The Chapel of the Former Parade College - Victoria Parade, East Melbourne

            In 1868, four Irish Christian brothers, P.A. Treacy, D.F. Bodkin, J.B. Lynch and P.J. Nolan, arrived in Melbourne to open a new Christian school in the booming, and somewhat wild, city at the behest of Bishop Gould. They began teaching in 1869 in a small rented primary school behind St. Francis’ Church in Lonsdale Street.  However, they really wanted something more permanent than the rented school they had, and they also wished to have a monastery in which to reside, rather than the rented rooms in Fitzroy that they had taken as a temporary measure.  

With help from the Irish Catholic Church, they acquired a parcel of land along the wide boulevard of Victoria Parade in East Melbourne.  In 1871 their dreams were realised when a new bluestone college was blessed by Bishop Gould in the presence of the venerable Archbishop of Sydney, the Archbishop Polding.  They called their new school Parade College, after the name of the street it was built on, and dedicated it to Mary Immaculate. 

The building is an imposing three storey bluestone structure that was built to the designs of Melbourne architect William Wilkinson Wardell (1823 – 1899), who also designed the nearby St. Patrick’s Cathedral.   The building has been designed in the popular Victorian Gothic style, a mostly ecclesiastical architectural style.  It features gothic style windows on the Victoria Parade facade, and a double storey verandah of cast iron on the rear of the building, which when it was built, would have taken in beautiful views of the nearby Fitzroy Gardens and the burgeoning city beyond it.  The building also included a beautiful chapel on the third floor, accessed via a stairwell that was also designed in the Gothic style.  The chapel is small; however it makes up in beauty what it lacks in size, with a vaulted pressed metal ceiling and beautiful stained glass windows. 

On the school’s first day, more than one hundred boys were enrolled and the number increased steadily as accommodation became available. As time went on, more Brothers arrived at Parade College from Ireland, and so the number of boys attending the school could increase.  In 1902 the school building was extended yet again and finally completed William Wardell’s original designs. It is this building that we see today. This building was affectionately known as the "Old Bluestone Pile" and the school’s song takes its name from this building.

Gothic architecture was perceived by the pious Victorians as an expression of religious, and therefore, moral values, and this may be the reason why architects preferred to build schools in this style throughout the Nineteenth Century.  Its revival was seen as virtuous and equated with moral revival; the perfect environment in which to educate young minds.  For this reason an ecclesiastical character was predominant even on buildings that were not necessarily religious.

In 1999 after being located in Clayton for 25 years, the Catholic Theological College moved into the former Parade College building (which had been sold in 1994) alongside which it built a new modern building designed by Gregory Burgess.

William Wilkinson Wardell was a civil engineer and architect born in England.  He studied under Gothic architect Augustus Pugin, who became his friend as well as his mentor.  Between 1846 and 1858 he designed over thirty churches in England, which was a very prodigious output, and he had a flourishing business.  Some of the churches he designed include: St Birinus, Bridge End, Dorchester-on-Thames which was worked on between 1846 and 1849, and Greenwich’s Our Lady Star of the Sea which was worked on between 1846 and 1851.  By 1858, Mr. Wardell’s health was suffering and his doctors felt that the warmer climate afforded by Australia might be more beneficial to his health.  Therefore he, his wife Lucy, his two sons and daughter migrated after Mr. Wardell obtained the position of "Government Architect" to the city of Melbourne.  In Melbourne he is known for designing the first St Mary’s Church in East St Kilda in 1859 and the second in 1897, Government House Melbourne in 1876, the ANZ Gothic bank in Collins Street in 1877, and St Patrick’s Cathedral which was completed in 1897 but was still being modified by Mr. Wardell at the time of his death.  He is also known in Sydney for designing, the ASN Co. Building in 1884, St John’s College at the University of Sydney, which was completed after a breakdown in relations between the architect and the Sydney City Council, and St Mary’s Cathedral which was not completed until after his death.  Mr. Wardell died at his home, “Upton Grange” in North Sydney in November 1899 of heart failure and pleurisy, but left behind a rich legacy in Australia, not only of the commercial and ecclesiastical buildings that he created, but for the numerous private houses and mansions that he designed.

Taken in: Australia / Victoria / Melbourne / East Melbourne (show map)

Taken on: July 26, 2014

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Camera: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS, f/2.8, 1/60 sec, 6.2mm, ISO 250 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS
Aperture:	f/2.8
Exposure Time:	0.017 sec (1/60)
Focal Length:	6.2mm
ISO:	250
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Fired, Red-eye reduction
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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