St Bernadettes Roman Catholic Church

89-91 Bond Street IVANHOE, BANYULE CITY

All information on this page is maintained by Banyule City. Click below for their website and contact details.

Banyule City

St Bernadettes Roman Catholic Church

Statement of Significance

• Additional Place Information

  • Physical Description 1

    St Bernadettes Roman Catholic Church - Physical Description 1

    The post-war era saw changes in the design of Catholic churches as a result of the findings of the Second Vatican Council held between 1962-65 and the Church's preference for Modernist architecture on its buildings of this period. Interestingly St Bernadettes was designed and built just prior to the Second Vatican Council.

    St Bernadettes is a modernist church comprising amain buildingwith separate bell tower. The church has a gabled roof sweeping to a point at the front entrance and at the rear in the form of a folded ellipse that has references to Le Corbusier's Chapel at Ronchamp. The front of the church is dominated by a large angular front window with vertical fins filtering the sunlight. The bell tower is elliptical and forms a strong part of the composition. The rear of the church has a similar roof treatment and windows with vertical fins. The church is distinguished by contrasting materials of face brick and glass used in a bold manner and to striking effect. The side walls are curved and comprise small amber glass windows set randomly in the masonry wall which also reference Ronchamp in the way in which light enters the buillding through these windows. The bell tower is elliptical and attached to the main church building by a low annex standing apart from the main structure.

    Other buildings on the site include a single storey Presbytery designed of matching brick but in a more restrained and conservative style. To the other side of the church is a two storey flat roofed convent that was contructed in the early 1960s and is also of conservative design. The interior is lined in timberto the underside of the roof, and the elliptical shape of the walls has the effect of makinga draped appearance to the ceiling. Photographer Wolfgang Sievers captured St Bernadettes soon after completion in 1962 with a series of photographs. The interior of the church was designed with a clear span following the line of the pitched roof and the ceiling lining of timber boards. The concrete encased column structure is expressed between panels of face brick punctuated with small panels of glass. The sanctuary is located behind the main window and light is filtered through the vertical sunshading.

    Robert Ellis also designed St Patricks, Murrumbeena (1963) that employs the architectural form of an ellipse, but no other churches are known to have been designed by this architect.

    Heritage Study and Grading

    Heritage Study and Grading

    Banyule - Banyule Heritage Review

    Author: Context P/L
    Year: 2009
    Grading: Local

    Banyule - Heidelberg Conservation Study

    Author: Graeme Butler and Associates
    Year: 1985
    Grading:

• Location map
• Explore related places
  • Show:
    -- select -- Nearby Places Same era

  • 
    HEIDELBERG TOWN HALL

    

    Victorian Heritage Register H2077
  • DAREBIN CREEK 2, DAREBIN ROAD BRIDGE

    

    Victorian Heritage Inventory
  • CHINESE MARKET GARDENS, DAREBIN CREEK FLATS

    

    Victorian Heritage Inventory

  • 
    'GUNYAH', FIRST CANTERBURY TROOP SCOUT HALL & CAMBERWELL NORTH GUIDE HALL

    

    Boroondara City
  • 
    1 Miller Street

    

    Yarra City
  • 
    1-3 Rowena Parade

    

    Yarra City
• Public contributions