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CHRIST CHURCH COMPLEX

Location

14 ACLAND STREET AND 1 ST LEONARDS AVENUE ST KILDA, PORT PHILLIP CITY

File Number

13/008999-01

Level

Registered

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Statement of Significance

The Christ Church complex, St Kilda comprises four main buildings: the church, bishop's residence, vicarage and parish hall. Christ church was constructed in 1854-57 to the designs of Purchas & Swyer and enlarged in 1874 and 1881 to the designs of Sydney W Smith. The bishop's residence was built in the1850s as the original vicarage. In 1884 the present vicarage was constructed and the original building was used for church related activities until becoming the Bishop's residence in 1987. The parish hall, designed by Richardson and Wood Architects, was built by FJ Fair in 1914.

Christ Church, the bishop's residence, the vicarage and the parish hall are located on land granted to the Church of England in 1855 and named Church Square, a rare and significant square in the history of town planning in Victoria which demonstrates the importance of the church to the community.

All the buildings on the square are integral and important components of an ecclesiastical group which demonstrates a changing sequence of architectural styles from the early 1850s to the second decade of the twentieth century.

Christ Church demonstrates outstanding craftsmanship in its triangular rose window, said to have been modelled on Lichfield Cathedral; its lofty chancel with richly coloured wall stencilling; its timber trussed ceiling; and its fine and varied collection of stained glass which includes examples of the work of leading stained glass firms and artists in Victoria in the nineteenth and early twentieth century: Ferguson & Urie, William Montgomery and Brooks Robinson.

The material used in the construction of the church is noteworthy as rarely used undressed random coursed sandstone from Point King, Sorrento.

The western rose window is of particular note for its unusual shape. The only other similar example known in Victoria is at St Georges Presbyterian Church, East St Kilda, designed by Purchas in 1877.

The organ is an important element of the church. Built in 1859 by the noted organ builder William Hill of London and enlarged in 1916 by Meadway and Slatterie, it is the earliest documented Hill organ to be exported to an Australian church.

[Source: Report to the Minister.]

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