Repost this day 2019: Italianate, but wait there’s more – #ChristchurchBrunswick, a great and unusually styled church built over many stages (first pic mine). The vaguely Regency nave, with its square windows, and slightly gothic front windows, is early, 1857, by #PurchasAndSwyer (that’s #AlbertPurchas, who had a long career). The #campanile is by #SmithAndWatts, added in 1871, is broadly #Italianate, of the original sort that was developed in the UK in the 1830s as an exotic ‘Italian Rustic’ style, but again with Gothic / Romanesque details. The #HeritageVictoria citation says it’s possibly inspired from an English 1832 pattern book called ‘Villa Rustica’, but also looks like the tower at #OsborneHouse, Queen Vics huge pile on the Isle of Wight, built in the late 1840s- which inspired ALL those Italianate mansion towers in Victoria.
While #ChristchurchBrunswick is broadly Italianate, most details are Gothic. The 1871 doorway by #SmithAndWatts is Gothic/ #Romanesque, with that detail where the elements looks kind of sliced, which I really like. There’s also clearly #GothicRevival elements, some #quatrefoil windows, and inside, there’s that great font, very #highvictorian, while the interior generally feels rustic, maybe Romanesque, rather than a specific style.
I’ve always liked the ochre coloured render, or maybe it’s #limewash, looks nicely Italian, just the thing for something that’s described as #Italianate. Update: it was applied in the early 80s, some kind of render product that’s damaging the render underneath.
Storey of Melbourne 