Former Uniting Church, 60 Brunel Street (corner Cubitt Street), GREAT WESTERN
60 Brunel Street corner Cubitt Street GREAT WESTERN, NORTHERN GRAMPIANS SHIRE
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Statement of Significance
The former Great Western Uniting Church building and hall, 60 Brunel Streets, Great Western, makes a significant architectural and cultural contribution to the local Great Western township. The brick former Wesleyan Methodist church was erected in 1880 to the design of Ararat architect W.M.Thomas. It replaced an earlier timber church, erected in 1862, which then became the Sunday School Hall. When this building was destroyed by a grass fire in 1955 the present weatherboard clad structure, the former Rhymney School No. 1600, was added to the rear of the church. The present church building, and the building that it replaced, have their origins in the early establishment of the Wesleyan Methodist faith in the Great Western goldfields in 1858 when services were held in rudimentary canvas tent structures.
The former Uniting Church building, 60 Brunel Street, Great Western, is architecturally significant at a LOCAL level. It demonstrates original design qualities of a rudimentary Victorian Gothic Revival style. These qualities include the steeply pitched gable roof form with a projecting minor porch gable at the front. Other intact or appropriate qualities include the lapped galvanised corrugated iron roof cladding, unpainted brick wall construction, side buttresses, pointed double door opening with vertical boarded doors (and subtly decorated cast iron hinges), lancet windows, turned timber finials, oculus window, pointed windows with diamond leadlights, and the dichromatic brick construction and decoration (cream brick stringcourses, quoinwork and end faces to the buttresses). The white painted brickwork on the main gable appears to represent later work.
Although relocated, the former Uniting Church Hall is architecturally significant at a LOCAL level. It demonstrates original design qualities of an Education Department of Victoria, 60-type one-roomed 19th century school building. These qualities include the steeply pitched gable roof form (situated perpendicular to the Church building), lapped galvanised corrugated iron roof cladding and horizontal weatherboard wall cladding. Other intact or appropriate qualities include the three, equally spaced, single, timber framed, twelve paned, double hung windows along one longitudinal side and a centrally located brick chimney on the other, turned timber finials and gable ventilators, timber framed, twelve paned, double hung windows with four paned hopper sashes above arranged in a bank of three (one gable end), pair of double hung windows (other gable end), four panelled timber door, and evidence of the previous porch gable above the doorway. The mature cypress, pine and other trees - and particularly the symmetrically arranged Italian cypresses - also contribute to the significance of the place.
The former Great Western Uniting Church building and hall, 60 Brunel Street, Great Western, are historically significant at a LOCAL level. They are associated with the early establishment of the Wesleyan Methodist faith in the Great Western goldfields in 1858 when services were held in rudimentary canvas tent structures. Furthermore the present brick building is associated with the erection of a permanent timber church building on the present site in 1862, and with the consolidation of the Wesleyan Methodist faith in the Great Western district as evidenced by its construction in 1880. The hall at the rear is associated with the standardised one-roomed rural school design of the Department of Education from 1873, having been erected as a school at Rhymney in 1875. The buildings are further associated with the formation of the Uniting Church in 1977.
The former Great Western Uniting Church building and hall, 60 Brunel Street, Great Western, are socially significant at a LOCAL level. Although no longer functioning as a church, the Church building and hall are still recognised and valued by the Great Western community for their previous religious purpose.
Overall, the former Great Western Uniting Church building and hall, 60 Brunel Street, Great Western, are of LOCAL significance.
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Former Uniting Church, 60 Brunel Street (corner Cubitt Street), GREAT WESTERN - Physical Description 1
The former Great Western Uniting Church site,60 Brunel Streets, Great Western, makes a significant contribution to the architectural and visual amenity of the small rural township. The site comprises the former brick Uniting (originally Methodist) Church building, and the former Uniting Church Hall (originally the Rhymney State School No. 1600). The Church grounds are dominated by perimeter cypress, pine and other large trees, with the front entrance to the Church building delineated by four mature, symmetrically arranged Italian cypresses.
The unpainted dichromatic brick, Victorian Gothic Revival styled former Uniting Church building is characterised by a steeply pitched gable roof form clad in lapped galvanised corrugated iron. The main gable end has a projecting minor porch gable with a pointed double door opening having later but appropriate vertical boarded doors and subtly decorated cast iron hinges. The main gable itself has a high lancet window below a turned timber finial at the apex. A similar but small finial also crowns the porch gable. The main gable is also adorned with an oculus window and the symmetrical nature of the design is emphasised by the pointed windows flanking the porch gable.
The sides of the Church building are identified by brick buttresses, with pointed windows between. These windows have diamond leadlights.
Early decorative features of the design include the structural dichromatic brick construction, including the cream brick stringcourses (located at the springing of the window arches and below the window sills), quoinwork (about the windows and buttresses), and about the end faces of the buttresses. The main gable end and porch have been further accentuated with the cream brickwork painted white. Other features of the design include the cement rendered pointed window frames, and the elliptical iron wall plates, which, together with the iron tie rods within, have been introduced at an early period to stabilise the building.
At the rear of the Church building is the Hall. It is also characterised by a steeply pitched gable roof form situated perpendicular to the Church building, and is linked by a side skillion. The roof is clad in lapped galvanised corrugated iron with horizontal weatherboard walls. The simple design of the Hall is typical of the 19th century school architecture by the head of the Architecture Branch of the Department of Education, Henry Bastow. The hall represents an original single roomed "60-type" school building, with three, equally spaced, single, timber framed, twelve paned, double hung windows along one longitudinal side and a centrally located brick chimney on the other. The extant chimney has been introduced after the relocation of the building to its current site. The gable ends also are characteristic of Bastow's work, as shown in the turned timber finials and gable ventilators, and also in the timber framed, twelve paned, double hung windows with four paned hopper sashes above arranged in a bank of three (one gable end) and as a pair of double hung windows (other gable end). Evidence of the previous original porch gable is shown above the original four panelled door. The timber cladding may have been used in the construction of the skillion link.
Heritage Study and Grading
Northern Grampians - Shire of Northern Grampians - Stage 2 Heritage Study
Author: Wendy Jacobs, Vicki Johnson, David Rowe, Phil Taylor
Year: 2004
Grading:
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SEPPELTS CHAMPAGNE CELLARSVictorian Heritage Register H0338
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ST PETER'S VINEYARDVictorian Heritage Inventory
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Former Common SchoolNational Trust
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