Category Box Hill

Apr 14 2012

27-04-1935: St. Andrew’s, Box Hill, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

St Andrews church at Box Hill had its origins as the West Melbourne Presbyterian Church which was demolished in 1935 and rebuilt at Box Hill as St Andrew’s using the same bluestone blocks.

Amongst the money raising ventures to pay for the new Box Hill church were the sale of tiny pieces of stone from the original building and the re-dedication of the original Ferguson & Urie stained glass windows for £50 each. The appearance of the new memorial dates below the windows gives the impression that the windows are of more recent origin than their original date of manufacture.

The foundation stone of the new church at Box Hill was laid on the 27th of April 1935 and was opened on the 14th December 1935. When the new church was built, its original West Melbourne character was retained but it was shortened by 10ft which was one complete window bay (each side).

St Andrews is a rarity as every stained glass window in the building was produced by Ferguson & Urie of Melbourne (another is St George’s Church  Queenscliff). According to the St Andrews church history booklet produced in 1985, eleven of the original Ferguson & Urie windows from the nave were reinstalled in the nave at Box Hill, one went to Trinity church in Camberwell (confirmed as extant), and the remaining windows were refashioned to make the windows in the foyer, tower room, vestries and porches. The main Apostle window was placed in the West Melbourne church in 1876 when the tower was built which faced William Street in Melbourne. The window originally showed two rows of four full length figures of apostles with the head of another apostle above each figure. When it was installed in St Andrews it was remodeled to show the upper four Apostles in one window and the lower four apostles divided into two windows which now flank the one on either side in the tower.

The original Ferguson & Urie stained glass now appears as twenty one sets of windows in the Box Hill church.

The photos were taken 29th October 2010. Every window in the church is represented in this slideshow.

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Related posts: 29-04-1867 > 02-05-1867>  27-04-1935 > 09-09-1935 > 16-12-1935 > 01-02-1936

Short link to this page: https://wp.me/p28nLD-MP

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Apr 14 2012

01-02-1936: Trinity Presbyterian Church, Camberwell, Melbourne, Victoria.

The Argus, Melbourne, Saturday 1st February 1936, page 10.

“At Trinity Presbyterian Church Camberwell, to-morrow morning, the Rev. R. Wilson Macaulay will dedicate a large English[sic] stained glass window removed from the old West Melbourne Presbyterian Church. The window is to commemorate the ministry of the Rev. P. J. Murdoch, who was minister at West Melbourne from 1884 to 1887, when he was called to Camberwell, where he occupied the pulpit for many years”.

The article incorrectly reports the window as “English” when it was in fact made by the Ferguson & Urie stained glass company in North Melbourne. All of the stained glass windows in the old West Melbourne church were made by this firm and when it was dismantled in 1935, it was reconstructed as St. Andrew’s at Box Hill and thirteen of the original fourteen nave windows were reinstalled in the Box Hill church. The the other window (mentioned in the above article) went to the Trinity Church in Camberwell. This window was donated by Sir Keith & Lady Murdoch in the name of Sir Keith’s father the, Rev. Patrick John Murdoch, as indicated during the church jubilee service on the 8th September 1935. (see post 09-09-1935).

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Biography: Rev Patrick John Murdoch (1850-1940)

Biography: Sir Keith Arthur Murdoch (1885-1952).

Related posts: 29-04-1867 > 02-05-1867>  27-04-1935 > 09-09-1935 > 16-12-1935 > 01-02-1936

To see a slideshow of the entire cycle of windows at St Andrews Box Hill, see post:  27-04-1935

Short link to this page: http://wp.me/p28nLD-MZ

Apr 14 2012

16-12-1935: St. Andrew’s, Box Hill, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

The Argus, Melbourne, Monday 16th December 1935, page 4.

“The Pulpit – ST. ANDREW’S CHURCH TRANSFERRED. Opened on New Site at Box Hill”.

