Former Wesleyan Church

The significant fabric of the former Wesleyan Church includes the gabled roof forms, Barrabool stone wall construction, slate roof cladding, square-headed timber framed twelve paned double hung windows (the windows at the west end being lower, reflecting the original lower ceiling internally to allow for a mezzanine), dressed stone quoinwork, stone tablets in the gable ends, four panelled timber entrance door and the dressed stone window sills.

How is it significant?
The former Wesleyan Church, 17 McCann Street, Ceres, is historically, aesthetically, scientifically and socially significant at a LOCAL level.

Why is it significant?
The former Wesleyan Church, 17 McCann Street, has historical significance for its enduring associations as a rare surviving example with the Wesleyan movement, from the earliest days of the development of the village of Ceres in the 1850s, to the evolution and development of the Methodist Church throughout the 20th century, and as part of the life and witness of the Uniting Church from 1977 until 2016 (Criteria A & B). The former Wesleyan Church was built in 1855 as part of the Geelong Circuit to service the locally notable number of Wesleyans, most of whom were also part of the Temperance Movement. In particular, the church has associations with Nicholas McCann, inaugural Church Trustee and significant benefactor who helped finance the construction of the Church building and provide the local Barrabool stone (Criterion H). The former Wesleyan Church also has associations with other notable figures in its early evolution, including the Rev. Isaac Harding, Wesleyan Minister responsible for the building of a number of Wesleyan chapels in the Geelong Circuit, inaugural Trustee and first Minister responsible for providing pastoral care to the Wesleyans at Ceres; other original Trustees including Ezra Firth, quarryman, Peter McCann, quarryman, and Joseph Armitage, farmer; A.M. Hope, original architect (Criterion H).

The former Wesleyan Church, 17 McCann Street, has aesthetic significance as rare, intact, representative example of its type (Criterion D). The Wesleyan philosophy of 'earnest piety and dislike of frivolity' is embodied in the surviving physical building fabric. The vernacular Victorian Georgian church reflects non-conformist meeting house design ideology, typical in mid 19th century Victoria in its modest scale and unpretentious character. This building is the only intact surviving example of the 1850s of the Wesleyan Church in Geelong, as part of the Geelong Circuit.

The former Wesleyan Church building, 17 McCann Street, has scientific significance for its distinctive Barrabool stonework that was quarried nearby the church site, and while ubiquitous for building construction throughout Victoria (and especially the Barrabool Hills) in the 19th century, is now a material no longer employed (Criterion F).

The former Wesleyan Church, 17 McCann Street, while no longer functioning for its original church purpose, has social significance as a physical legacy of its enduring role in the Wesleyan Methodist (and later Uniting Church) faith and faith education at Ceres from 1855 until 2016 (Criterion G).

Group

Religion

Category

Church