St Andrew's Church, Brighton

About

St Andrew's Brighton is the Anglican parish church of the beachside suburb of Brighton, Melbourne. It is the oldest continuous Anglican church in Victoria, Australia. Opened on St Andrew's Day in 1842, St Andrew's was one of the earliest Christian churches established in the Port Phillip District and predates both the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne and the colony, now state, of Victoria. Located in a large historic precinct in Middle Brighton, including a rare pre-gold rush graveyard, St Andrew's is one of Australia's most notable churches, known for its liturgical and musical tradition since the mid 19th century. The present building, opened in 1962, was designed by the noted Australian architect Louis Williams to become the cathedral for the proposed Diocese of the Mornington Peninsula following the planned division of the Diocese of Melbourne. Although the Melbourne diocese remained intact, St Andrew's was completed to be one of the largest church buildings in Australia; its vast and versatile space has been described as the "Cathedral of Light". St Andrew's Brighton maintains close and historic ties with both Brighton Grammar School and Firbank Grammar School.

Set amidst an extensive landscaped historic precinct 500 metres from the Brighton beach, the land of St Andrew's Brighton is on the eastern side of New Street in Middle Brighton. The church lent its name to the other property boundaries to the south and east: Church Street and St Andrews Street. To the north, St Andrew's grounds border Brighton Grammar School, as in the 1920s the school received in trust five acres of the original ten acres of land granted to the church in 1841.

The main church car parking area is entered from New Street, to the north of the corner of Church and New Streets; the entry to the car park is at the site of the rustic timber lych gate, built to the west of the church in 1926 in the Arts and Crafts style and possibly designed by Louis Williams.

In 1840, the first recorded church services at Waterville, as the Brighton area was then known, were held in a tent. In May 1841, ten acres of land were set aside as a Church of England Reserve in the "Brighton Estate" planned by Henry Dendy and Jonathan Binns Were. This "Church Reserve" site was located in the planned small township of fashionable crescents, between the outer crescent and desirable allotments that ran to Port Phillip Bay.

In 1842, the first St Andrew's Church building was opened on 30 November. As the day of the opening of the first church building was dedicated to Saint Andrew in the church calendar, the parish was named St Andrew's. Although St Andrew's Brighton was the second Anglican church established in the Port Phillip District, following the elevation of St James’ Church, Melbourne to Cathedral status in 1848 and the subsequent closure of the St James’ Old Cathedral building in 1912 and the consequent removal of the building to new land in West Melbourne in 1913–1914, St Andrew's Brighton has the longest continuous history of any Anglican church in Victoria. The Revd Adam Compton Thomson, the only Anglican priest in the Port Phillip District at the time, opened the first building and was the first to minister to the Brighton congregation.

On 24 October 1843, the two-acre St Andrew's Graveyard, established to the north-east of the first building, was consecrated by Bishop William Grant Broughton, the first and only Bishop of Australia. The graveyard was the first portion of the existing church land to be used for religious purposes and is a rare surviving example in Victoria of a pre-gold rush graveyard. The first burial took place the following year, well before the opening of the Brighton General Cemetery in 1855, and St Andrew's Cemetery was the major burial ground for the district. More than 300 burials took place, mostly before 1860, and the graves of many district pioneers are located in the graveyard. After over 100 years of interments, the last burial took place in 1948. However, the adjoining garden of remembrance, established in 1953, remains in use. Melbourne's oldest churchyard cemetery, the St Andrew's Graveyard is one of only four remaining churchyard cemeteries in Melbourne.

In 1842, the first St Andrew's Church building was opened on 30 November. As the day of the opening of the first church building was dedicated to Saint Andrew in the church calendar, the parish was named St Andrew's. Although St Andrew's Brighton was the second Anglican church established in the Port Phillip District, following the elevation of St James’ Church, Melbourne to Cathedral status in 1848 and the subsequent closure of the St James’ Old Cathedral building in 1912 and the consequent removal of the building to new land in West Melbourne in 1913–1914, St Andrew's Brighton has the longest continuous history of any Anglican church in Victoria. The Revd Adam Compton Thomson, the only Anglican priest in the Port Phillip District at the time, opened the first building and was the first to minister to the Brighton congregation.

On 24 October 1843, the two-acre St Andrew's Graveyard, established to the north-east of the first building, was consecrated by Bishop William Grant Broughton, the first and only Bishop of Australia. The graveyard was the first portion of the existing church land to be used for religious purposes and is a rare surviving example in Victoria of a pre-gold rush graveyard. The first burial took place the following year, well before the opening of the Brighton General Cemetery in 1855, and St Andrew's Cemetery was the major burial ground for the district. More than 300 burials took place, mostly before 1860, and the graves of many district pioneers are located in the graveyard. After over 100 years of interments, the last burial took place in 1948. However, the adjoining garden of remembrance, established in 1953, remains in use. Melbourne's oldest churchyard cemetery, the St Andrew's Graveyard is one of only four remaining churchyard cemeteries in Melbourne.

