St Matthews Church Of England
157 High Street, PRAHRAN VIC 3181 - Property No 32066
Chapel Street Precinct
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Statement of Significance
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St Matthews Church Of England - Physical Description 1
The first Anglican Church service in Prahran was held in a rented cottage on the east side of Chapel Street in 1853. Shortly afterwards, a Church of England Schoolroom in Chapel Street served as an Anglican Church for the next few decades. It was known as St. Matthews (Temporary) Church.(1) This building was removed from the site in 1877 w'hen the present church was built.(2)
A new bluestone building designed by the notable church architects, Terry and Oakden, was constructed in High Street between 1877 and 1878.(3) The opening service was on 28 June 1878. Leonard Terry was the Anglican Diocesan Architect in the early 1870s and his ecclesiastical work has been compared to that of William Wardell.(4) This church is comparable to other works by Terry and Oakden, the Catholic Apostolic Church (now Romanian Orthodox) in Queensberry Street, Carlton and the Holy Trinity Church in Williamstown.(5) Terry and Oakden also designed the Gothic polychrome Wesleyan Jubilee Church which occupied the corner of Toorak and Williams Roads, Toorak until recently.
The architectural style chosen has been described as Later Gothic Mainstream Decorated. Bluestone for the bulk of the building came from Williamstown and Brunswick.(6) The church is particularly notable for its decorated tracery 'which is rich in the west window and slender in the east'.(7)
(1) Jill McDohgall, Church. Community and Change, pp. 28-31.
(2) Argus, 8 Dec. 1877.
(3) Argus, 21 March 1877, 3 Sept. 1877, 28 June 1878.
(4) Miles Lewis (ed)., Victorian Churches, p.23.
(5) Lewis, p.50.
(6) Lewis, p.78; McDougall, p.30.
(7) Lewis, p.78.Heritage Study and Grading
Stonnington - Prahran Conservation Study Identification of Buildings & Areas of Major Significance
Author: Nigel Lewis & Associates
Year: 1983
Grading: A2Stonnington - HO126 Chapel Street Precinct Citation Review
Author: John Statham
Year: 2013
Grading:
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PRIMARY SCHOOL NO. 1467Victorian Heritage Register H1032
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PRAHRAN TOWN HALLVictorian Heritage Register H0203
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FORMER POLICE STATION AND COURT HOUSEVictorian Heritage Register H0542
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