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Recommendation of the Executive Director and assessment of cultural heritage significance under Division 3 of the Heritage Act 2017

Name Mary Immaculate Church Location 2-6 Waverley Avenue, Ivanhoe, City of Banyule Hermes Number 201051 Heritage Overlay Number No Heritage Overlay

Mary Immaculate Church, Ivanhoe (September, 2017)

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RECOMMENDATION TO THE HERITAGE COUNCIL: • That the place NOT be included in the Victorian Heritage Register under Section 37(1)(b) of the

Heritage Act 2017. • The Heritage Council may wish to consider exercising its powers under Section 49(1)(c) of the

Heritage Act 2017 to refer the recommendation to the City of Banyule for inclusion in the local Heritage Overlay.

STEVEN AVERY Executive Director Recommendation Date: 17 November 2017 This recommendation report has been issued by the Executive Director, Heritage Victoria under s.37 of the Heritage Act 2017. It has not been considered or endorsed by the Heritage Council of Victoria.

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EXTENT OF NOMINATION Date that the nomination was accepted by the Executive Director 18 August 2017 Written extent of nomination All of the place known as Mary Immaculate Church, outlined on the attached diagram. Nomination extent diagram

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RESPONSE SUMMARY It is the view of the Executive Director that the Mary Immaculate Church should not be included in the Victorian Heritage Register for the reasons outlined in this report. The information presented in this report and the attached documents demonstrates that the Mary Immaculate Church may be of potential local significance, rather than state level significance. The Heritage Council may wish to consider exercising its powers under Section 49(1)(c)(i) of the Heritage Act 2017 to refer the recommendation to the City of Banyule for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay of its planning scheme; or determine under Section 49(1)(c)(ii) that it is more appropriate for steps to be taken under the Planning and Environment Act 1987 or by any other means to protect or conserve the place.

Name: Mary Immaculate Church, Ivanhoe Hermes number: 201051

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RECOMMENDATION REASONS REASONS FOR NOT RECOMMENDING INCLUSION IN THE VICTORIAN HERITAGE REGISTER [s.37] Following is the Executive Director's assessment of the place against the tests set out in The Victorian Heritage Register Criteria and Thresholds Guidelines (2014). CRITERION A Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history. STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION A

The place/object has a CLEAR ASSOCIATION with an event, phase, period, process, function, movement, custom or way of life in Victoria’s cultural history.

Plus The association of the place/object to the event, phase, etc IS EVIDENT in the physical fabric of the

place/object and/or in documentary resources or oral history. Plus

The EVENT, PHASE, etc is of HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE, having made a strong or influential contribution to Victoria.

Executive Director’s Response

The design and construction of churches in middle- and outer-ring suburbs of Melbourne and across the State during the decades following WWII is a process of historical importance that has made a strong and influential contribution to Victoria. The Mary Immaculate Church at Ivanhoe is a place which has a clear association with this process and this is evident in the physical fabric of the Church’s exterior and interiors, and in documentary resources.

Criterion A is likely to be satisfied. STEP 2: A BASIC TEST FOR DETERMINING STATE LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE FOR CRITERION A

The place/object allows the clear association with the event, phase etc. of historical importance to be UNDERSTOOD BETTER THAN MOST OTHER PLACES OR OBJECTS IN VICTORIA WITH SUBSTANTIALLY THE

SAME ASSOCIATION. Executive Director’s Response

The Mary Immaculate Church is an illustrative example of an architect-designed church building, which the available evidence suggests was designed in 1960, and which was constructed in 1961-62.

However, an association with the process of the design and construction of places of worship such as this can be equally or better understood in any number of church buildings in other middle- and outer-ring suburbs of Melbourne and across the State. At least 261 places of worship were constructed in the Melbourne metropolitan area alone during the 1950s and 1960s. There are no features or historical events linked to this place which elevate it above the many other buildings in Melbourne built after 1945 as new places of worship with substantially the same historical association.

Criterion A is not likely to be satisfied at the State level.


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CRITERION B Possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Victoria’s cultural history. STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION B

The place/object has a clear ASSOCIATION with an event, phase, period, process, function, movement, custom or way of life of importance in Victoria’s cultural history.

Plus The association of the place/object to the event, phase, etc IS EVIDENT in the physical fabric of the

place/object and/or in documentary resources or oral history. Plus

The place/object is RARE OR UNCOMMON, being one of a small number of places/objects remaining that demonstrates the important event, phase etc.

OR The place/object is RARE OR UNCOMMON, containing unusual features of note that were not widely

replicated OR

The existence of the class of place/object that demonstrates the important event, phase etc is ENDANGERED to the point of rarity due to threats and pressures on such places/objects.


The Mary Immaculate Church at Ivanhoe is an example of a post-war Modern church building.

Many similar churches remain to demonstrate the development of Modern-style ecclesiastical architecture in Victoria following WWII, particularly the ongoing application of Modernism as it developed during the 1960s. Mary Immaculate Church is not a rare, uncommon or endangered example of its class of place.

Criterion B is not likely to be satisfied.

CRITERION C Potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Victoria’s cultural history. STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION C

The: • visible physical fabric; &/or • documentary evidence; &/or

• oral history, relating to the place/object indicates a likelihood that the place/object contains PHYSICAL EVIDENCE of

historical interest that is NOT CURRENTLY VISIBLE OR UNDERSTOOD. Plus

From what we know of the place/object, the physical evidence is likely to be of an INTEGRITY and/or CONDITION that it COULD YIELD INFORMATION through detailed investigation.


The Mary Immaculate Church does not have the potential to yield information that is not currently visible or understood (such as archaeological information) that will contribute to an understanding of Victoria’s cultural history.

Criterion C is not likely to be satisfied.


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CRITERION D Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects. STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION D

The place/object is one of a CLASS of places/objects that has a clear ASSOCIATION with an event, phase, period, process, function, movement, important person(s), custom or way of life in Victoria’s history.

Plus The EVENT, PHASE, etc is of HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE, having made a strong or influential contribution to

Victoria. Plus

The principal characteristics of the class are EVIDENT in the physical fabric of the place/object. Executive Director’s Response The Mary Immaculate Church is an example of post-war Modern ecclesiastical (church) architecture. It has a clear association with the historically important process of design and construction of churches in Melbourne’s middle and outer-ring suburbs during the decades following WWII – a process which has made a strong and influential contribution to Victoria.

Many of the principal characteristics of Modern architecture are evident in the physical fabric of the Mary Immaculate Church, including its incorporation of prominent geometrical plan shapes and the extensive use of concrete brick and blockwork in its exterior and interior walls. The Church also exhibits post-war Modern detailing, fixtures and finishes such as the freestanding circular hollow-section steel framing of the spire’s base within the former Baptistry, expressed structural steel roof beams and wall columns, vinyl floor tiles, and bespoke timber pews installed throughout the Nave.

