John Knox Church, later Church of Christ , 327 Swanston Street & 178 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
Archives
Total copies: 1
Title:
John Knox Church, later Church of Christ , 327 Swanston Street & 178 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 109310
Level of description:
Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
Type of materials:
Graphic materialsTextual material
Part of:
Series: Central City (BIF-CITY)
Access restrictions:
UnrestrictedOpen access.
Use restrictions:
UnrestrictedPlease contact City of Melbourne Libraries about obtaining permission to reproduce images.
General notes:
RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER 2023:__________________________________________________DATE: 1863;ASSOCIATIONS: John Knox Church Trustees;DESIGNER: Webb, Charles 1863;BUILDER: Cunningham, PeterStyle: Gothic revivalPeriod: Early Victorian.VICTORIA HERITAGE REGISTERStatement of SignificanceWhat is significant?Designed by Charles Webb, this church was built in 1863 for the Free Presbyterian Church of Australia. Known as the John Knox Presbyterian Church, it replaced an earlier church of the same name which was designed by Charles Laing and opened in 1848 for the newly formed branch of the Presbyterian Church.In the 1840s there was a major split in the Victorian Presbyterian Church, following a division in the Church of Scotland in 1843, and a faction of Presbyterians formed the Free Presbyterian Church of Australia Felix. From 1846-47 about seventy members of this new church worshipped in temporary accommodation until the construction of the John Knox Church, the predecessor of this building, in 1848. The Reverend James Forbes became the first minister of this church, after his resignation from the established church due to his support of the Free Church. Arriving in the colony in 1839, only three years after the town's foundation, Forbes was minister to the Scots Church congregation until his resignation.Despite a reunification of most of the Presbyterian factions in 1859, some of the Free Presbyterians continued worshipping separately, including this congregation. In 1861 the church building was felt to be unsafe and in February 1863 the foundation stone of a new church was laid. At this time the church land was subdivided into three allotments, two of which were sold that same year.In 1879 the John Knox congregation was dissolved and Webb's church was bought by the Church of Christ in 1881.The form of Charles Webb's rendered brick church, with slate roof, is typical of the Gothic Revival in Victoria. Early English in style, buttresses divide the nave of the church into six bays, each containing a simple lancet window. Most of the decoration of the elaborate front facade is concentrated on the central section, which incorporates a traceried window above an entrance of receding orders, flanking octagonal turrets and a pierced parapet.How is it significant?The Church of Christ, Swanston Street is of architectural and historical significance to the State of Victoria.Why is it significant?The Church of Christ, Swanston Street is of architectural significance as one of the earlier works of the important Victorian architect Charles Webb, who was responsible for a number of significant works including the Royal Arcade (1869, VHR H0023), the South Melbourne Town Hall (1880, VHR H0217) and the Windsor Hotel (1883, VHR H0764). It is also of importance for its facade which is amongst the most elaborate stuccoed Gothic facades in Victoria.The Church of Christ, Swanston Street is of historical significance for its associations with the early history of the Presbyterian Church in Victoria, in particular the Reverend James Forbes, the first moderator of the presbytery of Melbourne in 1844 and leader in the constitution of the Free Church of Australia Felix in 1847.[Online Data Upgrade Project 2008].GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites source 83_________________________________________FACEBOOK 2022https://www.facebook.com/FergusonAndUrie/posts/pfbid02XVG7Qho8ZsH2optXhpfw57yF8C6tW74Sqaz5FDKE1o9HVCGRN4tMT1Ro5SbBhp3UlFerguson & UrieOne of only five known Ferguson & Urie stained glass windows with a makers mark on it exists in the former John Knox Church opposite the State Library of Victoria in Swanston Street. Thousands of People walk past this church every day and yet they have no idea that the grey sober leaded outline of the triple light window facing the street is a magnificent kaleidoscope of colours within. Equally, no-one has seen the company name at the base of the centre window. It can't be seen with the naked eye. The window dates from circa 1863, only two years after they transformed the plumbing, slating, and glazing company towards stained glass work.http://wp.me/p28nLD-10A_________________________________________LEWIS, M- AUSTRALIAN ARCHITECTURE INDEX:Record 10246 Webb, Charles VIC Churches 1862 10 18: Charles WebbTenders wanted - taking down and rebuilding John Knox Church, Swanston St.Argus 18.10.1862 p 3 (333 Swanston St)MCC registration no 501 [Burchett Index]. No fee chargeable take down and rebuild church in brick & stone Swanston St - John Knox Church77530 Trustees John Knox Church Melbourne VIC Schools Pollett, Samuel 1850 02 26 38 MCC registration no 38 [Burchett Index]. Fee 2.2.0school house Swanston, adjoining Free Presbyterian Church;77545 Trustees of John Knox Church Melbourne VIC Houses Allenden & Jones - bricklayers - Latrobe St 1850 12 16 