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Baptist Church

Location 432 Riversdale Road HAWTHORN EAST, BOROONDARA CITY Level Included in Heritage Overlay

Statement of Significance

What is Significant

The first and second Baptist Churches of 1903-4 and 1939-40 reflect the growth of the Baptist church in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and the association of the church with the growing suburban communities around central Melbourne. Both churches are the work of established architects and in scale and design reflect the relatively modest capacity of the church at the time. They both pursue a Gothic theme, which in the case of the earlier building is directly related to the traditional English parish church and in the latter develops as a modernised interpretation.

The churches are significant to the extent of their external fabric and their open landscaped setting. The principal facades to Riversdale Road and Wills Street are of particular significance.

 

How is it Significant

 

The Camberwell Baptist Church is historically, aesthetically and socially significant to the City of Boroondara.

 

Why is it Significant

 

The Baptist Church complex is of historical significance in reflecting the growth of the church in the local areas as related to the two early phases of growth in suburban development. Both the current and former churches are of aesthetic and architectural significance in a local context as examples of the relatively restrained designs adopted by the Baptists in their later church buildings. The second church in particular compares well to contemporary examples in the Boroondara area and further afield.

Group

Religion

Category

Church