Criterion D is likely to be satisfied.

STEP 2: A BASIC TEST FOR DETERMINING STATE LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE FOR CRITERION D

The place/object is a NOTABLE EXAMPLE of the class in Victoria (refer to Reference Tool D). Executive Director’s Response Some 743 places of worship were constructed between 1945 and 1994 in the Melbourne metropolitan area alone, with more than 460 of these displaying principally Modern design characteristics. Several of these places are notable and are included in the VHR, such as St Faith’s Anglican Church [VHR H2254] in Glen Iris, the Religious Centre [VHR H2188] at Monash University, the Former Chapel of St Joseph [VHR H2351] at Mont Albert North and the St Michael & St John Catholic Church [VHR H2301] at Horsham. The Mary Immaculate Church, however, does not display characteristics that are of a higher quality or historical relevance than those that are demonstrated by these other post-war Modern churches. The Mary Immaculate Church does contain a large collection of post-war Modern design elements and features, and these appear to very favourable advantage in photographs of it, but the integration of the elements and features within the Church does not present as architecturally adroit or finely resolved. Changes to some of the place’s original fabric – including removal of the original benches within the Chapel of Our Lady – have also reduced the range of its characteristics to a degree where the Mary Immaculate Church cannot be described as highly intact. According to the definitions within ‘Reference Tool D’ of The Victorian Heritage Register Criteria and Thresholds Guidelines (2014) the Mary Immaculate Church at Ivanhoe cannot be described as a notable example of post-war Modern ecclesiastical architecture.

Criterion D is not likely to be satisfied at the State level.


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CRITERION E Importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics. STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION E

The PHYSICAL FABRIC of the place/object clearly exhibits particular aesthetic characteristics. Executive Director’s Response The Mary Immaculate Church at Ivanhoe does clearly exhibit aesthetic characteristics, particularly those associated with post-war Modern ecclesiastical architecture. It features elements and a design vocabulary that were characteristic of several architect-designed Modern churches in Victoria during the 1950s and 1960s, and also features artworks and coloured-glass windows created specifically for this place.

Criterion E is likely to be satisfied. STEP 2: A BASIC TEST FOR DETERMINING STATE LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE FOR CRITERION E

The aesthetic characteristics are APPRECIATED OR VALUED by the wider community or an appropriately-related discipline as evidenced, for example, by:

• critical recognition of the aesthetic characteristics of the place/object within a relevant art, design, architectural or related discipline as an outstanding example within Victoria; or

• wide public acknowledgement of exceptional merit in Victoria in medium such as songs, poetry, literature, painting, sculpture, publications, print media etc.

Executive Director’s Response Although the Mary Immaculate Church has been and still is appreciated and valued by appropriately-related disciplines – and by the wider community – there is no available evidence of it having received wide public acknowledgement in Victoria of its exceptional merit. Its aesthetic characteristics have not received critical recognition within a relevant art, design, architectural or related discipline as an outstanding example of Modern ecclesiastical architecture within Victoria.

Criterion E is not likely to be satisfied at the State level.

CRITERION F Importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period. STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION F

The place/object contains PHYSICAL EVIDENCE that clearly demonstrates creative or technical ACHIEVEMENT for the time in which it was created.

Plus The physical evidence demonstrates a HIGH DEGREE OF INTEGRITY.

Executive Director’s Response The Mary Immaculate Church at Ivanhoe contains physical evidence of creative and technical achievement for the time in which it was created. This is demonstrated by the artworks it incorporates, and by the structural steel-framing used to construct the Nave and steeple. The integrity of the Mary Immaculate Church is also very good. Criterion F is likely to be satisfied.


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STEP 2: A BASIC TEST FOR DETERMINING STATE LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE FOR CRITERION F

The nature &/or scale of the achievement is OF A HIGH DEGREE or ‘beyond the ordinary’ for the period in which it was undertaken as evidenced by:

• critical acclaim of the place/object within the relevant creative or technological discipline as an outstanding example in Victoria; or

• wide acknowledgement of exceptional merit in Victoria in medium such as publications and print media; or

• recognition of the place/object as a breakthrough in terms of design, fabrication or construction techniques; or

• recognition of the place/object as a successful solution to a technical problem that extended the limits of existing technology; or

• recognition of the place/object as an outstanding example of the creative adaptation of available materials and technology of the period.

Executive Director’s Response The Mary Immaculate Church does not meet The Victorian Heritage Register Criteria and Thresholds Guidelines’ threshold for creative achievement ‘beyond the ordinary’ for the period in which its design and construction was undertaken. Evidence does exist of the Church’s publication in at least two architectural journals during the early 1960s – but these did not acknowledge the Church’s exceptional technical or creative merit, and neither did they cite the Church as an outstanding example of ecclesiastical architecture or construction techniques in Victoria. Criterion F is not likely to be satisfied at the State level. CRITERION G Strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. This includes the significance of a place to indigenous people as part of their continuing and developing cultural traditions. STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION G

Evidence exists of a DIRECT ASSOCIATION between the place/object and a PARTICULAR COMMUNITY OR CULTURAL GROUP.

(For the purpose of these guidelines, ‘COMMUNITY or CULTURAL GROUP’ is defined as a sizable group of persons who share a common and long-standing interest or identity).

Plus The ASSOCIATION between the place/object and the community or cultural group is STRONG OR SPECIAL, as

evidenced by the regular or long-term use of/engagement with the place/object or the enduring ceremonial, ritual, commemorative, spiritual or celebratory use of the place/object.

Executive Director’s Response Evidence does exist of a direct association between the Mary Immaculate Church and the Catholic Parish of Ivanhoe and its church communities. The association between the Church and this community group is strong and special, as evidenced by the group’s regular and enduring spiritual use of the place. The Mary Immaculate Church is of social significance for its use as a religious and community building. The building continues to be used in this capacity as a place for religious, educational and social purposes. Criterion G is likely to be satisfied.


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STEP 2: A BASIC TEST FOR DETERMINING STATE LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE FOR CRITERION G

The place/object represents a PARTICULARLY STRONG EXAMPLE of the association between it and the community or cultural group by reason of its RELATIONSHIP TO IMPORTANT HISTORICAL EVENTS in Victoria

and/or its ABILITY TO INTERPRET EXPERIENCES to the broader Victorian community. Executive Director’s Response The Mary Immaculate Church does not represent a particularly strong example of the association between it and the community of people within the Catholic Parish of Ivanhoe by reason of either its relationship to important historical events in Victoria, or its ability to interpret events to the broader Victorian community. Criterion G is not likely to be satisfied at the State level. CRITERION H Special association with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in Victoria’s history. STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION H The place/object has a DIRECT ASSOCIATION with a person or group of persons who have made a strong or

influential CONTRIBUTION to the course of Victoria’s history. Plus

The ASSOCIATION of the place/object to the person(s) IS EVIDENT in the physical fabric of the place/object and/or in documentary resources and/or oral history.

