Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral Precinct
Bordered by Docker, Ovens and Cusack Streets,, WANGARATTA VIC 3677 - Property No B7229
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Statement of Significance
The Cathedral precinct consists of buildings and grounds along both sides of The Close, a short gated road curving around the Cathedral between Ovens and Docker Streets. The precinct includes the Cathedral on one side of The Close; seven brick houses along the other side; the Deanery adjacent to the Cathedral; The Bishops's Lodge, on the corner of Ovens and Cusack Streets; and the War Memorial Gardens on the corner of Docker and Ovens Streets. The Holy Trinity Cathedral at Wangaratta is an Arts and Crafts Gothic style church of rough-cut local pink granite with a detached timber bell tower. It is one of the finest twentieth century churches in Australia. The interior is of local red brick with geometric patterning in dark brown. It contains the fine Willis organ, a white marble pulpit also designed by Walter Butler, and fine windows. Along The Close are eight brick houses, including the Archdeacons' House, the Choirmaster's House, Holy Trinity House (a former boys' hostel), and The Bishop's Registry or the Diocesan Offices. The Deanery is adjacent to the cathedral, and the nearby two storey brick Bishop's Lodge is reached by a footpath leading off The Close. There are fine gardens and some superb specimen trees at the Bishop's Lodge and throughout the Close. The low front walls are mostly formed from blocks of local granite, said to be from the original church building.
How is it significant? The Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral precinct at Wangaratta is significant for architectural, historical and social reasons at a State level. The Boer War and WWI monuments are significant for historical and social reasons at a local level.
Why is it significant? The Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral at Wangaratta is architecturally significant as the first purpose-built rural Anglican cathedral to be completed in Victoria, as the only cathedral built in Victoria in the twentieth century, as an exceptional Arts and Crafts Gothic style church, and as an important example of the work of the prominent Victorian architects Walter Butler and Louis Williams. The Close is architecturally significant as the only known example in Australia of a cathedral close. The detached timber bell tower is an unusual modern example of this building type.
The Cathedral precinct is historically significant as a complex of buildings that demonstrates the importance of the Anglican church in Wangaratta. The bell tower also holds the oldest peal of bells in Australia (1806). The Boer War and WWI Memorials are historically significant as a reminder of the sacrifice made by local men in wars overseas.
The Cathedral is socially significant as a symbol of diocesan identity in north-east Victoria, and as the centre of Anglican religious practice in the region since the proclamation of the diocese in 1901. The Boer War and WWI & WWI Memorials are socially significant as the focal point of individual and community remembrance, and for Anzac Day ceremonies in Wangaratta.
Classified: 08/09/2004
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Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral Precinct - Physical Description 1
The Wangaratta Cathedral precinct includes the Cathedral, the nearby Deanery, seven brick houses along the other side of The Close, The Bishops's Lodge, on the corner of Ovens and Cusack Streets, and the War Memorial Gardens on the corner of Docker and Ovens Streets.
The Cathedral (1908, 1924, 1961-4):
The Cathedral is one of the finest modern cathedral churches in Australia. It is a massive Cathedral in an Arts and Crafts Gothic style in rough finished ashlar of pink Warby Ranges granite and with a terracotta tiled roof. It has a high nave and aisles, a lady chapel, sanctuary and vestry, and a semicircular baptistery. The composition of the front facade is striking, with the porch surmounted by a long narrow window flanked by stone buttresses which rise to above the roof line. The rough stone, the strong massing of the individual elements and the rounded form of the baptistery give it a medieval air. The interior is of locally made red bricks with quoins and geometric patterning of dark brown brick. The nave ceiling is lined with gold tinted aluminium acoustic tiles, heavily padded with insulwool. There is a finely carved white marble pulpit, turned and carved wood choir stalls and throne, and an intricately detailed wood screen to the Baptistery. There are many fine windows, notably a rose window above the apse, and a tall window (c1964) above the front entrance, showing aspects of life in the diocese from 1860. The Cathedral contains the fine Willis Organ (B 6502, classified at a Regional level), which was built in London in 1922, was originally in Dublin, and was installed here in 1993. Throughout the cathedral are various wall plaques in marble and softly coloured glass mosaics, notably one next to the main door showing the sequence of Church and Cathedral construction.
