FORMER HOLY TRINITY ANGLICAN CHURCH

The former Holy Trinity Anglican Church at no 35 High Street, Marong, was constructed in 1878. The building, which in recent years has been adapted as a private residence, is a small brick gabled Gothic Revival church set back from the west side of High Street in the centre of the township. It has a three-bay nave with articulated sanctuary and vestry, the vestry being a later addition (1897). The west elevation has a porch with central entry door, small flanking buttresses, and a cross finial, and above on the gable end a curved triangular window with a cement-rendered hood mould and another cross finial at the top of the gable. The red brick walling is relieved by black string courses which anchor the nave windows at their arch springs and window sills. The nave, sanctuary and vestry windows are all simple lancets, with the sanctuary windows arranged in a group of three. The buttresses are two-stepped with cement rendered off sets and are diagonal at all major external corners. There have been no major external additions since the vestry of 1897 which continued the original style of the church. 

The former Holy Trinity Anglican Church at no 35 High Street, Marong, is of local historical, social and aesthetic/architectural significance. 

The former Holy Trinity Anglican Church is historically significant (Criterion A) through being the centre of Anglican worship at Marong from 1878 until the 1990s. Its construction in the 1870s reflects the development of Marong during the late nineteenth century and the denominational diversity of the goldfields towns and settlements. 

The church is also significant for its association with the prominent and prolific Bendigo architect, William C Vahland, whose commissions included notable residential buildings, as well as many important public, civic and commercial buildings in the municipality (Criterion H). 

The church additionally has some social significance as the local focus of Anglican worship at Marong, and the Anglican community, for over 100 years from 1878 until the 1990s (Criterion G).

Aesthetically and architecturally (Criterion E), the former church is an example of a small Gothic Revival church of the 1870s, of red brick with white painted cement dressings, and displaying some High Victorian details. Although extended with a vestry in 1897, and adapted as a private residence, the church is largely intact externally. The former Holy Trinity is also a restrained example of the work of Vahland. Details of note include the prominent triangular west window, the lancet arched windows and the cranked linkage between the diagonal buttresses and the gable kneelers. The use of red brick with white painted cement contrasts was popular in central Victoria across denominations and is seen in numbers of later churches. The former Holy Trinity Anglican Church is also a prominent element of the streetscape by virtue of its location on High Street, albeit on a narrow allotment and through the picturesque steeply gabled roof form.