30 October 2024

Even though one is so much bigger than the other, and they’re very close, at ground level you don’t get the feeling of the new dominating the old. This might be partly because of all the trees you don’t get to see them together in a long view, and partly because there’s a podium level with different more detailed treatment, and the tower itself is set back. There’s also a high space under the tower at ground level which helps, but any delicate effect is lost at ground level with the round structural columns standing clear, covered in some burnished luxy gold stuff. The Wesley Church in Lonsdale Street is a very important early Gothic design by Joseph Reed, finished in 1857; the tower was finished in 2021, designed by @coxarchitecture, and part of the deal was $5mill to restore the church, not that it was falling apart, but much all the stonework is now new, though they didn’t recreate a couple of the missing pinnacles. Nearly forgot – would have been better of course to have no tower, or greatly set back, and kept the Gothicy 1920s Princess Mary Club, but the church authorities had hopes for a tower from about 1988, and just let it fall apart. Shows that even a church organisation can get bedazzled by the notion of property development. The deal also included ground rent from the developers, I hope at least it’s indexed. Photos of the club from Facebook, and of the plaque snow installed in the garden from @chrismbr, since I didn’t notice it.

As commenter Steve Stephanopoulos pointed out, there’s a lot of nice new stonework, but they didn’t rebuild these two missing pinnacle tops. He also notes that the spire was more elaborate, but all the decayed detail was removed between the wars and never replaced.

The famous Olive Tree in the new parklet behind the Wesley Church in Lonsdale Street – rumoured to be planted in 1839 from a cutting from Jerusalem, but the evidence is it was planted in 1875 by a church goer who had an olive plantation. The space is nice, much better than the gravel carpark there before, but I thought there’d be more grass (which was roped off ?!), and at 3.15 in October had just a sliver of sun, but then it is the cbd. There’ll be somewhat less in future when the crazy curvy boutique offices opposite are finished, though they’re designed to allow sun in between 1-2pm. The area also sports a huge oak (is that right?), and the excellent 1859 school house, by Joseph Reed to match his church, with its external stairs, and the 1914 caretakers cottage, also Gothic but in brick, now a bar. A boundary wall was also kept, though might have been nicer without. It all felt rather dim and lifeless, with an awful lot of paving, but I should see it at lunchtime I guess.

Don’t think I like the new landscaping in front of the Wesley Church in Lonsdale Street; it was uninspired concrete lawn and bushes before, now has more plants and places to sit, but an awful lot of paving – did they think it would be thronged with people ? And why the pattern ? It leads the eye to the church, but it’s not like that’s needed. In fact the landscape design is all rather restless, and detracts from appreciating the Gothic splendour. But it’s not a disaster. The 1935 bronze of John Wesley by Paul Montford looks all cleaned up and fine, except the spiders have already occupied his nose. I feel like there’s more webs than there used to be? In every gap in every building ?

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