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Scots Church - Organ Case and Stained Glass

Other Name Scots Presbyterian Church Location 140- 154 Collins Street,, MELBOURNE VIC 3000 - Property No B2024 File Number B2024 Level State

[1/2] B2024 Scots Church [2/2] B2024 Scots Church

Statement of Significance

Church Statement of Significance:Scots Church is culturally significant at a state level. An essay in the Decorated mode of Gothic Revival architecture, this church is unusual in relation to other Presbyterian church buildings in Victoria. Designed by the prominent Melbourne architectural firm, Reed and Barnes and built in 1873-74, it has a spacious nave and sloping floor, transepts, apse, spire to the south west and an arcaded gallery in the main gable. The austere interior has fine timber fittings, particularly the cedar casework around the organ, designed by Reed and Barnes. The beautiful stained glass is of note, executed by Ferguson & Urie, of Melbourne, Vanderpoorten of Brussels and F.X. Zettler of Munich.
Built on a site granted to Melbourne's original Church of Scotland congregation in 1839, the present Scots Church in 1874 replaced an earlier building that had (at its formation in 1859) come into the possession of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria, which united the Church of Scotland, the Free Church and the United Presbyterian Church. Scots Church in the late 1870s and early 1880s was home to a fashionable, distinguished and progressive congregation led initially by the Rev. Peter Menzies then by his more famous (if controversial) successor, the Rev. Charles Strong. The future Dame Nellie Melba, whose father David Mitchell built the church, sang in its choir. Scots Church has long been the principal Presbyterian Church in the City of Melbourne, and was historically a base for Scottish tradition and culture.
Church Classified: 24/04/1989

Public Art: Ferguson & Urie Stained Glass West Window - 'Eight Episodes from the Gospels' . Statement of Significance: This major work documents the early development of the art of stained glass in Australia. It is one of a highly distinctive group of windows dating to the 1860s-1870s which are of great historic importance from the point of view of early trade and studio production. The windows are also of an aesthetic quality comparable with the best imports of the time.
Stained Glass Classified: 18/11/1992

Organ Case: Statement of Singificance: The most imposing organ case to survive from Joseph Reed's architectural partnership, whose designs included the instruments at the Exhibition Building and St Paul's Cathedral. The Scots' Church organ case is notable for its striking design, with elaborate Gothic carved detailing, incorporating three circular towers raised on massive corbels, rising from a buttressed and arcaded base. Constructed in 1874 by James McEwan in polished Australian cedar for the original Mackenzie, Lee & Kaye organ, it received in 1999 new tin facade pipes and side panels at the time of the installation of the new Rieger organ.
Organ Classified: 'Local' 21/04/1993