CHRIST CHURCH

Christ Church, a bluestone Gothic style church building designed by the architects Charles Webb and Thomas Taylor in 1856-57, with a sanctuary (1881), south aisle, tower and spire (1884-86) and north aisle (1889) designed by Reed, Henderson and Smart. Its interior includes chancel furnishings by Alexander North, stained glass by E R Suffling (c.1884) and William Montgomery (c.1903-07), and a pipe organ. The grounds of Christ Church include an interwar lychgate on Toorak Road, a c.1901 cabman’s shelter relocated from Punt Road and portions of early boundary fences (c.1890s).  

Christ Church is of ?historic and architectural ?significance to the State of Victoria. It satisfies the following criterion for inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register:  

Criterion A 

Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history. 

Criterion D 

Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects. 

Christ Church is historically significant for its ability to demonstrate Melbourne’s exponential urban growth in the 1850s, as well as the importance and dominance of the Church of England in the early years of colonial Victoria. Through its impressive scale and landmark positioning at the corner of Toorak and Punt Roads, Christ Church illustrates the prominence of religion, particularly Christianity, in nineteenth-century Victoria.  [Criterion A] 

Christ Church is architecturally significant as a fine example of a Gothic style church building, principally built in 1856-57 and expanded during the 1880s. It is a fine example of its class, including a spire and spirelets, pointed arch windows and has a distinctive lantern at the crossing of the roof trusses of the nave and transepts. Christ Church is also architecturally significant as an important ecclesiastical work by the architects Charles Webb and Thomas Taylor, and later Reed, Henderson and Smart. The church interior is substantially intact, featuring early stained glass windows by E R Suffling of London (c.1884) and William Montgomery of Melbourne (c.1903-07). [Criterion D]