Plus The ASSOCIATION:

• directly relates to ACHIEVEMENTS of the person(s) at, or relating to, the place/object; or • relates to an enduring and/or close INTERACTION between the person(s) and the place/object.

Executive Director’s Response The Mary Immaculate Church has a direct association with the three partners of the architectural practice Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell, which designed and documented the Church. John Mockridge, Ross Stahle and George Mitchell were architects who made an influential contribution to the course of Victoria’s history. Their association with the Mary Immaculate Church is evident in its physical fabric and in documentary resources, and this association also relates directly to Mockridge, Stahle and Mitchell’s achievements relating to this place. Criterion H is likely to be satisfied. STEP 2: A BASIC TEST FOR DETERMINING STATE LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE FOR CRITERION H

The place/object allows the clear association with the person or group of persons to be READILY APPRECIATED BETTER THAN MOST OTHER PLACES OR OBJECTS IN VICTORIA.

Executive Director’s Response The Mary Immaculate Church is one of several dozens of Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell’s completed architectural projects in Victoria, and does not allow its association with the practice’s three partners to be readily appreciated better than does most other places with this association in Victoria. Criterion H is not likely to be satisfied at the State level.


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ASSESSMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S ASSESSMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE [s.37, Heritage Act 2017] The Mary Immaculate Church in Ivanhoe is a good and largely intact example of a Modern-style place of worship built in the Melbourne metropolitan area during the early 1960s. Although not currently included in the Heritage Overlay, it may have local level cultural heritage significance.

RELEVANT INFORMATION Local Government Authority City of Banyule

Heritage Overlay No

Other Overlays DDO11-5 Upper Heidelberg Road Precinct; and VPO3 Eaglemont, Ivanhoe East and Ivanhoe Area

Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Register No

Other Listings None

Local Government Authority City of Banyule HISTORY

Post-war churches in Victoria

The two decades following WWII were a time of geographical expansion in many Australian cities. There was a huge population growth in the immediate post-war years, brought about by Australia’s strong immigration program and high birth rate, which in turn pushed the limits of Melbourne’s suburbs further outwards. Although many new churches were built across Victoria at this time, it was particularly necessary to build more churches (or sometimes replacements for existing small ones) to service Melbourne’s new suburbs in the city’s outer-middle and fringe areas. Many migrants also brought their own religions, or added their own cultural interpretations of the already established faiths.

After post-war building material restrictions were lifted in 1953 there was something of a surge in church construction in Melbourne and Victoria from the late 1950s through to the early 1970s. The late-1950s to the mid-1960s appears to have been the most fertile period for church design, and the most intense period of church construction. In the decades following the human cataclysm of WWII, and with the growing possibility of nuclear warfare in the following decades, the design of many new churches combined Modern art and architecture in a renewed attempt to invoke a sense of the ‘numinous’ – a term popularised earlier in the twentieth century by the German theologian Rudolf Otto’s influential 1917 book Das Heilige, and which refers to mysterious or awe-inspiring spiritual emotion. During the 1950s and 1960s many of the Christian denominations also underwent liturgical reforms that affected the planning and layout of their church buildings. The most well-known of these was the impact of the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (widely since referred to more informally as ‘Vatican II’), held in Rome between 1962 and 1965, although many of the Protestant churches underwent similar changes.

Churches designed in Victoria during the post-war decades often demonstrated a tendency towards non-traditional plan forms, which was not solely due to the influence of liturgical reform. Modernism in architecture saw many architects striving to avoid stylistic references of an historical nature – although metaphor and symbolism proved difficult to completely eliminate, and this is particularly the case with churches. Many among the emerging generation of architects at this time focused on the provision of large congregational meeting spaces – a problem that invited structural experiment – and consequently explored new design geometries. While some striking modern churches were still designed using rectilinear forms, for


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example the former Christ Church [VHR H2302] at Mitcham in 1958 by Raymond Berg, others took on a variety of plan forms including square, lozenge-shaped, oval, regular or stretched hexagonal, and circular.

Following the boom in church construction from the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s the rate of church building in Victoria then slowed markedly during the 1970s. Ian and Roslyn Colemans’ Twentieth Century Churches in Victoria study – which, as noted below, only covers the Melbourne metropolitan area and not the whole State – records 168 new churches with confirmed dates of construction as built during the 1960s but then only 71 churches built in the 1970s. By the late 1960s, new churches designed in Victoria also appear to have begun to be influenced by the low-key and environmentally-sensitive architecture then gaining popularity, and possibly also by congregations’ preferences for friendly and welcoming spaces rather than bold architectural statements. From this time brown or tan face brickwork began to predominate, with roofs tiled or of low-pitched or near-flat metal decking. Roman Catholic churches in the Ivanhoe area

Ivanhoe’s first Catholic church was opened on 31 October 1915, on the site of the current Mary Immaculate Church, at a time when the suburb of Ivanhoe was within the boundaries of the Heidelberg Parish. Named the ‘Immaculate Conception’, the red brick church designed by architects Kempson & Connolly was a so-called ‘chapel of ease’ for the convenience of parishioners living too far away from Heidelberg’s main church, St John the Evangelist, to attend services there.

Father Bernard Geoghegan was appointed as Ivanhoe’s first Parish Priest in 1940, a position in which he remained until 1972. In 1955 he commissioned architects Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell to design the area’s first Modern church, the Mother of God at the intersection of Wilfred and Robinhood Roads for the new Parish of Ivanhoe East. Father Geoghegan offered Mass for the first time in the newly completed Mother of God church in September 1957. He then in 1960 again approached Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell to design the Mary Immaculate Church in Ivanhoe, which formally opened in October of 1962. The third of the three Modern churches in the Ivanhoe area – St Bernadette’s at 89-97 Bond Street, designed by architect Robert Ellis – also opened in August of 1962.

In 1999 Mary Immaculate, St Bernadette’s and the Mother of God churches formally became the ‘Ivanhoe Cluster’, a process in which they moved from each of the three churches having its own priest to an arrangement where one priest, assisted by another priest part-time, would serve all three parishes. The Catholic Parish of Ivanhoe, as it is today, was established six years later in 2005. The design of the Mary Immaculate Church, Ivanhoe

The Mary Immaculate Church was designed by the Melbourne-based architectural practice Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell in 1960, with its partner John Mockridge largely responsible for its design and detailing. The church was designed to accommodate a congregation of 450, and built to a total cost of £49,000. Its foundation stone was laid on 10 December 1961, followed by the official blessing and opening of the church by Archbishop E. V. Tweedy on 24 October 1962. Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell also commissioned artworks and leadlight windows by four prominent artists who were active in Victoria at the time.