“With the original key which opened the old Gothic doors of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church at West Melbourne, the same doors were reopened on Saturday, when the church, which has been re-erected at White Horse road, Box Hill, was dedicated on its new site in the presence of nearly 1,000 people…”

“…The Apostle window, valued at £1,500, has been placed in the lower portion of the tower, visible within the church above a gallery. Flood-lighting will make it visible at night from the road…”

The Apostle window and all other windows in the Box Hill Church came from the former West Melbourne Church, all of which were made by Ferguson & Urie. The final service in the old West Melbourne Church was held on Sunday 3rd February 1935.

Note: Only images of the Apostle window are shown in this slide show. The photos were taken on the 28th November 2010. There was no access to the gallery for closeup shots and only portions of the windows could be taken from varying angles with a zoom lens.

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To see a slideshow of the entire cycle of windows at St Andrews Box Hill, see post:  27-04-1935

Related posts: 29-04-1867 > 02-05-1867>  27-04-1935 > 09-09-1935 > 16-12-1935 > 01-02-1936

Short link to this page: https://wp.me/p28nLD-MX

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Feb 20 2012

13-08-1867: James Urie visits Tasmania on Ferguson and Urie business.

In August 1867, James Urie of the Melbourne stained glass firm ‘Ferguson & Urie’, traveled to Tasmania with a portfolio of the companies designs for ecclesiastical and secular stained glass. As of May 2013, over twenty-five Tasmanian buildings have been identified as having one or more extant stained glass windows by the firm. The newspaper article below contains a gold mine of clues for Ferguson & Urie windows erected in Tasmania and in Victoria and I have included my comments as to what have found on each clue.

The Mercury, Hobart Tasmania, Tuesday 13th August 1867, page 5.

 “STAINED WINDOWS – A few days since we stated that Mr. Urie of the firm of Ferguson, Urie, and Lyon, glass stainers, &c, Melbourne, was on a professional visit to Hobart Town. This gentleman is now in Launceston, and we were much gratified yesterday by inspecting a large portfolio of designs for church and other windows which his firm has executed or has in hand. Amongst the most elegant we may mention the chancel window of St. George’s Church, Queenscliff, the subject being taken from the Litany, whilst the side lights represent the twelve Apostles and the west window other emblems; chancel window of St. Peter’s, Wooloomooloo (Sydney), embracing nine events in the life of St. Peter; Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Geelong; St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, Collingwood; St. Patrick’s Church, Duneed; the Melbourne Convent; the Presbyterian Churches at West Melbourne and Ballan; the Wesleyan Churches at Daylesford and Kent Town (S. Australia). They have also erected some very elegant memorial windows including one for the late Prince Consort at Kew; Rev. R. W. Needham, at Mount Gambier; Dr. Peck, at Sale; Judge Pohlman’s wife, and wife of Mr Stoddart both in Melbourne. We have already referred to Dr. Moore’s at New Norfolk, and the two windows in St. John’s, Launceston. One of the most elegant windows is in the house of Mr. George Stevenson, at Toorak; it represents the four seasons with figures of Art, Science, Agriculture, and Commerce, with Faith and Hope, coat of arms, and crest. This window cost £250. This firm also supplied a staircase window for the new mansion of the Hon. R. Q. Kermode at Mona Vale, but it has been decided to substitute one much more elaborate. They are also to fit up two windows for the new Wesleyan Church of this town – one at either end, which will be very handsome. Several private homes in this town, and a large number in Victoria, have been ornamented in this way, and no doubt the practice will extend when it is known how skilfully the art is carried out by Messrs. Ferguson & Co.”

Notes:

1. Queenscliff, Victoria, St Georges, All windows extant.
Related posts: 22-02-1864 > 29-01-1866 > 12-02-1881 > 07-04-1882 > 30-12-1893

2. Wooloomooloo, Sydney, NSW, St Peter’s (Darlinghurst), now part of Sydney Church of England Girls Grammar School.
Related posts: 1867: St Peter’s Anglican Church, Woolloomooloo, Sydney, New South Wales.

3. Geelong, Victoria, St Peter & Paul Catholic. Three light principal east window.
Related post: 13-08-1867: St Peter & St Paul, Geelong, Victoria.

4. Collingwood, Melbourne, Roman Catholic (St Joseph’s) destroyed by fire in 2007.
See: 1863: St Joseph’s Catholic Church, Collingwood, Victoria.

