The "Faith", "Hope" and "Charity" Ferguson and Urie Stained Glass Sanctuary Windows; St Kilda Presbyterian Church - Corner Barkley Street and Alma Road, St Kilda

            The Sanctury of the St Kilda Presbyterian Church features three beautiful 1880s Ferguson and Urie stained glass windows; Faith on the left, Charity in the middle and Hope on the right.  All are executed in iridescent reds, yellows, greens and blues, to reflect the colour palate used in other Ferguson and Urie windows elsewhere around the church.

Built on the crest of a hill in a prominent position overlooking St Kilda and the bay is the grand St Kilda Presbyterian Church.  

The St Kilda Presbyterian Church's interior is cool, spacious and lofty, with high ceilings of tongue and groove boards laid diagonally, and a large apse whose ceiling was once painted with golden star stenciling.  The bluestone walls are so thick that the sounds of the busy intersection of Barkley Street and Alma Road barely permeate the church's interior, and it is easy to forget that you are in such a noisy inner Melbourne suburb.  The cedar pews of the church are divided by two grand aisles which feature tall cast iron columns with Corinthian capitals.  At the rear of the building towards Alma Road there are twin porches and a narthex with a staircase that leads to the rear gallery where the choir sang from.  It apparently once housed an organ by William Anderson, but the space today is used as an office and Bible study area.  The current impressive Fincham and Hobday organ from 1892 sits in the north-east corner of the church.  It cost £1030.00 to acquire and install.  The church is flooded with light, even on an overcast day with a powerful thunder storm brewing (as the weather was on my visit).  The reason for such light is because of the very large Gothic windows, many of which are filled with quarry glass by Ferguson and Urie featuring geometric tracery with coloured borders.  The church also features stained glass windows designed by Ferguson and Urie, including the impressive rose window, British stained glass artist Ernest Richard Suffling, Brooks, Robinson and Company Glass Merchants, Mathieson and Gibson of Melbourne and one by Australian stained glass artist Napier Waller.

Opened in 1886, the St Kilda Presbyterian church was designed by the architects firm of Wilson and Beswicke, a business founded in 1881 by Ralph Wilson and John Beswicke (1847 - 1925) when they became partners for a short period.  The church is constructed of bluestone with freestone dressings and designed in typical Victorian Gothic style.  The foundation stone, which may be found on the Alma Road facade, was laid by the Governor of Victoria Sir Henry Barkly on 27 January.  When it was built, the St Kilda Presbyterian Church was surrounded by large properties with grand mansions built upon them, so the congregation were largely very affluent and wished for a place of worship that reflected its stature not only in location atop a hill, but in size and grandeur.   

The exterior facades of the church on Barkley Street and Alma Road are dominated by a magnificent tower topped by an imposing tower.  The location of the church and the height of the tower made the spire a landmark for mariners sailing into Melbourne's port.  The tower features corner pinnacles and round spaces for the insertion of a clock, which never took place.  Common Victorian Gothic architectural features of the St Kilda Presbyterian Church include complex bar tracery over the windows, wall buttresses which identify structural bays, gabled roof vents, parapeted gables and excellent stone masonry across the entire structure.   

I am very grateful to the Reverend Paul Lee for allowing me the opportunity to photograph the interior of the St Kilda Presbyterian Church so extensively.

The architects Wilson and Beswicke were also responsible for the Brighton, Dandenong, Essendon, Hawthorn and Malvern Town Halls and the Brisbane Wesleyan Church on the corner of Albert and Ann Streets.  They also designed shops in the inner Melbourne suburbs of Auburn and Fitzroy.  They also designed several individual houses, including "Tudor House" in Williamstown, "Tudor Lodge" in Hawthorn and "Rotha" in Hawthorn, the latter of which is where John Beswicke lived. 

The stained glass firm of Ferguson and Urie was established by Scots James Ferguson (1818 – 1894), James Urie (1828 – 1890) and John Lamb Lyon (1836 – 1916).  They were the first known makers of stained glass in Australia.  Until the early 1860s, window glass in Melbourne had been clear or plain coloured, and nearly all was imported, but new churches and elaborate buildings created a demand for pictorial windows.  The three Scotsmen set up Ferguson and Urie in 1862 and the business thrived until 1899, when it ceased operation, with only John Lamb Lyon left alive.  Ferguson and Urie was the most successful Nineteenth Century Australian stained glass window making company.  Among their earliest works were a Shakespeare window for the Haymarket Theatre in Bourke Street, a memorial window to Prince Albert in Holy Trinity, Kew, and a set of Apostles for the West Melbourne Presbyterian Church.  Their palatial Gothic Revival office building stood at 283 Collins Street from 1875. Ironically, their last major commission, a window depicting “labour”, was installed in the old Melbourne Stock Exchange in Collins Street in 1893 on the eve of the bank crash.  Their windows can be found throughout the older suburbs of Melbourne and across provincial Victoria.

Taken in: Australia / Victoria / Melbourne / St Kilda South (show map)

Taken on: January 7, 2015

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Camera: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS, f/3.2, 1/60 sec, 8.3mm, ISO 250 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS
Aperture:	f/3.2
Exposure Time:	0.017 sec (1/60)
Focal Length:	8.3mm
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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