Former Frank Paton Memorial Church and Hall (now Deepdene Uniting Church)
958A Burke Road DEEPDENE, BOROONDARA CITY
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Statement of Significance
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Former Frank Paton Memorial Church and Hall (now Deepdene Uniting Church) - Physical Description 1
The Former Frank Paton Memorial Church and Church Hall, 958A Burke Road, Deepdene, occupy a deep allotment on the eastern side of Burke Road, a major arterial road running north-south, just north of its intersection with Whitehorse Road. Moving from the west to east, the site can be seen to comprise four elements: the church building (1941), with oatmeal brick walls and a broad, low-pitched gabled roof, fronting Burke Road at the western end of the allotment; to its rear sits the large red-brick hall (1923), with a steeply-pitched gabled roof; adjoining the hall, at its east, is a flat-roofed, red-brick structure (1950s) and small asphalted carpark; at the eastern end of the allotment are a pair of tennis courts (c1926-31) enclosed with a high cyclone fence.
At the front (western) edge of the allotment, the church has a shallow setback behind a low, original, rustic fence of stone with dressed bluestone capping, and forms part of a significant vista when travelling south down Burke Road, with the adjacent red brick Deepdene Primary School (1922) to its north. These views are enhanced by the steep fall of the land to the east, and gentle slope to the north. At the northern boundary is a utilitarian timber-paling fence, while the rear (east) property line abuts parklands associated with the Anniversary Outer Circle Trail. A long concrete drive (a former laneway) extends down the southern edge of the church, terminating at the western edge of the tennis courts, where a bluestone lane continues.
The church (1941)
The substantial, late interwar-era church, designed in an austere Romanesque Revival style by architects Scarborough, Robertson and Love, has oatmeal brick walls and a low-pitched gabled roof of brown terracotta tiles. A band of dentillation sits beneath the eaves, with arched corbel tables above each window.
The building comprises carefully articulated forms including a polygonal apse, broad nave with a prominent clerestory, and side aisles incorporating a partially closed loggia. At the north end of the building, a quasi-tower, used as an organ chamber, is placed over a vestry and linked to the main entrance by a cloister.
At the south (front) end of the building, a highly decorative freestone door portal, with intricately carved lintel, tympanum, moulded arches and voussoirs marks the principal entrance to the church, and contrasts with the general simplicity of the building's monumental massing. Overall ornamentation is restrained, with visual interest provided through circular terracotta vents punctuating the high-quality brickwork, as well as the articulated brickwork to vertical piers, the corbel table, shallow dentillated eaves and understated buttressing to the quasi-tower.
The tall nave and apse are lit with large semi-circular arched multi-paned windows of yellow glass. A wheel window marks the southern elevation, and this end of the building is punctuated with a stylised chunky Maltese-style cross atop a characteristic parapet rising to a triangular summit and decorated with a corbel table.
The church building sits within a picturesque garden setting, incorporating many native plantings and original variegated salt-glazed tile paths and edging.
The hall (1923)
The large hall to the rear of the church, designed in the Arts and Crafts style by architect Henry Hardie Kemp, has red brick walls and a steeply-pitched dominant gabled roof of terracotta tiles. The building comprises a main gabled structure with an enclosed porch projecting to the east toward the church, which originally served as the principal entrance to the building. It has prominent eaves resting on exposed rafters and these are supported on decorative pierced timber brackets at the gable ends. Decoration to the gable ends incorporates half-timbered detailing resting on exposed purlins. Windows are timber-framed, and generally comprise multi-paned sashes within a main round-arched frame. Each arch is expressed in brick. Buttresses are used as defining elements of the composition dividing window bays and marking corners.
A rear wing to the east elevation of the hall building is an original part of the 1923 hall, or at least one that was constructed by 1926 (MMBW 1926). It is constructed of the same red face brick and terracotta tiled roof, hipped to the rear elevation of the hall building. It also replicates detailsof the hall building, including the same type of decorative expressedrafters with lambs tongue profile and multi-paned windows. While the main part of the 1923 Hall (beneath a gabled roof) has actual buttresses, the rear wing (hipped roof) echoes this element with abstracted buttresses seen on its south elevation, using raking bands of brickwork. These abstracted buttresses divided window bays on the east elevation of the rear wing. Overall it is a structure of high quality workmanship, designed with care like the rest of the Hall. This is in contrast with the utilitarian, flat-roofed addition built c1950s-60s atthe rear of this wing. Constructed in sympathetic red brick with similar detailing and built into the sloping landscape, these additions step down considerably from the main hall building and hence have little visual impact on the building. At the north of the hall is a double-storey addition (1964), also of red brick and sympathetic overall appearance.
At the rear of the site two (now clay) tennis courts laid out in c1926-31 remained at the time of the study.
The Former Frank Paton Memorial Church and Hall site has a high degree of integrity. The church building exhibits a high level of intactness, retaining key original elements of the place including its picturesque, asymmetrical massing, broad roof form, original pattern of fenestration and understated detailing in shallowly expressed brickwork patterns and motifs. The integrity of the place as a whole is enhanced by the retention of the church hall and tennis courts. While the church hall has later additions, they do not disrupt appreciation of its two main elevations (west and south) and have been designed sympathetically to the original architectural style and materials of the building.
Heritage Study and Grading
Balwyn Heritage Study Peer Review Stage 2
Author: Context
Year: 2020
Grading: Local
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