5. Duneed, Victoria, St Patrick’s (Mt Moriac) foundation laid in 1858. Ferguson & Urie east window erected in 1866 but was destroyed my a massive hail storm in 1887. The church was rebuilt in 1950’s and sold at auction in February 2017..

6. Melbourne, Victoria, the “Melbourne Convent”. This is likely to be the “Convent of Our Immaculate Lady of Mercy” in Nicholson street Fitzroy. My correspondence with the Convent has revealed nothing.

7. West Melbourne, Presbyterian. Dismantled in 1935 and re-erected as St Andrews at Box Hill in 1936. It contains the original F&U windows except for one which went to the Camberwell Church on Riversdale Road.
Related posts: 27-04-1935

8. Ballan, Victoria, Presbyterian (St Paul’s). All windows are extant.
Related posts: > 22-07-1866 > 28-07-1866 > 13-08-1867

9. Daylesford, Victoria, Wesleyan. Only small ‘stock’ windows in the porch exist in poor condition. See photos <here>

10. Kent Town, South Australia, Wesleyan. Nothing further known.
Related posts: 26-10-1864

11. Kew, Melbourne. The Prince Consort window at Holy Trinity is extant and recently restored.
Related posts: 08-06-1881

12. Mount Gambier, Christ Church, Rev Needham memorial window and others are extant.
Related posts: 02-11-1867

13. Sale, Victoria, St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral. Dr. Peck memorial window is extant.
Related post: 29-01-1867

14. Melbourne, Pohlman and Stoddart memorial windows.
Nothing found in regards to the Pohlman window but the Stoddart window exists.
Related post: South Yarra Presbyterian 1867

Pohlman:

Judge Robert Williams Pohlman (1811-1877): Biography | Obit 1877 | Funeral | Obit 1878 His funeral was in St Stephen’s in Richmond and he was buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery on the 8th Dec 1877. He was married twice. His second wife, Mercy Clifton Bachelor died of an embolism at age 26 on the 21st January 1876 only a couple of weeks after giving birth to a stillborn daughter on the 5th of January 1876. He only had one daughter to his second wife named Annie who married Navy Commander Frederick Owen Pike at St John’s in Toorak on the 27th December 1893.

This would mean that the stained glass window would have been a memorial to his first wife “Eliza” who died at Richmond on the 11th Feb 1856.

Stoddart/Stodart:

This is James Dickson Stodart (c1825-1867), Mayor of Prahran 1864/65 and councilor 1858/59-1859/60, 1863/64-1864/65.

Arrived from Edinburgh in 1853. Was later a financial agent for Cornish & Bruce railway contractors. See: Yarra Presbyterian 1867

An active member of the Scotch Presbyterian Church in Punt Road South Yarra, where his memorial stained glass window resides.

He died on Wednesday 12th June 1867. The window has been found at the South Yarra Presbyterian Church See: http://wp.me/p28nLD-2I3.

15. New Norfolk, Tasmania, St Matthew’s, Dr. Moore memorial window is extant.
Related posts: 04-03-1882

16. Launceston, St John’s: The window is extant but no longer in its original position. The canopy glass above the main three lights no longer exists but an original design for the window shows that it contained the descending Dove and the symbols for Alpha and Omega.
Full details see  post: 25-09-1866

17. George Stevenson’s house at Toorak was named “Trawalla” and is located at 22 Lascelles Avenue Toorak. Window is extant.

18. Ross, Tasmania, Kermode’s Mona Vale Mansion. This window still exists. Images are shown in various historical books written in the last 30 years.

19. Launceston, Wesleyan, (Pilgrims Uniting), window facing Patterson street is extant but nothing seen in the opposite end. Gavin Merrington from Hobart has confirmed that a wheel window exists above the organ loft.

Also see: 07-08-1867: Decorative Art. James Urie sojourning in Tasmania.

Other related posts: 03-03-1868 , 29-01-1866, 20-06-1867, 29-04-1864,

Short link to this page: http://wp.me/p28nLD-98