SIENA CONVENT

The Siena Convent and College cloister and chapel at 815 Riversdale Road, Camberwell, is significant.

Siena Convent was founded at this site in a small house in 1924 (since demolished). Purpose-built facilities were constructed in the late 1930s, particularly the convent building comprising an arcaded cloister with a chapel at one corner constructed in 1939. The designer was Sydney-based architect Hamleto Agabiti of Agabiti & Milane.

The complex was constructed of cream and Manganese bricks from the Glen Iris Brick Co. with terracotta from Wunderlich Ltd. It was described as 'Lombardic Byzantine' in style, indicating a combination of the Lombardic Romanesque and eastern Byzantine revivals.

The mature Italian cypresses along the east side of the front setback are a contributory element.

The building is significant to the extent of its 1939 fabric. Later alterations and extensions are not significant.

The Siena Convent and College cloister and chapel are of local historic, aesthetic and social significance to the City of Boroondara.

Siena College is significant for its illustration of the monastic houses founded in Boroondara in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, whose history is intertwined with the history of the denominational schools, hospitals and welfare facilities founded and maintained by them. It is also an illustration of a purpose-built denominational school founded during the interwar period. (Criterion A)

The Siena College complex is distinguished not only by its very fine brickwork, evoking the Lombardic Romanesque style, but particularly in its unusual use of the Byzantine compound domed form that characterised Byzantine Revival churches in Eastern and South-eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century. The blue terracotta dome of the Chapel is also a unique feature within Boroondara, and is a fine example of the integration of polychromy that terracotta faience made possible during the interwar period. (Criterion E)

Siena College is of social significance for the strong associations held by its alumnae and the Dominican nuns who served here. (Criterion G)

Group

Religion

Category

Convent/Nunnery