Opened on St Andrew's Day, 30 November 1842, this small stone building, erected to the south of the present site in 1842 as No. 1 St Andrews Street, was used as a church and school. However, the north-western extension of Church Street, from St Andrews Street to the junction with New Street, isolated the southern portion of the "Church Reserve" from the main site soon after construction. This southern portion was not conveyed to the church in 1843 and other development took place on that land. The building seated 100 people, about 20% of the local population of 500, and was one of the first church buildings in the south-eastern mainland of the Diocese of Australia. In 1843, it was recorded that 75 pupils were enrolled at the newly established St Andrew's School, which was officially opened as School No. 44 in 1849 by Church of England authorities.

On 29 August 1850, The Right Reverend Charles Perry, Bishop of Melbourne, laid the foundation stone for a rectangular ironstone church, designed by architect, Melbourne city surveyor and St Andrew's parishioner, Charles Laing. This building was erected to the north-west of the St Andrew's Graveyard, featured plastered brick reveals and trims, was Gothic Revival in style and included a tower that was never built in the scheme. Seating 250 people, it was opened on 12 October 1851 by The Revd William Brickwood, Vicar from 1849 to 1853. In the late 1920s, the present Vicarage was built on the site of this second church building.

Third church building and school house: 1857

By 1857, the congregation had outgrown the second church building. The parishioner, Brighton resident and prolific Melbourne architect Charles Webb, and his partner Thomas Taylor, were commissioned to design a new bluestone church, school house and vicarage. "King Webb" designed the new bluestone church in the Early English Gothic style, with a prominent bellcote surmounting the gable, a small gabled western entrance porch, a seven-bay nave and small chancel. Webb's building was considered "one of the more perfect examples of a church of the period in the Colony" and the majority of the building, including the distinctive western facade, remains a Brighton landmark.

The ironstone church building was demolished and some of the stone used in the construction of a T-shaped school house building. St Andrew's School, originally established in the first small wooden church building 15 years earlier, continued to operate in this ironstone school building until 1875 when students were relocated to a new school in Brighton, established after the state school system was introduced in 1872. The school house was then used for Sunday School and other church activities.

In 1886, a north wing was added to the school house building, creating the symmetrical H-shaped building which survives today. Designed in a Gothic Revival style, the symmetrical H-shaped school house is constructed of random coursed, locally quarried ironstone and is roofed in slate. It has projecting gabled end wings, a central projecting entry porch and render detailing that includes parapets, finials, angle buttresses, window and door surrounds and gable vents. When additions were made to the church building in 1886, the altar and furnishings from the demolition of the chancel were installed in the central space of the school house. The building is currently used as a café and coffee shop.

St Andrew's School House is of architectural and historical significance to the State of Victoria as one of the few surviving examples of Charles Webb's distinctive institutional buildings, as a rare example of a building constructed of local ironstone and as a rare surviving example of a substantial early denominational school building.

In the 1860s and 1870s, Brighton further expanded as a desirable beach-side suburb and by 1886 necessary additions were made to the church.

Large sandstone transepts and an apsidal chancel were added to the existing bluestone church by 'probably the best known figure in the architectural profession in Melbourne', architect Lloyd Tayler. Built in the High Victorian Gothic style, and constructed of Oamaru limestone from New Zealand, Charles Webb 's bluestone church served as the nave in the enlarged building.

As the simpler Early English Gothic and decorated High Victorian Gothic architectural styles were not considered visually compatible, there was provision for either replacing the bluestone nave, or cladding it in Oamaru limestone to complement the transepts and chancel.

The 1886 Lloyd Tayler interior featured elaborate woodwork in the sanctuary fittings including a large rood screen and divided choir stalls, and magnificent stained glass windows in the transepts and chancel. The designs for Tayler's additions, opened in August 1886 and costing £7,000 – a substantial sum for the time, were clearly influenced by the most prolific 19th century Gothic Revivalists, including A.W.N. Pugin and Sir George Gilbert Scott.

In 1928, St Andrew's Parish Hall, designed by architect Louis Williams, was built to the east of the 19th century school house building. This large Arts and Crafts-influenced building facing St Andrews Street is constructed of clinker brick and the symmetrical front facade contains a broad central jerkinhead gable roof.