16 December 2019

#ChristchurchStKilda, pass it often, today the sun just right, making the Sorrento sandstone (almost) glow. Designed by #PurchasAndSwire in 1854 (#AlbertPurchas wasn’t quite 30 years old), this front and the nave built by 1857. It’s a bit severe I think, though that’s not a bad thing, #EarlyEnglish style was rough with small windows I suppose. But still, the never built spire would have lifted the whole thing, and now the big buttresses just stop abruptly (image via their FB page). The back/chancel is a bit more varied, added in two stages in matching stone.

Inside is quite a delight, with elaborate painted decoration with gilded highlights, big timber roof, a very early organ (1860), stained glass windows of course, and the 1850s marble font has just been repaired. Last two pics church Facebook page.

Apparently the decoration is largely invented, but I like !

July 2026

There arnt a lot of fully Victorian Gothic Revival houses in Melb, so the vicarage next to Christ Church St Kilda stands out – but I’d say it’s not very good ! There’s no fine details, it’s all heavy masses of cement rendered walls, the multiple bay windows are kind of restless, the windows are narrow – the only delight is the verandah but even that’s a bit stolid. The heritage listings give no details, so I was happy to find the tender notice after only 10 mins of searching Trove – it was designed by Sydney W Smith, and built 1884-5; he was a local, had been the town engineer for many years, and finished off the church itself about the same time. That’s pretty heavy too, but in lovely sandstone. The vicarage / parsonage supplanted the 1855 one round the corner, in a more interesting Gothic, which they then rented out.

Old vicarage

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