The Church interior’s fourteen silver and bronze Stations of the Cross were designed and cast by Matcham Skipper (1921-2011), a sculptor and jeweller who worked for much of his life at the Montsalvat artists’ colony in Eltham. These were the subject of a film released in 1963 – one of several documentaries about Australian artists that were produced and directed by Tim Burstall in the 1960s – titled The Crucifixion: Bas reliefs in silver by Matcham Skipper.

The 2.1m (7 foot) bronze Madonna and Child on the exterior eastern wall, and smaller bronze Madonna and Child above the altar in the Chapel of Our Lady, are by German-born Hermann Hohaus (1920-1992), an artist who lectured at RMIT from 1961 to 1971 and whose work is held in most State gallery collections.


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The coloured-glass east-facing wall of windows in the Chapel of Our Lady was designed by Australian artist David Michael Shannon (1927-1993). The coloured-glass windows at the eastern and western-most corners of the nave, the curved reredos (screen behind the altar) of elongated hexagonal glass-panels around the sanctuary’s northern edge and the oval-shaped glass baldachin above were all designed by John Mockridge, the church’s principal design architect. All of the church’s coloured-glass windows were fabricated and installed by Brooks, Robinson & Co, a Melbourne-based studio which up until its closure in 1963 had dominated the trade during the twentieth century.

John Mockridge commissioned Justin O'Brien (1917-1996) to paint a triptych to form the focal point of the Chapel's northern wall. O'Brien was renowned for his religious paintings and his triptych for the Mary Immaculate Church, titled 'Annunciation, The Virgin Enthroned, Visitation', was characteristically saturated with vivid colour. Although the triptych was displayed in the Chapel for a time the parish later decided to remove it and the available evidence suggests that this painting is now within the art collection of Newman College at the University of Melbourne.

Some of the bottom row of glass panels in the centre of the reredos were removed, and the predella slightly extended at its rear, shortly after the church’s completion. These minor alterations – which allowed more room for the priest to face and address the congregation while standing behind the altar, and appear to have occurred in response to reforms to the liturgy initiated by Vatican II – were also designed by the church’s original principal architect, John Mockridge. Mockridge, Stahle & Mitchell architects

The practice of Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell contributed greatly to the city of Melbourne’s mid-century development, particularly with regard to its educational, ecclesiastical and domestic design work. The partnership was formed by the practice’s three principals – John Pearce Mockridge, James Rossiter (Ross) Stahle and George Finlay Mitchell – in 1948.

From early commissions such as the Melbourne Grammar School Boat House (1953) the architecture of Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell demonstrated a mediation between regionalism and Modernism. Their buildings incorporated overseas influences associated with ‘New Empiricism’ – a term which was broadly applied in post-war decades to an alternative and more humane strand of Modern architecture than that designed previously by many orthodox Modernist practitioners. Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell strove in their designs to embrace emerging post-war Australian lifestyles and their work included beach houses, 1957’s Mitchell Valley Motel in Bairnsdale (one of the earliest motels to be opened in Victoria), and many religious, university, college and school buildings. The architectural design commissions which the practice undertook for institutional clients from the mid-1950s onwards came to define its profile.

Evident in Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell’s body of ecclesiastical work is the mid-twentieth century Melbourne architectural avant-garde’s interest in geometrical plan shapes, including the 1957-58 St Faith’s Anglican Church [VHR H2254] in Glen Iris; 1962 St Bernadette’s Church [HO-181, City of Banyule] in Ivanhoe; the 1965 Ridley College Chapel and 1962-65 Whitley College, both in Parkville and associated with the University of Melbourne; and the 1967-68 Religious Centre [VHR H2188] at the Clayton campus of Monash University. CONSTRUCTION DETAILS

Architect name: Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell (principal design architect, John Mockridge) Architectural style name: Post-war Modern Builder name: Robert Owen & Son Construction started date: 1961 Construction ended date: 1962


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VICTORIAN HISTORICAL THEMES 06 Building towns, cities and the garden state 6.3 Shaping the suburbs 08 Building community life 8.1 Maintaining spiritual life 8.4 Forming community organisations PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

The Mary Immaculate Church is a church building containing a kite-shaped Nave with a north-south axis longer than its east-west axis. This Nave has a flat floor and contains pews constructed of stained timber set out in in a fan-shaped radiating arrangement of four bays, accommodating a congregation of up to 450. The Nave is roofed by two triangular plan-shaped roof planes, supported on internally-expressed dark-grey painted north-south steel beams and columns. These glazed terracotta tile-clad roof planes slope down to the north and south from an east-west horizontal ridge that is coincident in plan with the Nave’s east-west axis. Directly beneath both the eastern and western ends of this axis are floor-to-ceiling windows, each containing some two-dozen rectangular and square-shaped panes of coloured and clear glass within white-painted timber framing. Within each of this pair of windows, a Christian cross-shape is emphasised by an intersecting transom and central mullion of larger size than the windows’ other framing members.

At the northern end of the Nave the pews face a Sanctuary area which is ovoid-shaped in plan and at its east end contains a Predella raised four steps above the Nave’s floor. The altar table in this area is clad with marble and supported by a gold-colour mosaic tiled concrete cylinder. A reredos (screen behind the altar) of vertically-elongated hexagon-shaped panes of coloured glass, supported by dark-grey painted steel-framing, is arranged in a curve around the northern edge of the Predella. Above this, an oval baldachin containing panels of obscure glass arranged in a cross-shape within steel glazing bars acts as a diffuser panel for a cluster of circular roof-lights above. The Nave’s ceiling and its southern wall are lined with narrow pale-coloured vertical timber battens on dark-brown hessian, and its other walls of lightly-bagged concrete blockwork are painted off-white. Silver and bronze bas-relief Stations of the Cross are fixed to the east, south and west walls, and are positioned to cover perforated steel ventilation grilles set within the blockwork. Long white glass cylinder-shaped pendant light fittings are suspended by rods from the steel roof beams. Most of the floor is covered by green-coloured carpet, apart from areas of vinyl floor tiles in each of the four bays of pews.

