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St James Old Anglican Cathedral

Location 419 - 435 King Street,, MELBOURNE VIC 3000 - Property No B0133 File Number B0133 Level National

[1/1] B0133 St James Old Anglican

Statement of Significance

Victoria's most distinguished Colonial Georgian building and first permanent Anglican church, designed by the architect Robert Russell under the influence of Francis Greenaway and Francis Clarke of Sydney, and constructed from 1839 onwards. Russell's original scheme had a spire and was a reduced version of Greenaway's St James's, Sydney. The general composition built in freestone at the east end is highly sophisticated and based on Robert Adam's entrance to Edinburgh University. The building is now the only significant surviving example using the sandstone from the south side of the Yarra which characterises major projects of the 1890s. Russell was replaced as architect by Charles Laing who added rudimentary transepts and, under the influence of Dr J F Palmer, an octagonal cupola in place of the proposed spire. From 1847 the church served as pro-cathedral for Bishop Charles Perry. Construction was essentially complete in 1851, but interior finishes and pewing were later. In 1913 the building was moved from the corner of Collins and William Streets to the present position, and in the process the ceiling height was lowered slightly, and the square stage of the tower replicated with a second octagonal one.
Classified: 22/05/1958