521, MCC registration no 521 [Burchett Index]. Fee 3.3.0 housealso cites Historic Buildings of Victoria p 100:Charles Webb designed Church of Christ, corner Swanston and Little Lonsdale Streets - much altered later._______________________________________VICTORIA HERITAGE REGISTERDesigned by Charles Webb, this church was built in 1863 for the Free Presbyterian Church of Australia. Known as the John Knox Presbyterian Church, it replaced an earlier church of the same name which was designed by Charles Laing and opened in 1848 for the newly formed branch of the Presbyterian Church.In the 1840s there was a major split in the Victorian Presbyterian Church, following a division in the Church of Scotland in 1843, and a faction of Presbyterians formed the Free Presbyterian Church of Australia Felix. From 1846-47 about seventy members of this new church worshipped in temporary accommodation until the construction of the John Knox Church, the predecessor of this building, in 1848. The Reverend James Forbes became the first minister of this church, after his resignation from the established church due to his support of the Free Church. Arriving in the colony in 1839, only three years after the town's foundation, Forbes was minister to the Scots Church congregation until his resignation.Despite a reunification of most of the Presbyterian factions in 1859, some of the Free Presbyterians continued worshipping separately, including this congregation. In 1861 the church building was felt to be unsafe and in February 1863 the foundation stone of a new church was laid. At this time the church land was subdivided into three allotments, two of which were sold that same year.In 1879 the John Knox congregation was dissolved and Webb's church was bought by the Church of Christ in 1881.The draft statement of significance and the above history were produced as part of an Online Data Upgrade Project 2008. Sources were as follows: M. Lewis [ed]. Victorian Churches. Their origins, their stories and their architecture. Melbourne 1991A. Macdonald. One Hundred Years of Presbyterianism in Victoria. Melbourne 1937J. M. Freeland. Melbourne Churches 1836-1851. Melbourne 1963J. Alex Allan. 'The History of the John Knox Glebe in Swanston St', Victorian Historical Magazine, vol 20, 1943-4E. L. French, 'Forbes, James (1813-1851)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol 1, 1966, pp 399-400Contextual History: History of Place:This church replaced the earlier John Knox Church built on Allotment 10, Section 28 in 1847 to a design by Charles Laing. The existing building became necessary when the original church, located on a north-south axis and setback from both Swanston Street and Little Lonsdale Street began to crumble and fall into disrepair.Peter Cunningham of Fitzroy won the contract for construction of the new John Knox Church at a price of 4,000 pounds.In 1879 the John Knox congregation was dissolved and the site and church building purchased by the disciples of Christ.The genesis of the Swanston Street Church of Christ lay in 1853 when a group of four men met in a house in Queens Street, later transferring to a tent in Chapel Street, Prahran, and finally forming the Prahran Church of Christ. In 1854 a few of the Prahran group commenced a meeting in the Mechanics' Institute, Collins Street (the present site of the Athenaeum Library). They next moved to the Temperance Hall, Russell Street and then in 1865, together with the congregation that had been meeting in Barkly Street, Carlton, they erected a church in Lygon Street. Some 60 of the Temperance Hall congregation decided to stay in the City and commenced meetings in 1865 in the Manchester Unity Hall which was next door to the John Knox Church. In 1881 the Swanston Street congregation became tenants of the by-then dissolved John Knox Church and bought the building in 1883.The building is largely intact, except for the bell which is now at the Anglican Church in Nar-nar-goon, and the cast iron palisade and lamp standards to Swanston Street._______________________________________NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)1863The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954) Sat 14 Feb 1863 Page 6https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/154971216LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE OF JOHN KNOX'S CHURCH, SWANSTON STREET.The foundation stone of the new Free Presbyterian Church, in Swanston street, was laid yesterday by the Rev. William Miller, the pastor of the Church, in the presence of « considerable number of persons, principally members of the congregation. The services having been opened with prayer, Mr W. M. Bell read a document, being a copy of that which had been deposited under the stone of the old Church, the building of which was commenced in 1847-He then read a copy of a paper which, with other documents, were to be deposited under the foundation-stone of the new Church. It is as follows : — ' As will be seen from a written parchment enclosed at the time, now again deposited with other papers in this bottle, the first John Knox's Church was commenced on the 17th day of November, 1847, a year after the Rev James Forbes, with this congregation, withdrew from the body in connection with the Church of Scotland, because of her unfaithfulness. It having become necessary that a new church should be erected, it was agreed by the congregation that this building should be erected. The foundation stone was laid this 13 th day of February, 