To the immediate north of the Nave is the adjoining Chapel of Our Lady, with the central north-south axis of its rectangle-shaped plan aligned with that of the Nave’s long axis. The Chapel’s eastern wall is entirely of coloured glass within white-painted timber-framing, and is arranged in floor-to-ceiling star- and cross-shaped designs. The Chapel’s skillion roof is much lower than that of the Nave, is supported by expressed white-painted timber beams and falls from south to north. The Chapel’s northern and western walls are lined with narrow timber battens of the same profile and colour as those in the Nave. To the immediate west of the Chapel, and sharing its lower timber-framed roof, are Sacristy and lobby spaces.

Mary Immaculate Church’s exterior walls are clad in 400 x 90mm rough-faced grey concrete bricks, with randomly-placed rows of three to six adjacent bricks projecting about 20mm beyond the walls’ faces. Eaves and soffits are of white painted timber boards. A 24.4m (80 feet)-high copper-clad spire of triangular plan-shape, surmounted by a cross, springs from the roof at the southernmost end of the building. Fixed to the exterior south-east facing wall, under its eaves, is a 2.1m (7 feet)-high bronze Madonna and Child.


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The principal entry to the Church is through its Narthex, a regular hexagon shaped space at the Nave’s southern end. The Narthex’s floor is of white terrazzo divided into radiating segments by brass strips on the hexagon’s axes. The south side of the Narthex in turn opens into a space of triangular plan-shaped space at the base of the Church’s spire. This triangular space – originally the Baptistry – is lined with vee-jointed vertical timber boards, overlaid at the east and west walls’ northern ends with fine battens forming vertically-elongated hexagon shapes, matching the shape of the glass panels in the Nave’s reredos. A circular opening in the ceiling of the former Baptistry admits light from panes of green and blue coloured glass within the base of the spire’s north face.

A concourse area paved with dark orange-coloured clay bricks is located outside the Narthex and porch areas. At its south end this concourse becomes a pedestrian ramp, terminating at the concrete public footpath outside the site’s Waverley Avenue site boundary. A five-riser set of clay brick-paved steps at the concourse’s north end descends to a ground-level bitumen and concrete-paved car circulation and parking area on the Church’s east side. Another ground level parking area, also paved with concrete, is located to the Church’s west. A retaining wall and nine-riser flight of steps of the same clay bricks as the concourse links this parking area to a smaller concrete-paved outdoor space outside the Sacristies. Garden beds containing shrubs and some established trees are located along the external face of part of the Nave’s southwest wall, along the nominated area’s northern edge, and at its northwest and southeast corners.

INTEGRITY/INTACTNESS

Intactness – The intactness of the Mary Immaculate Church is good. Changes to its fabric since the Church’s original construction include

• removal of the original benches from the Chapel of Our Lady, • replacement of all of the original roof tiles, • replacement of some of the original copper downpipes, • green carpet installed wall-to-wall within the Chapel of Our Lady and across most of the Nave, and • the repurposing of the Baptistry, to the south side of the Narthex. (October 2017)

Integrity – The integrity of the Mary Immaculate Church is very good. The cultural heritage values of the place are still evident, and can be understood and appreciated in the extant fabric of the Church building and its site. (October 2017)

CONDITION

The Mary Immaculate Church is in good condition. There is some evidence of water damage and peeling paint in the ceiling of the original Baptistry and to the barge and eaves lining boards in separate locations around the building. Minor cracking is apparent in the Narthex’s terrazzo floor. Some of the clay-bricks in the exterior Concourse paving and steps – and in the retaining walls and steps outside the Sacristies – have cracked, with a few bricks disintegrating or missing altogether. (October 2017) COMPARISONS

The Victorian Heritage Register currently includes eight places of worship that were built in the post-war period. Of these, two are variations on Christian churches’ traditional basilica with gable-roof forms, three exhibit strong Modern design characteristics, another two are Postmodern in style, and the eighth – the St Michael & St John Catholic Church in Horsham – is an exemplar of its architect Gregory Burgess’s maturing and highly-individual design approach during the final decades of the twentieth century.


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1. Post-war churches in the Victorian Heritage Register

St Faith’s Anglican Church [VHR H2254]: 8 Charles Street, Glen Iris

St Faith's Anglican Church, Glen Iris is of architectural significance at the State level as a highly innovative ecclesiastical design and as one of the first truly Modern church buildings in Victoria. It is notable for its circular plan, a design strategy used by the Melbourne-based architect Roy Grounds in the 1950s and subsequently adopted throughout Victoria for a range of building types, including later buildings by Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell such as Whitley College, Parkville (1962-65) and the Religious Centre, Monash University [VHR H2188]. It is of architectural significance as a fine and innovative work of the prominent architects Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell, and has always been well regarded as a highly significant work by the architectural profession.

St Faith's Anglican Church is of aesthetic significance for its simple, boldly lit interior, coloured glass, and the furniture and fittings which were all designed by the Church’s architects, Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell. Its intact assemblage of meticulously-detailed Modern interiors, fittings and timber church furniture is highly significant. The symbolic glass and enamel panels, placed in the narthex doors in 1961-62, are also of note.

St Faith's Anglican Church is of historical significance as an illustration of the combination of new architectural and religious thinking which enabled the traditional forms of church building in Victoria to be challenged. It reflects the growing interest in the interaction between the clergy and the congregation in the church during the late 1950s and 1960s, and provides an early and innovative illustration of the effect this had on ecclesiastical design in Victoria.

St Faith’s Anglican Church [VHR H2254]: (L) view from Charles Street; (R) view to Sanctuary from Nave.

Religious Centre, Monash University [VHR H2188]: Building 9, 1-131 Wellington Road, Clayton

The Religious Centre at Monash University is architecturally significant at the State level as a fine example of a place of worship designed in the 1960s. It is notable for its centralised plan, symbolising unity, eternity and ecumenism, and as an example of the circular plan design strategy that was used by the architect Roy Grounds in the 1950s and then adopted by other architects for a range of building types in the 1950s and 1960s. It is also significant as a fine example of the work of John Mockridge of the Melbourne architectural practice Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell.

The Religious Centre is aesthetically significant – in particular for the design of the Small and Large Chapels, and of the coloured glass windows by Les Kossatz and Leonard French. The large central chapel rises above smaller rooms of dark brick and redwood arranged around it. These smaller rooms – a rectangular narthex at the main entrance, a rectangular second chapel on the opposite side, several vestries, a sacristy, prayer rooms, toilets and a kitchen – open off an ambulatory, and have small courtyards in between intended as meeting places. Traditional religious imagery has been avoided, and the Large Chapel’s narrow windows


http://applications.doi.vic.gov.au/ImageFactoryWeb/getfile?path=hvi2009/western_rural_1_compressed/h1414-1.jpg/medium.jpg&context=ImageFactory.Hermes&delete=no&version=

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contain coloured glass featuring abstract designs. Other windows are in narrow bands at the top and at the base of the Centre’s side walls, allowing views only of the sky and of the water in the ponds on each side.

