The Church of the Holy Name is a vast brick Romanesque style church with a rectangular plan and a large square bell tower adjacent to the main entrance. It was designed by Henry St Aubyn Murray (1886-1943). He designed many works for the Roman Catholic Church in Canterbury, including Marist Brothers School in Barbados Street (c.1924), convents in High Street, (1925), Manchester St (1925), Ferry Road (1929), and Lyttelton (1934), and churches at Little River (1925), Geraldine (1936), Templeton (1922) and Ashburton (1930).

The Church of the Holy Name is the third Catholic church to be built in Ashburton. The first Catholic church, a small wooden building designed by Benjamin Mountfort, was opened in Ashburton in 1876. The second Church was designed in 1882 by Francis Petre, the well-known church architect. Petre's grand Flemish Gothic design proved too expensive for the parish and only the nave was ever built.

• Heritage NZ Inventory: https://www.heritage.org.nz/the-list/details/284
• District Council Heritage: https://www.ashburtondc.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/46245/Heritage-Item-1-Church-of-the-Holy-Name-Catholic.pdf