Wentworth Memorial Church

About

Wentworth Memorial Church is a heritage-listed former Anglican church building located at 32B Fitzwilliam Road, Vaucluse, Sydney, Australia. It was designed by Clarke Gazzard and Partners and built by Monteith Constructions, with Miller Milston and Ferris as engineers. The property is privately owned; and was formerly owned by the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 25 September 2012.

The construction of a Church of England on this site was the intention of the immediate family of William Charles Wentworth ( c. 1790 - 1872), whose trustees gave the land to the Church of England Diocese of Sydney Property Trust for that purpose in 1927. The parcel of land was shaped by suburban subdivision from 1904 and 1907. It was part of the Vaucluse Estate purchased by W. C. Wentworth in 1827, and as early as 1831 was planned to be eventually consecrated for the Wentworth Family Vault. The large boulder then visible from the verandah of Vaucluse House was the picturesque site designated by Wentworth himself. The Mausoleum and Vault were built for the interment of the remains of W. C. Wentworth on 6 May 1873, also the day of the consecration.

At the transfer of land to the Property Trust it was a condition that a church, hall and rectory were to be erected by 1937. The Church Hall was built in 1933, the foundation stone laid by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Philip Game, on 7 April, and was used for church services. The congregation was a branch of St Peter's Watsons Bay, but was called Wentworth Memorial.

Under the incumbency of Rev. Neville Cyril Bathgate the architect Donald Gazzard (b. 1929) of Clarke Gazzard and Partners was commissioned to design the new church to house a congregation of 350 (this being the minimum diocesan standard size of the time). Don Gazzard was the design architect for this project. Gazzard trained as an Engineer and architect in England and upon returning to Australia worked for a number of years with Harry Seidler. In the early 1960s he became part of the firm Clarke, Gazzard and Partners and was a leading member of the Paddington Society and contributed to the conservation of the suburb in the 1970s. He became well known in the area of architecture and town planning and worked on the Trans Australia Airlines Terminal at Sydney Airport, the Mona Vale community centre and Goodwin Village at Edgecliff and his own home in Woollahra. The Wentworth Memorial Church was critically acclaimed in many publications when it was completed and was included in Neville Quarry's 1990 publication "World Architecture 1900 - 2000: a critical mosaic." Through all his architectural and planning works Gazzard was widely recognised as an important Australian architect.

The foundation stone to the Church is inscribed "To the glory of God, this stone was set by the Most Reverend Hugh Roland Gough MA, DD, Anglican Archbishop of Sydney and Primate on 27 February 1965, Churchwardens C. J. Sisley, G. H. Green, P. W. Grieve, Rector the Reverend N. C. Bathgate."

The building its forecourt and stepped approach were constructed by the builder Montieth Constructions at a reported cost of A£ 35,000. Designed for it at the same time were its furniture and liturgical furniture, fittings and plate; a wall hanging, organ case, and memorial plaques. Many of these were gifted to the church by families associated with the parish, the Rector and the Wentworth family. At the same time as they gave the sanctuary furniture the Wentworth family commissioned Donald Gazzard to repair the mausoleum. Donald Gazzard added the copper hood above the door to the mausoleum and is thought to have designed the path that connects it to the Church and Fitzwilliam Street, however, this is yet to be confirmed.

The church was built as a memorial to the servicemen and women who served during the World War II. A copper plaque in the floor with black lettering proclaims "We remember with pride and gratitude those who in the 1939 - 1945 War put service to their country before life itself." It was dedicated for use by the Archbishop of Sydney on 19 September 1965, and consecrated on 2 July 1972, once it was free of debt.

The Wentworth Memorial Church was widely published at the time of its completion and is included in architectural histories of Australian Architecture as one of the most significant non domestic works of the Sydney School.

Don Gazard described the Wentworth Memorial Church at Vaucluse as "my most important building from the Sixties."

"During my six years working overseas I had become increasingly interested in the unerring way vernacular buildings respond so directly to local climate and materials, and much was made at the time of the whitewashed "Greek Island" look of this church. I had also seen the radical Le Corbusier Church at Ronchamp, and although neither of these was a conscious influence they must have played some part, like all the other things I had seen; I prefer to leave the influences game to others.