The Religious Centre is of historical significance as a reflection of the early ecumenical movement in Victoria, which encouraged greater experimentation in religious practice and more interaction and understanding between different religions. It was the first example in Australia of such a centre, was funded by Christian and Jewish groups, and was presented to Monash University to be used by people of all religions. The Religious Centre is also socially significant as a combined place of worship for generations of Monash University students and staff of all religions.

Religious Centre [VHR H2188] at the Clayton campus of Monash University.

Former Chapel of St Joseph [VHR H2351]: 27-29 Strabane Avenue, Mont Albert North

The Former Chapel of St Joseph is architecturally significant at the State level as one of the first examples of Postmodern architecture in Victoria. Completed in 1978, the Former Chapel of St Joseph is an early work of architects Edmond & Corrigan, and its small scale, materials and architectural style are reminiscent of local vernacular architecture. The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican’s injunction that, "... when churches are to be built, let great care be taken that they be suitable for the celebration of liturgical services and for the active participation of the faithful" influenced the modest scale and interior layout of the Former Chapel of St Joseph, and reflects the Catholic Church liturgy’s shift in focus from the clergy to the congregation. The Former Chapel of St Joseph won the 1983 RAIA (Victorian Chapter) award for Outstanding Architecture in the New Buildings Category, and the RAIA (Victorian Chapter) 25 Year Architectural Award in 2003, demonstrating its significance and its enduring architectural merit.

The Former Chapel of St Joseph is historically significant for its connection with nationally and internationally-recognised architects Maggie Edmond and Peter Corrigan. One of the pivotal buildings associated with the beginning of Postmodern architecture in Victoria, the Former Chapel of St Joseph was at the centre of debate for its provocation of conventional architectural thinking. Peter Corrigan was awarded the RAIA Gold Medal in 2003, acknowledging his contributions to architecture in Australia.

Former Chapel of St Joseph [VHR H2351], Mont Albert North.


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St Michael and St John Catholic Church [VHR H2301]: 9 McLachlan Street, Horsham

The Church of St Michael and St John is architecturally significant at the State level as one of Victoria's most expressionistic and original church buildings of the second half of the twentieth century. Its highly individual design, containing complex religious symbolism and contextual references, demonstrates the move away from the abstractions of Modernism which had dominated architectural thinking from WWII up to the 1970s. The Church is architecturally significant as a major work of the internationally-renowned architect Gregory Burgess, who is known for his culturally-sensitive and participatory design approach. In 1987 Burgess was awarded the RAIA (Vic) Architecture Medal for the church, and in 2004 he received the RAIA Gold Medal, the Australian architectural profession’s highest accolade, for his body of work.

The plan of the Church of St Michael and St John is based on the geometry of two intersecting circles. The domestic treatment of the north side of the building – with its small scale, verandah with blue columns and polychrome brickwork – metamorphoses at the apse end into folded masses of polychrome brick which conceal the roof and enclose the curved spaces off the nave. The organic quality of the building is demonstrated in the undulating brick walls, oozing mortar, and its handmade quality – particularly evident in the detailing of the doors, the altar furniture, brickwork and stained glass. The light-flooded narthex and nave are lined with square tiles of a similar colour to those which clad the exterior. The sanctuary furniture, altar, lectern and chair of casuarina timber were all designed by Burgess. The Stations of the Cross were designed by the artist Pip Stokes, Burgess's wife, and depict twelve moments from the Gospel of St John.

St Michael and St John Catholic Church [VHR H2301], Horsham.

How many post-war Modern churches are there in Victoria?

Ian and Roslyn Coleman’s 1996 Twentieth Century Churches in Victoria nine-volume study – the scope of which is in fact limited to the Melbourne metropolitan area – provides a good starting point for understanding the range of churches in Victoria which may be architecturally comparable to the Mary Immaculate Church in Ivanhoe. The Colemans’ study records a total of approximately 1,100 twentieth-century church, synagogue, mosque, temple and chapel buildings, and does not include chapels or other places of worship within schools, hospitals, convents or other building complexes.

Twentieth Century Churches in Victoria contains datasheets which identify: • 412 post-war places of worship for which the construction date is known, and • 331 additional places with dates of construction that the Study’s authors were unable to determine

with certainty, but the appearance of which suggests were built in the years following WWII, for a total of 743 places of worship built between 1945 and 1994 in just the Melbourne metropolitan area.

Within this group of 743, those which also display principally Modern style characteristics account for • 263 places of worship for which the construction date is known, and • 201 additional places with unknown dates of construction, but which appear to be post-war


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for a total of 464 metropolitan area Modern-style places of worship built between the years 1945 and 1994. Of this group of 464, the dates of construction are confirmed for approximately 170 Modern-style places of worship built in the Melbourne metropolitan area during the 1950s and 60s.

On the available evidence, it is difficult to determine with any certainty the number of post-war Modern churches in regional and country areas of Victoria. The ‘Religion’ section of the 2008 Survey of Post-War Built Heritage in Victoria study – which deliberately focussed its assessment on churches and other places of worship located outside Melbourne and not already covered by the Colemans’ study – contains citations for 15 more post-war and Modern church, chapel and synagogue buildings, although some of these appear to have now been altered.

Post-war places of worship featured across a range of other online sources – such as the Australian Christian Church Histories website, and other blogs and photography websites containing photographs of ecclesiastical architecture in Victoria – provide another indication of the hundreds of post-war Modern places of worship within the State’s metropolitan, regional and country areas. While some of these places are currently included on local Heritage Overlays, many others are not. Photographs of a sample of the range of examples follow. 2. Post-war Modern churches NOT IN the Victorian Heritage Register, but IN a local Heritage Overlay

1955: St Bernard’s, Coburg 1956: St Leonard’s, Brighton Catholic Presbyterian, then Uniting Architect: Grigore Hirsch Architect: Bruce Kemp [HO-349, Moreland City] [HO-551, Bayside City]

1958-61: St Aidan’s, Strathmore 1959: St James’, Glen Iris

Anglican Anglican Architect: Philip Garside Architects: Bogle & Banfield

[HO-347, Moonee Valley City] [HO-408, Stonnington City]


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1961: St Oliver Plunkett’s, Pascoe Vale 1962: St Bernadette’s, Ivanhoe Catholic Catholic Architect: Alan G Robertson Architect: Robert Ellis

[HO-224, Moreland City] [HO-181, Banyule City]

1964: Holy Name, Reservoir 1964: former St James, Box Hill South Catholic Presbyterian, then Uniting Architect: J P Saraty Architects: Chancellor & Patrick [HO-249, Darebin City] [HO-69, Whitehorse City]