The free-standing temporary timber bell tower, on the site of the proposed fourth stage, is unusual, and its timber form, though contrasting with the stone of the Cathedral, reflects the same Arts And Crafts ideals.
The Deanery, 2 The Close:
The Deanery is a single storey house, of brick with lined render. On the entrance front are a fine front door with sidelights and a broad fanlight, and French windows opening onto the verandah. It is still used as a deanery.
The Bishop's Lodge (1904), 33 Ovens Street
This is a two-storey brick house in a Federation period Queen Anne style, with half timbered and roughcast projecting gables, tall chimneys, a corrugated iron roof, a hexagonal spirelet with louvred vents, several small finials and a two-storey cast iron verandah with decorative columns returning on the sides. The architraves and string courses are of white painted render. The house is set among fine gardens, with a selection of mature ornamental trees and shrubs.
The Close
The Close consists of buildings and grounds along both sides of a short road, gated at each end, curving around the Cathedral from Ovens to Docker Streets. There are excellent gardens and some superb specimen trees throughout. The low garden fences are predominantly formed from blocks of local granite of various sizes, which are said to have been retrieved from the demolition of the original church building. The houses at nos 3-13 The Close are interesting in their illustration of the evolution of design skills of J Law & Son, well-known Wangaratta Master Builders of the 1930s to the 1950s.
. 1 The Close (the Archdeacon's House or Armstrong House) is a large, single-storey red brick bungalow with a gable roof and timber verandah. The gable ends are shingled.
. 3 The Close (the Choirmaster's House) is a double fronted single storey red brick house, with a hipped, terracotta tiled roof, and a shallow recessed front porch.
. 5 The Close (Holy Trinity House): The former boys' hostel is a two storey red brick building with a hipped terracotta tiled roof, and a projecting front porch with a balcony on the first floor.
. 7 The Close is a single-storey red brick house with a gable roof, with a wide chimney decorated with vertical stripes of blond bricks rising up the front gable. There is a smaller gable above the porch on the side of the front facade.
. 9 The Close is a two-storey red brick house with a terracotta tiled hipped roof. The walls are decorated with bands and patches of clinker bricks. There is a brick garage attached to one side.
. 11 The Close is a single-storey red brick house, with a spreading tiled gable roof, a projecting porch on the front and a small garage attached to one side at the rear. The principal brick gable has tapestry brick decoration.
. 13 The Close (The Bishop's Registry or the Diocesan Offices) is a large single-storey red brick house facing Docker Street. It has an attached office wing at the north end, with a separate entrance and gabled porch. It is similar to number 11 stylistically, with prominent gables with tapestry brick decoration.
. The Close Gates at the Docker Street and Ovens Street ends of The Cathedral Close are double gates of decorative wrought steel set between brick piers, with wicket gates to the side.
The War Memorials and their garden:
The Boer War Memorial is a small basalt obelisk set on four short columns on a plinth, with inscriptions on white marble plaques set into the basalt. The WWI monument is a turned and polished granite column surmounted by a globe, standing on a granite plinth. The names of local WWII and Vietnam War soldiers have been added to the names of the WWI casualties. The two memorials are set in a garden, with a backdrop of mature trees and the Cathedral and its bell tower.Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral Precinct - Intactness
Some of the buildings in The Close have had a change of use, but they are still virtually unaltered in appearance.
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FORMER ANZ BANKVictorian Heritage Register H0226
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WANGARATTA RAILWAY STATION COMPLEXVictorian Heritage Register H1597
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HOLY TRINITY ANGLICAN CATHEDRAL CLOSEVictorian Heritage Register H1065
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