"...[the] Church committee wanted to demolish the hall" [fronting Fitzwilliam Road and build the church there, but I persuaded them to] "build on the great acropolis like rock outcrop in the middle of the site instead. You can imagine the arguments about how difficult it would be for weddings and funerals. But the idea of leaving your car and walking up past those great sandstone rocks, seeing and not seeing the church, to progress across a forecourt with the axis shifting as one enters the church and, then to find natural light flooding down over the sanctuary from a concealed skylight was more attractive.

"The construction is very simple with white painted brickwork, timber floors and ceiling, and specially designed pews from Tasmanian Blackwood. The brief for the church was simple: a church of contemporary design to seat 350 people, which conformed to the liturgy and form of worship of the Church of England. The size was optimistic of course; the hoped for religious revival has still to happen and although the church is full at Christmas and Easter the congregation normally numbers less than a hundred people. I was concerned to incorporate the ideas of the New Liturgical Movement (then current in the design of post-war European churches) and bring the congregation close to the sanctuary in a way that would increase the feeling of direct participation and lessen the feeling of remoteness felt in older churches. These ideas influenced the shape of the church in both the broad width of the nave and the desire for a high level of daylight."

The land containing the adjacent Wentworth Mausoleum is now leased to and maintained by the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales and presented as part of Vaucluse House Estate. The Woollahra Municipal Council nominated the church site for potential NSW State Heritage Register listing, after Council rejected plans by the Anglican Church to subdivide the church and its hall. The Land and Environment Court of New South Wales approved this subdivision in 2010. A previous nomination for NSW State Heritage Register listing was not acted upon by then Minister for Heritage, Frank Sartor MP in 2008.

Last used for communion in 2006, the Anglican Church sold the buildings and 2,000-square-metre (22,000 sq ft) grounds in mid-2017 for A$ 5.6 million to a funeral operator. In November 2017 it was reported that the former church was again listed for sale.

The church building was again put up for sale in September 2021.

Under the incumbency of Rev. Neville Cyril Bathgate the architect Donald Gazzard (b. 1929) of Clarke Gazzard and Partners was commissioned to design the new church to house a congregation of 350 (this being the minimum diocesan standard size of the time). Don Gazzard was the design architect for this project. Gazzard trained as an Engineer and architect in England and upon returning to Australia worked for a number of years with Harry Seidler. In the early 1960s he became part of the firm Clarke, Gazzard and Partners and was a leading member of the Paddington Society and contributed to the conservation of the suburb in the 1970s. He became well known in the area of architecture and town planning and worked on the Trans Australia Airlines Terminal at Sydney Airport, the Mona Vale community centre and Goodwin Village at Edgecliff and his own home in Woollahra. The Wentworth Memorial Church was critically acclaimed in many publications when it was completed and was included in Neville Quarry's 1990 publication "World Architecture 1900 - 2000: a critical mosaic." Through all his architectural and planning works Gazzard was widely recognised as an important Australian architect.

The foundation stone to the Church is inscribed "To the glory of God, this stone was set by the Most Reverend Hugh Roland Gough MA, DD, Anglican Archbishop of Sydney and Primate on 27 February 1965, Churchwardens C. J. Sisley, G. H. Green, P. W. Grieve, Rector the Reverend N. C. Bathgate."

The building its forecourt and stepped approach were constructed by the builder Montieth Constructions at a reported cost of A£ 35,000. Designed for it at the same time were its furniture and liturgical furniture, fittings and plate; a wall hanging, organ case, and memorial plaques. Many of these were gifted to the church by families associated with the parish, the Rector and the Wentworth family. At the same time as they gave the sanctuary furniture the Wentworth family commissioned Donald Gazzard to repair the mausoleum. Donald Gazzard added the copper hood above the door to the mausoleum and is thought to have designed the path that connects it to the Church and Fitzwilliam Street, however, this is yet to be confirmed.

The church was built as a memorial to the servicemen and women who served during the World War II. A copper plaque in the floor with black lettering proclaims "We remember with pride and gratitude those who in the 1939 - 1945 War put service to their country before life itself." It was dedicated for use by the Archbishop of Sydney on 19 September 1965, and consecrated on 2 July 1972, once it was free of debt.

The Wentworth Memorial Church was widely published at the time of its completion and is included in architectural histories of Australian Architecture as one of the most significant non domestic works of the Sydney School.