1964: Former St Thomas’, Langwarrin 1964: St George’s, Reservoir Anglican Anglican Architects: Widdows & Caldwell Architects: Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell

[HO-42, Frankston City] [HO-279, Darebin City]


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1966: Former Wesleyan, Sale 1971: St Clement of Rome, Bulleen Architects: Widdows & Caldwell Catholic [within HO-86, Wellington Shire] Architect: Smith & Tracey [HO-112, Manningham City]

1980-82: St Mary’s, Colac 1982: St Anne’s, Seaford

Catholic Catholic Architect: Bryan Dowling Architect: Dennis Payne [HO-116, Colac Otway Shire] [HO-43, Frankston City]

3. Post-war Modern churches NOT IN the Victorian Heritage Register and NOT IN a Heritage Overlay

1957: Mother of God, Ivanhoe East 1958: Chapel of St John the Baptist, ‘Timbertop’ Catholic Architects: Buchan Laird & Buchan Architects: Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell [no VHR or HO listing, Mansfield Shire] [no VHR or HO listing, Banyule City]



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1961: Former Methodist, Katamatite 1963: St Patrick’s, Murrumbeena Architects: Muir & Shepherd Catholic [no VHR or HO listing, Moira Shire] Architect: Robert Ellis [no VHR or HO listing, Glen Eira City]

1963: St Peters, Clayton 1964: St George’s, Ivanhoe East

Catholic Anglican Architects: Smith Tracey Lyon & Brock Architect: Frederick Romberg

[no VHR or HO listing, Monash City] [no VHR or HO listing, Banyule City]

1964: All Saints, Footscray 1965: All Souls, Edenhope

Architects: Widdows & Caldwell Architects: Widdows & Caldwell [no VHR or HO listing, Maribyrnong City] [no VHR or HO listing, West Wimmera Shire]



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1966: St Michael & All Angels, Beaumaris 1968-71: St Mel’s, Shepparton Anglican Catholic Architects: Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell Architect: Ermin Smrekar [no VHR or HO listing, Bayside City] [no VHR or HO listing, Greater Shepparton City]

1969: St Stephen & St Mary, Mt Waverley 1970-71: Sacred Heart, Morwell Anglican Catholic Architects: Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell Architects: McCarthey & Collins [no VHR or HO listing, Monash City] [no VHR or HO listing, City of Latrobe]

1970-71: William Carey Chapel, Kew 1975: St Luke’s, Lalor

Baptist Catholic Architects: C.R. & G. F. Lyons Architect: Ermin Smrekar

[no VHR or HO listing, Boroondara City] [no VHR or HO listing, Whittlesea City]


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SUMMARY OF COMPARISONS

During the 1950s and 60s at least 260 new places of worship (not counting chapels and the like within schools, convents, hospitals and other larger complexes) were built in the Melbourne metropolitan area alone. Some of these took pre-war Arts & Craft or simple basilica gable-roofed forms while many others exhibited more innovative Modern design characteristics. Five of the churches constructed during the 1950s and 60s in Victoria have been included in the VHR to date.

The Mary Immaculate Church in Ivanhoe is one of at least 170 Modern-style places of worship constructed in the Melbourne metropolitan area during the 1950s and 60s, and is not a notable example of this class of place at the State level when compared to other Victorian examples. It seems likely that that there are post-war Modern places of worship of potential local and State significance which await formal identification, and that the currently-listed churches and those included so far in studies cannot be considered a closed set. However, the available evidence also indicates that the Mary Immaculate Church in Ivanhoe, while an impressive church at the local level, does not advance an understanding or appreciation of post-war Modern places of worship at a State level. KEY REFERENCES USED TO PREPARE ASSESSMENT

‘Australian Christian Church Histories’ website, via http://www.churchhistories.net.au/

‘Australia’s Christian Heritage’ website, via http://www.churchesaustralia.org

Barnard, Jill (1990), Expressions of Faith: Twentieth Century Roman Catholic Churches in Melbourne’s Western Suburbs, MA thesis, Department of History: Monash University.

Callister, Winsome, ‘MOCKRIDGE STAHLE & MITCHELL’, pp.461-462 in eds Philip Goad & Julie Willis, The Encyclopedia of Australian Architecture (2012), Cambridge University Press: Port Melbourne.

David Michael (Michael) SHANNON (b.1927; d.1993), within ‘Artists’ area of ‘Abstract Australis’ website, last viewed 23 Oct 2017, via http://www.abstractaustralis.com.au/artists/artist.cfm?id=1150

Goad, Philip, ‘CHURCHES’, pp.142-144 in eds Philip Goad & Julie Willis, The Encyclopedia of Australian Architecture (2012), Cambridge University Press: Port Melbourne.

Goad, Philip (2009), Melbourne Architecture, 2nd edition, The Watermark Press: Boorowa, N.S.W, p.185.

Goad, Philip, ‘Shells, spire and a dome: science and spirit in the space age’, in eds Ann Stephen, Philip Goad and Andrew McNamara, Modern times; the untold story of modernism in Australia (2008), Miegunyah Press: Carlton, Victoria.

Ian & Roslyn Coleman Conservation Consultants with Eleanor Bridger and Joanna Wills (January 1996), Twentieth Century Churches in Victoria: A Study for the Historic Buildings Council:

• Volume 1: Report, • Volume 4: Data Sheets of dated Churches 1946-1960, • Volume 5: Data Sheets of dated Churches 1961-1969, • Volume 6: Data Sheets of dated Churches 1970-1993, • Volume 7: Data Sheets of undated Churches. A-E, • Volume 8: Data Sheets of undated Churches. F-O, and • Volume 9: Data Sheets of undated Churches. P-Z.

Lewis, Miles (ed.) (1991), Victorian Churches: Their origins, their story & their architecture, National Trust of Australia (Victoria): Melbourne.

McPherson, Nina, Gilbo, Merle, and Costa, John (June 2010), The Catholic Parish of Ivanhoe: A Brief History.


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Michael Shannon, within ‘Biography’ area of ‘MICHAEL SHANNON’ website, last viewed 23 Oct 2017, via http://michaelshannonartist.com/shannon_Biography.html

Rudd, Ada (not dated, but is 1981 or later), Katamatite District Churches: Past and Present, S. M. & T. A. Williams Pty Ltd: Shepparton.

