PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (FORMER)

 

 

The former Presbyterian Church, now the Uniting Church Hall, designed and constructed by Neil Falconer and opened on 28 April 1901, at 16-18 Peart Street, Leongatha, is significant. It is a Federation Carpenter Gothic Church of typical design with a gabled nave, a projecting double-gable vestry and a gable front porch. This building includes a simple tie beam with a finial at the gable end of the nave and another finial on the porch, timber doors with pointed arch heads at the sides of the porch, and lancet windows with simple tracery details and coloured glass. 
Non-original alterations are not significant.

The former Leongatha Presbyterian Church is of local historic, aesthetic and social significance to South Gippsland Shire.

Historically, this church is oldest church building in Leongatha and is associated with the development of the town and district in the early twentieth century. The construction of the church marked the elevation of Leongatha to a 'full charge' with a resident priest. (Criterion A) 
Aesthetically, it is a fine example of a Carpenter Gothic church with typical form and detailing including the steep pitched roof, gabled porch, and lancet windows and doors. Of note are the tracery details to the windows. (Criterion E) 
It has social value for its strong and enduring associations with the Uniting Church congregation through its use as a church and church hall for over 110 years. (Criterion G)