St. Joseph's Catholic Church was opened on 14 July 1865. Like St. John's it was built from locally quarried stone. It is registered as a "Historic Place - Category II".

Back in 1865 it would have been considered an outrage to comment on two different churches, the homes of two very separate denominations, in the same sentence. They represented two very different sectors of Lyttelton’s population; both were ‘lighthouses’ for their own religious culture in the predominantly Anglican See! At one end of Winchester Street was St. John’s ‘Kirk’, home to a very Scottish congregation; at the other end was St Joseph’s, a Roman Catholic Church home to those of mainly
Franco-Irish origins.

The ‘Lyttelton Times’ 19th January 1865 recorded that Messrs Graham and Weybourne had been awarded the contract to build St. Joseph’s Church for 1200 pounds, having just completed the Presbyterian Church. St. Joseph’s Church was designed by architects Messrs Mountfort and Bury to accommodate 400 people with Messrs England Brothers furnishing the woodwork and interior fittings.

By 1878 St. Joseph’s schoolroom was built to the left of the church; 1921 saw a brick school-room built behind the church at the cost of 1500 pounds. This was replaced in 1983 by the present school. The church was extended in 1941 and the interior altered in the 1960's.

St Joseph’s Catholic Church badly damaged since Feb 22. Demolition crew was expected to start clearing the site on September 2011.