Sculpture – Prometheus, Figure, within ‘Collection’ area of ‘Hamilton Gallery’ website, viewed 23 Oct 2017, http://www.hamiltongallery.org/collection/detail.asp?Artist_LastName=h&Artist_Name=Herman+Hohaus&AccNumber=1745

Stained Glass, in ‘eMelbourne, the online Encyclopedia of Melbourne’ website, last viewed 23 Oct 2017, via http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM01420b.htm

Storey, Rohan (July 2017), Comparison: Post-war Churches in Victoria. [illustrated paper accompanying Application to nominate Mary Immaculate Church for inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register]

Survey of Post-War Built Heritage in Victoria: Stage One (October 2008), prepared for Heritage Victoria by Heritage Alliance conservation architects and heritage consultants; especially in Volume 1: Contextual Overview, Methodology, Lists & Appendices:

• ‘8.1 Maintaining Spiritual Life’, pp.24-25; and • ‘4.1 Places arranged by type’ (list of 17 projects in ‘026 Religion’) on pp.49-50.

Tim Burstall: Film writer, producer, director, in ‘MILESAGO: Australasian Music & Popular Culture 1964-75’ website, viewed 23 Oct 2017, via http://www.milesago.com/obits/burstall-tim.htm

Journal and newspaper articles

The Age: 5 July 2010, Schools were ‘in’ for designer: James Rossiter Stahle Architect, 22-1-1917 - 20-4-2010, by Neil Clerehan, http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/schools-were-in-for-designer-20100704-zvu1.html

The Australian: 21 March 2011, Obituary: Sculptor Matcham Skipper forged creative life from the bohemia of Montsalvat, by Gwen Ford.

Architecture Today: February 1962, on Today’s News page, untitled five-sentence article about – and black-and-white photograph of model of – ‘Roman Catholic Church of Mary Immaculate, Ivanhoe, Victoria’, p.9.

Cross-Section: Issue No. 108, October 1, 1961 (University of Melbourne, Department of Architecture), untitled two-sentence mention of ‘The new Mary Immaculate Church at Ivanhoe (Vic)’, p.1.

Fabrications: Vol.22 Issue 1, 2012, Constructing Pedigree: Robin Boyd’s “California-Victoria-New Empiricism” Axis, by Philip Goad.

Sydney Morning Herald: 31 March 2011, Obituary: Eltham art colony’s knockabout genius, http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/eltham-art-colonys-knockabout-genius-20110330-1cg6c.html.


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ADDITIONAL IMAGES

Mary Immaculate Church at the intersection of Waverley Ave and Upper Heidelberg Rd, Ivanhoe

with nominated area outlined by dashed red line. (January 2017)

Upper Heidelberg Rd (east) side of the Mary Immaculate Church. (Sep 2017)


Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell’s floor and site plan drawing of the Mary Immaculate Church, Ivanhoe. North is to the right of this image.

(via nominator, received August 2017)

External face of timber-framed window-wall on east side of Chapel of Our Lady. (Sep 2017)

L: Church from Waverley Ave (south); R: west side of the Church’s Nave. (Oct 2017)

Name: Mary Immaculate Church Hermes Number: 201051

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View across the pedestrian ramp which links Waverley Ave to the east-facing Narthex doors. (Sep 2017)

Commemorative foundation stone, to the south of the Narthex doors. (Sep 2017)


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2.1m (7 foot) bronze Madonna and Child on the exterior south-eastern wall by

German-born sculptor Hermann Hohaus. (Sep 2017)

West-facing walls, at the Church’s north-west. The window is to the Priests’ Sacristy. (Oct 2017)


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Within the Nave, looking north along the Church’s long axis towards the Chapel of Our Lady.

The painted steel structural columns and roof beams are clearly visible. (Oct 2017)

Within the Nave, looking southward at the doors to the Narthex. The southern wall of the Nave is

lined with narrow timber battens. The organ pipes have never functioned. (Oct 2017) Name: Mary Immaculate Church Hermes Number: 201051

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L: Sanctuary with steel-framed reredos of coloured glass panels. The altar table is clad with marble,

supported by a gold-mosaic tiled concrete cylinder; R: off-white painted internal walls are of bagged concrete blockwork, with a dado panel of stained timber squares and rectangles. (Oct 2017)

L: view to east window across southern end of Nave;

R: end of a typical timber pew. The vinyl floor tiles appear to be original. (Oct 2017) Name: Mary Immaculate Church Hermes Number: 201051

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L: Sanctuary with reredos of elongated hexagonal glass panels and oval-shaped baldachin above;

R: west window in Nave. (via nominator, received August 2017)

Chapel of Our Lady. L: looking north; R: looking south towards Nave. (Oct 2017)


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L: former Baptistry, on south side of Narthex, which is also at the base of the spire; R: panes of coloured glass at the base of the spire’s north face are visible through this circular opening in the ceiling. (Oct 2017)

L: doors and highlight windows between Narthex and Nave; R: terrazzo flooring in the Narthex. (Oct 2017)


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L: the Stations of the Cross are mounted to cover the blockwork walls’ perforated-steel vent panels.

R: one of the fourteen Stations of the Cross designed and made by Matcham Skipper. (Oct 2017)

Another two of Matcham Skipper’s Stations of the Cross. (Oct 2017)

Two more of Matcham Skipper’s Stations of the Cross. (Oct 2017)


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L: southernmost corner of former Baptistry. Some water damage is evident at the ceiling-to wall junctions. R: minor damage (missing bricks, cracking) to clay face brick retaining wall outside Sacristies . (Oct 2017)

Water damage to eaves boards and barge board above Narthex’s west-facing window. (Oct 2017)


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Article within ‘Today’s News’ on page 9 of the February 1962 issue of Architecture Today journal.

Undated photograph taken from Upper Heidelberg Road, showing construction of steel framing.

(from The Catholic Parish of Ivanhoe: A Brief History) Name: Mary Immaculate Church Hermes Number: 201051

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1962 photograph by Wolfgang Sievers. The presbytery to the left (west) is also Mockridge

Stahle & Mitchell’s design and was constructed in 1960. (via nominator, received August 2017)

1962 view from northeast, just after completion. (via nominator, received August 2017)


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Mary Immaculate Church just after its completion. (via nominator, received August 2017)

1962 photograph by Mark Strizic, prior to removal of central glass panels at base of the reredos.

The Nave’s original vinyl flooring is also apparent. (via nominator, received August 2017) Name: Mary Immaculate Church Hermes Number: 201051

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1962 photograph by Mark Strizic, prior to removal of central glass panels from the base of the reredos.

(via nominator, received August 2017)

Picture from Australian Women’s Weekly, 31 October 1962. (via nominator, received August 2017)


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Mark Strizic’s 1962 photo of the Chapel of Our Lady. Above the altar is the Australian artist Justin O’Brien’s

triptych originally painted for this Chapel, now removed. (via nominator, received August 2017)

Justin O’Brien’s triptych for the Chapel of Our Lady, now removed. (via nominator, received August 2017)


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Documents

Recommendation of the Executive Director and assessment of ...heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/... · available evidence suggests was designed in 1960, and which