ST MARKS ANGLICAN CHURCH

250-260, 268 AND 270 GEORGE STREET FITZROY, YARRA CITY

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Victorian Heritage Register

ST MARKS ANGLICAN CHURCH SOHE 2008

Statement of Significance

• Additional Place Information

  • History

    ST MARKS ANGLICAN CHURCH - History

    This history is from the website of Saint Mark’s Church, Fitzroy
    
    

    https://www.stmarksfitzroy.com/our-history [accessed 21 February 2024]
    
    

    The foundation stone of Saint Mark’s Church was laid on 1 July 1853 and opened in early 1855. This church became the focus of the Anglican community in Fitzroy during its development as Melbourne's first suburb. It is built in the early English Gothic Revival style, the first bluestone church built outside the central business district. Richard Grice, the generous pastoralist and philanthropist, contributed almost all the cost of its construction. Noted architects were involved in its construction: James Blackburn, the original architect, Leonard Terry who supervised the construction of the bluestone stairs and the distinctive gallery on the eastern side of the building in 1865 and Charles Webb who, in 1874, added the tower and spire. 
    
    

    There are fine lancet stained glass windows featuring the work of the firms Brooks Robinson Ltd and William Montgomery. Many of the windows were installed in the late nineteenth century and one in the narthex / baptistery in the late twentieth century. The blackwood reredos, which dates from 1939, features a mosaic of the last supper also by Brooks Robinson.
    
    

    Major refurbishment and restoration works costing over $1 million took place in the 1990s including the installation of the Harrison and Harrison organ in 1998.
    
    

    Daily services were commenced in 1885 during the time of the Reverend John Francis Stretch – later Bishop of Newcastle. During the 1920s and 1930s the Reverend Reginald Nicholls (Brother Bill) installed a screen in the church to show moving picture shows as part of the liturgy. Eucharistic Vestments were introduced in the 1960s and in 1973 a daily Mass commenced when Fr Michael King became the Vicar and adopted a modern expression of Anglo-Catholic worship. In 1975 he founded the Community of Saint Mark a religious order for men; the Brothers lived in the vicarage and assisted with parish visiting and counselling. In 1980 the Community, feeling called to a Benedictine form of life, left Fitzroy and became St. Mark's Priory, the Benedictine monastery at Camperdown.
    
    

    Today the modern Anglo-Catholic form of worship continues with a fine musical program which is integrated with the ritual and text of the Mass.
    
    

    Saint Mark’s property contains many interesting buildings. On the eastern side of the property on Hodgson Street the former St Mark’s School. It dates from 1891 having being relocated from the George Street side in 1923.
    
    

    On George Street stands the former Parish Hall and Verger’s Cottage built in 1891 to the design of Hyndman & Bates Architects who also envisaged the building of a grand Vicarage in the same style with a return veranda. In the end, only the hall and the verger’s cottage were built. The Vicarage was built in 1910.
    
    

    The red brick St Mark’s Community Centre, originally known as the Social Settlement buildings, was designed by the architectural firm Gawler and Drummond in 1923. This building contains a room which was the first free children’s library in Victoria and features stained glass windows featuring fairies and pixies in and Australian setting from book illustrations of Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, a notable woman artist of the era.
    
    

    During the 1970s the Saint Mark’s Social Settlement Building, built in 1926, was known as the Community Centre. In the late 1970s, when the religious Community of Saint Mark was in the process of formation, they and sisters from the Community of the Holy Name, conducted various programs for families from the Community Centre. It became known as the Saint Mark’s Community Centre in 1980 when the parish engaged a social worker, Peter Burke, to run emergency relief and a community lounge. From that time, the church began a more active collaboration with its surrounding communities.  
    
    

    St Mark’s has a strong history of providing social welfare support and facilities for the local community. The church also holds important meaning for its longstanding mission to support LGBTIQ+ people. A fundraiser for Gay Community News was hosted there in May 1980, nearly a year before decriminalisation was implemented in Victoria. St Mark’s regularly hired out its hall to gay groups for meetings at a time when many organisations found that idea objectionable or too controversial.
    