1863, by the pastor of the congregation, the Rev William Miller, in presence of the congregation. The congregation is, as formerly. under the jurisdiction of the Free Presbyterian Church of Victoria (formerly Australia Felix), which holds unchanged the principles she held in 1847- These principles may be learned from the papers which were enclosed at the laying of the ' first foundation, and now re-deposited, but they are more formally found in the Fundamental Act, at pages 3 to 6 in the 'Acts of Synod,' a copy of which is now deposited. …The ceremony was concluded by prayer, and the assemblage then separated. The following is a description of the proposed new church : — The building is designed in the early decorated style of gothic, with a basement story constructed of bluestone, and the superstructure of brick, with cement finishings externally. The internal dimensions of the church will be — extreme length, from east to west, 76 feet ; width, 41 feet ; and height of walls, 22 feet 6 inches. The roof will be in one span and open to the ridge, showing its construction; the trusses ornamented with gothic tracery and pendants, and the whole of the timbers stained light oak color. The seats and the pulpit and precentor s desK are to be or polished cedar, and the latter will be placed on a platform at the west end of the church. The platform is to be enclosed with a. gothic railing. In the tear of the pulpit a staircase will lead to the basement story, in which will be provided .the vestry, 13 feet by 10 feet; session house, 32 feet by 17 feet, and rooms for a residence for the beadle. The principal front of the building will be to Swanston street, the main features of which consist of a large entrance doorway, approached by a flight of nine steps, and enriched with gothic columns with foliated capitals ; a handsome three-light window, with gothic tracery, over the entrance, glazed with ornamental glass. The centre of the front will project forward, forming the entrance lobby, and will have at each angle an octagonal turret, rising to the height of 62 feet. Each side of the building is to have six single light-windows, glazed with ground glass and ornamental margins.In the rear, or -west end of the building will be a handsome wheel window, glazed with ornamental glass, and a bell turret on the apex of the g able. Mr Charles Webb, of Collins street, is the architect, and Mr Peter Cunningham, of Nicholson street, the builder, who has contracted to complete the works by the 4th of April next. The whole of the cost will be about £40001937https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/205558520HISTORIC BUILDING.Swanston-st. Church of Christ.To commemorate his fiftieth consecutive year as secretary of Swanston-street Church of Christ, Mr. Robert Lyall, of North Melbourne, has published an interesting history or the establishment of the church.Giving Information which led up to the formation of the congregation in Swanston-street, Mr. Lyall writes that early in 1853 an advertisement appeared in a Melbourne newspaper, which read: — "All disciples of Christ are earnestly invited to wait upon. Bro. J. Ingram, 20 Queen-street Melbourne, with a view to remembering the Lord in His own ap pointed way." Four persons attended the meeting, and met regularly for some months. Later service was held in a tent in Chapel-street, Prahran. That church celebrated its 84th anniversary on November. 15 last. In May, 1854, a congregation of ten worshipped in the Mechanics' Institute . Collins-street (now known as the Athenaeum), and later transferred to the site of the old Temperance Hall, Russell-street. One of the leaders of the church was the late Mr. Robert Service, father of the late Mr. James Service, who afterwards became Premier of Victoria. The next move was to St. George's Hall, Bourke-street. In April, 1865, the foundation stone of the Lygon-street church was laid, and the church was opened In October of the same year. Then about 60 adherents of the church formed a new congregation, and worshipped at Manchester Unity Hall, Swanston-street. Some fifteen years later the congregation moved into the present building, opposite the Melbourne Library. It was then known as the John Knox Presbyterian Church. A lease of the building was taken, and it was finally purchased from the Presbyterian Church of Victoria In March, 1883, at an auction sale held at the rooms of Fraser and Co.. Queen-street, the property being knocked down to the bid of the late Mr. Edward Duckett, iron merchant, Lonsdale-street on behalf of the Church of Christ trustees."Probably many of those who worship at the church," writes Mr. Lyall, "are not aware of the historic associations of our building. It was erected In 1847, the foundation stone being laid on November 17 of that year, and the structure was designed by the late Mr. Charles Laing, Mr. James Forbes was the minister of Boots' Church, Collins-street, in 1847, but in consequence of a controversy between soma members of the congregation and himself he retired from that ministry, and founded another body, known as the Free Presbyterian Church, composed of some of his former followers at Scots' Church. Those people purchased land at the corner of Swanston and Little Lonsdale streets, and erected the present building, and called it the John Knox Presbyterian Church. The breach between Mr. Forbes and the Congregationalist Scots' Church was healed on April 7, 1849, but the separate church was continued until about 1881. Mr