The Former Ballarat Lutheran Church, Doveton Street South, Ballarat
Located on Ballarat’s Doveton Street, the former Lutheran Church was built in 1876 to the grand designs of local Ballarat architect C. D. Figgis and was constructed by Taylor & Ellis.
The church building is architecturally quite striking with a formal composition with elements of a Ruskinian Italian Gothic style. It features with banded brick arches, Lombardic motifs and an attenuated version of a stepped arcaded corbel table leading to the central tower. The tall blind arcading of the tower is similar to the Campanile at Venice. The tower has an arcaded corbel table with trefoil arches, above which is a parapet with quatrefoil openings surmounted by a slate clad pyramidal roof. The lower part of the building consists of more conventional elements. There are two occuli in the gable ends flanking the tower and the banded Gothic openings have nail head brick label moulds. At the base of the tower there are two entrance doors under a Gothic banded arch surrounded by cream brick nail head moulding, and an outer Scotia label mould; these continue down to a low impost height and return horizontally as a string course across the facade. Banded Gothic openings and a patterned string course at low impost height lightens the heaviness of the red brickwork. The side elevation has the same nail head and Scotia string course at impost level rising up as stilted segmental arches over the double lancet windows in each of the five bays. The combination of unusual elements in patterned relief brickwork, and the imposing superimposed Venetian Campanile combine to make this a unique church composition.
The Former Ballarat Lutheran Church, Doveton Street South, Ballarat
Located on Ballarat’s Doveton Street, the former Lutheran Church was built in 1876 to the grand designs of local Ballarat architect C. D. Figgis and was constructed by Taylor & Ellis.
The church building is architecturally quite striking with a formal composition with elements of a Ruskinian Italian Gothic style. It features with banded brick arches, Lombardic motifs and an attenuated version of a stepped arcaded corbel table leading to the central tower. The tall blind arcading of the tower is similar to the Campanile at Venice. The tower has an arcaded corbel table with trefoil arches, above which is a parapet with quatrefoil openings surmounted by a slate clad pyramidal roof. The lower part of the building consists of more conventional elements. There are two occuli in the gable ends flanking the tower and the banded Gothic openings have nail head brick label moulds. At the base of the tower there are two entrance doors under a Gothic banded arch surrounded by cream brick nail head moulding, and an outer Scotia label mould; these continue down to a low impost height and return horizontally as a string course across the facade. Banded Gothic openings and a patterned string course at low impost height lightens the heaviness of the red brickwork. The side elevation has the same nail head and Scotia string course at impost level rising up as stilted segmental arches over the double lancet windows in each of the five bays. The combination of unusual elements in patterned relief brickwork, and the imposing superimposed Venetian Campanile combine to make this a unique church composition.