replace the 1876 timber church and was consecrated as a memorial to the dead of World War I in 1926.

The foundation stone was laid in 1925 with over 800 people attending the ceremony. (Interestingly no children were present at the ceremony because of a nation-wide infantile paralysis epidemic.) Mention was made at the ceremony that the church was to honoured both the dead and the alive who had fought in World War I. The church was completed by November 1926 and representatives of the army were present at the consecration ceremony.

St Barnabas is significant as one of the few churches erected in New Zealand as a war memorial. While church communities were one of the likely to erect memorials to the dead, it was far more common to have memorials erected within existing churches, than to have the church itself built as a memorial. Maclean and Phillips, in their book on New Zealand's war memorials argue that the number of World War I church memorials reflect both the importance of religion to New Zealanders at the time and 'the close involvement of the church in encouraging and supporting the war effort'. (Maclean & Phillips, 1990: 83)

The magnitude 6.3 earthquake that hit Christchurch 22 February 2011, St Barnabas has sustained considerable further damage with new cracks around the west and east end and new cracks adjacent to the tower. The old cracks on the north wall have become significantly larger.

It is apparent that the repair work will leave its mark on the building.