    

    Beginning in the mid-1980s, St Mark’s ran an AIDS ministry, offering pastoral services and advocacy for people living with HIV and AIDS.  Its annual AIDS requiem, held from 1986 and throughout the 1990s, was an important event for many people living with AIDS, drawing crowds of about 500 at its peak on the evening of Melbourne Cup Day. A new phase began in 2012 when the first Midsumma Mass was held at St Mark’s. Commencing in 1996, the Mass had previously been held at St Agnes’ Anglican Church in 116 Booran Road, Glen Huntly.
    
    

    In 2010 the parish entered a partnership with Anglicare Victoria to run the centre.
    
    Keywords: Woman artist, women artists, homosexual, LGBTIQ, HIV/AIDS.
    
    

    
     
    
    

    Permit Exemptions

    ST MARKS ANGLICAN CHURCH - Permit Exemptions

    General Exemptions:

    General exemptions apply to all places and objects included in the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR). General exemptions have been designed to allow everyday activities, maintenance and changes to your property, which don’t harm its cultural heritage significance, to proceed without the need to obtain approvals under the Heritage Act 2017.

    Places of worship: In some circumstances, you can alter a place of worship to accommodate religious practices without a permit, but you must notify the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria before you start the works or activities at least 20 business days before the works or activities are to commence.

    Subdivision/consolidation: Permit exemptions exist for some subdivisions and consolidations. If the subdivision or consolidation is in accordance with a planning permit granted under Part 4 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and the application for the planning permit was referred to the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria as a determining referral authority, a permit is not required.

    Specific exemptions may also apply to your registered place or object. If applicable, these are listed below. Specific exemptions are tailored to the conservation and management needs of an individual registered place or object and set out works and activities that are exempt from the requirements of a permit. Specific exemptions prevail if they conflict with general exemptions.

    Find out more about heritage permit exemptions here.

    Specific Exemptions:

    General Conditions: 1. All exempted alterations are to be planned and carried out in a manner which prevents damage to the fabric of the registered place or object. General Conditions: 2. Should it become apparent during further inspection or the carrying out of alterations that original or previously hidden or inaccessible details of the place or object are revealed which relate to the significance of the place or object, then the exemption covering such alteration shall cease and the Executive Director shall be notified as soon as possible. General Conditions: 3. If there is a conservation policy and plan approved by the Executive Director, all works shall be in accordance with it. General Conditions: 4. Nothing in this declaration prevents the Executive Director from amending or rescinding all or any of the permit exemptions. General Conditions: 5. Nothing in this declaration exempts owners or their agents from the responsibility to seek relevant planning or building permits from the responsible authority where applicable. Landscape:

    The process of gardening; mowing, hedge clipping, bedding displays, removal of dead plants, disease and weed control, emergency and safety works and landscaping and planting to retain the existing landscape character

    The replanting of plant species to conserve the landscape character.
    Management of trees in accordance with Australian Standard; Pruning of amenity trees AS 4373.

    Removal of plants listed as State Prohibited and Regionally Controlled Weeds in the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994.

    Repairs, conservation and maintenance to hard landscape elements, steps, asphalt paths, edging, fences and gates.

    
    Installation, removal or replacement of garden watering and drainage systems.

    Exterior of all buildings:

    Maintenance and repairs which replace like with like.

    Removal of extraneous items such as air-conditioners, pipe work, ducting, wiring, antennae, aerials etc. and making good

    Interior of all buildings, except Church

    Removal, replacement or installation of smoke detectors and electrical wiring provided that all new wiring is concealed

    Repair and servicing of equipment and services including wiring, plumbing, heating, air-conditioning and fire services

    Updating, removal or replacement of services to wet areas.

    Vicarage and Verger’s House:

    All internal works are permit exempt.

    Permit Exemption Policy

    ST MARKS ANGLICAN CHURCH - Permit Exemption Policy

    Permit policy should be guided by Conservation Analysis and Management Plan, Parish Church of St Mark, Fitzroy, by Helen Lardner & Associates (May 1996).

    The purpose of the permit exemptions is to allow works that do not impact on the integrity and significance of the place without the need to apply for a permit.

    The site includes six separate buildings, in various states of intactness. Interior works to the Vicarage and Verger’s Cottage will not affect the cultural heritage significance of the place. The significance of church, community centre, former Sunday School and Parish Hall are demonstrated internally as well as externally. If requiring guidance with the type of works and the extent of exemption, the owner should contact Heritage Victoria.

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