Forbes was one of the leading educationists of the State. He conducted a small school at the rear of the present Swans ton-street building, and that school was the precursor of the present Scotch College. Mr. Forbes died on August 21, 1851, at the age of 38 years..1940https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/204009736THE CHANGING FACE OF SWANSTON STREETJames Forbes and His Manse.BY J.A.A.There is always something particularly sad in the destruction of a fin e old house.To-day James Forbes's manse, in its 90th year, is in the hands of the wrecker, the stripped front wall stares through the sightless eyes of ' its upper windows across Swanston-street to the pillared porch of the Public Library and the bronze figure of Redmond Barry, who knew it well in his time. For nearly a quarter of a century Forbes's manse has been hidden inside the shell of a factory which was built round and above it. At that period some of the inner walls were knocked out to make wider space; the stairway was moved from its original position to a spot on the northern side; on the first floor the dividing walls between four rooms and a corridor were taken out to form one large storeroom; display windows were built out flush with the footpath, engulfing the wide lawn, and new brickwork linked up the old slate-roofed stables, coach house and man's quarters with the main building. Now the demolition of the show windows has laid bare the dignified, battered old facade, which will itself soon go.A Great EducationistAway back in 1850, when Melbourne, was only 15 years old, and when a full half of the Swanston- street frontage between Little Lonsdale and Latrob'e streets belonged to the John Knox Presbyterian Church, the manse was built for James Forbes, A.M., minister of that church, former minister of Soots' Church, ' Collins-street, and "Victoria's First Public Educationist," through whose efforts was founded, among other institutions, Scotch College—the beginning of our public- school system. As originally built, the manse was a fine two-story brick structure of eight rooms— four of these being 13 feet 0 Inches by 14 feet 6 inches, and the remaining four 14 M feet by 10 feet. Central corridors, each 6 feet wide, ran from front to back on both floors. There were eight fireplaces— one to each room— and all rooms wore well lit with wide and lofty windows. The Interior fit tings were good throughout, the stair newels and rails being of cedar, and the facade was finished with dignified and ornate cement work. A lawn 17 feet deep stretched across the front. (In later years this has been covered In by show windows.) The house was covered with a slate "M" roof (double-gabled). The stable and coach house were also of brick and slate-roofed. On other parts of this land— "allotment 10 of town section 28" other buildings have, from 1847 onward, been erected, served their purposes, and given place to others. That, however, Is a story for another time. The old manse has seen all its contemporaries out, and is the last to go. Within its walls, on August 4, 1851, during his last days, James Forbes entered the record of the birth and baptism of his three- weeks old. son in the register, murmuring, "I have performed the last act of my ministry." Eight days afterwards, worn out with the continuous strain of his incessant efforts in the cause of religious, educational and social advancement, he died. He was only 38. It was characteristic of him that before he died he had sent a cheery message to the children of the John Knox school which he had founded. In the funeral procession of 500 persons, as it left the door of the manse for the old West Melbourne Cemetery, went Governor La Trobe, the Colonial Treasurer, the Collector of Customs, the Sheriff, the Postmaster-General, other heads of public departments, Melbourne's leading citizens, and— greatest tribute perhaps of all— the Very Rev. Dr. Geoghegan, Catholic Vicar-General of Melbourne. The press of the day described the death as a "public calamity." in Melbourne General Cemetery, whither Forbes's remains were removed in 1855, may be seen to-day his grave, with lis beautiful monument. Changing Tenancy- After Forbes, the old manse housed till 1856 his successor, Rev. Wm. Miller. When he left, it was for many years the home of Dr. James Robertson, and of that prominent citizen Dr. A. F. A. Greeves. After wards, among a succession of ten ants, were Dr. Thomas Rowan,' W. R. Furlong the musician, a police superintendent, a matrimonial agency, a college of music, a Commonwealth Government department, the ' Salvation Army, and a coffee palace, proprietor. So far, except for the addition of a room or two by Dr. Rowan, and other minor changes, the aspect of the building from the street had remained unaltered. But in 1917 it became a furniture warehouse, numbered 343-5 Swanston-street. Swallowed up in a new, bizarre frontage; Its interior "remodelled" till nothing remained but Its outer shell, it nevertheless still obstinately retained those traces of its former identity which the removal of obscuring "additions" reveals to-day. To-morrow what is left of it may be gone. But its spirit— which is the spirit of the great and good man for whom It was built— will stay .with us always.
Related material link:
Topics:
Places:
Form/Genre:
Record types:
Research and reports
Record number:
1264373
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 109310 | 1 PDF : 1,131 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |