| Physical description: | Church: Victorian Romanesque church built in polychrome brick, red with blond patterning on the exterior, and the reverse, blond with red detailing on the interior. The cruciform plan of the church is extended vertically through the spirelet over the crossing. The church is oriented east-west, with the main entry at the western end through an attached porch (exonarthex). A secondary entrance is through the north transept. Small dark stained timber vestibules with stained glass doors provide protected entry on the inside of the church.
The building is elaborately decorated both externally and internally. Contrasting brickwork is used for attached pilasters, buttresses, quoining around window and door openings, string courses and coloureds bands of brickwork, and diamond panels in the facework. Contrasting moulded bricks are used for string courses, sills and hood moulds. Generally, windows and doors have semicircular heads. Ogee hood moulds appear over the two entries to the church. The main roof is currently terra cotta Marseilles pattern tiles, but may have originally been slate. The roof over the vestry is colorbond. Roof over the western entrance porch is painted corrugated gal steel. The spire is octagonal, of timber construction, with louvred vents and clad in sheet metal (copper or zinc).
The floor is timber, sloping down from the west door toward the crossing, with a carpet down the aisle. The floor is flat through the transepts. The chancel/sanctuary is on a raised platform, carpeted. The walls of the nave and transepts have a rendered dado (recent) with a timber dado rail. The dado to the sanctuary and the south transept has velvet curtains hanging in front of white lime washed brickwork. The ceiling is diagonally boarded with exposed trusses and purlins, and triangular ceiling vents. The structure of the spire is supported by the four roof trusses over the crossing, and is open through the ceiling for light and ventilation.
Internally, the emphasis is on the crossing, with the pews arranged around the centre. The pews are original with bench seats and shaped slatted backs. Fold down seats exist on the ends of some pews. The pulpit and lectern and other sanctuary furniture appear to be original. A pipe organ occupies the south transept. It retains its original hand pump handle to the bellows. The church contains a fine collection of leadlight windows, featuring floral themes, and memorials. The building also retains its original gas light fittings.
Hall: The hall has been built in several stages, with each stage being designed to compliment the church. Generally, the building is of polychrome brickwork, red with blond trim, with a terra cotta Marseilles pattern tiled roof, hipped in form with skillion additions. A gabled entrance porch has been added to the west elevation. Windows are double hung with semicircular heads and contrasting brick quoins and sills.
Internally, the floor is timber, except the toilet addition, which is concrete. The walls are rendered with a dado line run in the render. The ceiling is of battened sheets. A large stage exists at the northern end of the hall, but has been partitioned off and converted to offices. The original steps and doors to the wings still exist, as does one wing wall (stud frame lined one side only). When the addition was made to the north-west corner of the building the original window to the hall was relocated to the north wall of the addition.
(Design 5 Architects) |
| Further information: | The group of buildings is very cohesive in design, with the hall adopting the polychrome detailing of the church, but with the church remaining the dominant building on the site in both scale, location and level of detail.
The church and hall are no longer used by a congregation of the Uniting Church of Australia for regular Sunday worship, but the Strathfield-Homebush parish uses one room as its central church office, and occasionally uses the church for special services. The church is leased to 3 other congregations for worship services, and the hall is leased for the offices of other religious organisations and for community use. |
