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Supreme Court Library

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Established: 1852

Built in: 1877

Architect: A E Johnson

Location: 192 William Street

     In late 1851, he population has tripled within a year through the discovery of gold, thus increasing the business of Court rapidly. In the 1860s, the Court started to hear a lot of cases concerning the development of railways and their decision to regulate the system in the Colony's large developments like infrastructure and mining, leading them to making the first Company Law Acts. There were also social welfare laws that were introduced in 1863. In 1867, the Court continues to be involved in looking after the vulnerable members of society with the administration of funds in Court. The time of crisis was the economic depression in the 1890s that lead the Court business to stagnation and lead them to reduce the number of Judges to four in 1917 and restored again to six in 1919. The Court of Appeal was created in 1994 and currently has 12 Judges. In 2003, the year after the 150th Anniversary, Marilyn Warren was chosen as Chief Justice.

     This building was built during the Victorian period with the Academic Classical style. This was the time where there were a lot of eclectic styles that include the Neo-Classicism, Romanesque, Second Empire, Mannerist, etc. Sadly, a lot of building built in this era were demolished in the 1950-60s. The Supreme Court Library has an Academic Classical architecture style deriving from France. It is built with brick on bluestone foundations and Tasmanian freestone. The Academic Classical style was made with more freedom but some disappeared after the Great Depression. There is also a feel of Renaissance Revival style because of the interpretation of Classicism involved.

     From the exterior, there are aedicules which are modelled from shrines, sometimes with an altar, as windows. The next element is archivolts, that can be seen in one of the main entrances to the building. There are also classical balustrades along the exterior of the building located below the windows and the top of the highest storey: There are also cornices that are both plain or have billet moldings for the highest storey. In the interior, there are round arcades along the top storey as cloisters, and also cornices that are plain and decorated. This gives the location a deep classical feel without it being too heavy. The color palate for the exterior are hues of greys and beiges with deep browns for the doors and window frames. One of the entrances, as shown in the picture, has voussoirs in the arcade, that shows the Romanesque style, and gives the entrance more character. The interior has beige walls, deep brown shelves and window frames, and a deep red carpet. Red is a color that signifies stimulation, passion, energy and intensity, all appropriate for a library setting. On the second storey, there is also decorated balustrades, which originated from the Victorian era as well for in and outdoor purposes.

     The Supreme Court Library is worth taking a visit to because of how grand the building feels and also of how monumental it is for Melbourne.

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St.Francis Church

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Address: 326 Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Designed by: 1849 Samuel Jackson; 1856 George & Schneider; 1878 Reed & Barnes

Founded: 1841- 1845 (opened)

Current Use: Church

Style: Pre-separation Colonial Gothic 1836-1850

     St. Francis Church is the oldest and earliest surviving church that is still present on site in Victoria. It was built in 1841 until 1845, which falls under the Georgian or Colonial early Melbourne era yet has a pre-separation Colonial Gothic style. Gothic, or Neo-Gothic, is a movement that is very distinct in the Victorian era (1837 – 1901) and has left imprints all around Melbourne to this day. During that time, freemasons were allowed to contribute to the development of buildings, making ornate decorations on buildings. The church was also built during the Georgian period (1840 – 1869), which is said to be “rustic in nature, markedly absent in decoration, absent of picturesque rooflines (with the exception of the castellated Gothic) followed restrained classical forms and often symmetrical Palladian motifs” (walkinginmelbourne.com). This was also a time where the population was only a village of around 80,000 people.

     For St. Francis Church, Neo-Gothic appeared a lot through the use of pinnacles, arcade windows, geometric decorated window with drop gothic arches, and buttresses. The delicately decorated vibrant windows were ornate to the church as there is no specific name for the design. From my observation, there are buttresses on the exterior to support the weight of the walls, otherwise the walls would be thicker. There is also a perpendicular porch, influenced from the early English Gothic era c. 1380-1520. “In 1955–56, a new front porch was added to the building and ten new confessionals were built as buttresses along the outer wall of the nave. More recently, the interior has been modernised in line with the Second Vatican Council’s liturgical reforms” (blessedsacrament.com.au).

     Also in the exterior, influence from the Renaissance revival/Neo-Renaissance period (19th century) can also be distinguished. It can be seen from the ornate carved stone, rusticated stone floor in the perpendicular porch and ashlar facing. Lastly, there is also Victorian Italianate (19th century) present through the asymmetrical façade in the front face of the building. Present now in the west side of St. Francis church is a Ladye Chapel that was built in mid 1850s made by George and Schneider and decorated by Le Gould and Soute. Also, a Renaissance style sanctuary made in 1878-9 by Reed and Barnes.

     In the interior, the most noticeable aspect is the coffered cedar ceilings. The coffered ceiling is from the Renaissance period however the one in the church is more simplistic because it is only squares and does not have carvings or paintings. The cedar ceiling also shows as an example of pre-gold rush craftsmanship. There are also a lot of stained glass made by Hardman of Birmingham around the church and several tall, exquisite, beautiful ones in the Ladye Chapel. The stunning stained glass in the Ladye Chapel is accompanied by colorful Minton tiles that unifies the color scheme, which are beige, navy and deep reds, in the stained glass and ceiling.

     Though St. Francis may look plain on the outside, it shows character and years of eclectic styles that has made the building right in the heart of Melbourne irreplaceable.

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Hellenic Museum / Former Royal Mint

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Address:280-318 William Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000

Name before: Former Royal Mint

Name now: Hellenic Museum

Built in 1869 – 1872

Floors: 2

Current Use: Library/Museum/ Gallery

     The Former Royal Mint, designed by John James Clark, is a place that controlled coin production facilities but has now turned into the Hellenic Museum. “As a branch of the Royal Mint, London, it initially bought gold and minted only gold sovereigns until 1916. The first Australian silver coins were minted in 1916, after the Federal Constitution gave the Commonwealth sole powers in the minting of coinage” (Victorian Heritage Database, 1999).

     The Former Royal Mint was built during the Victorian period (1870-1889) and has the Renaissance Revival style. This period was full of eclecticism and it had a wide range of styles that incorporates Neo-Classicism, Neo-Gothic, Tudor-Revival, Italianate and Romanesque. Renaissance Revival style is from the 15th century of classic Rome. The architecture of classicism is having the perfect proportion, which is based off of the human proportion. The human proportion is divided into 3, which is why the buildings at the time were limited to 3 storeys. They created proportional and aesthetic buildings by using the principles of consistency, proportion, symmetry and geometry.

     Some key features coming from this style includes quoning, aedicules, archivolts and cornice. In the exterior, the Former Royal Mint has aedicules, which is a structure that is a small shrine, which in this case was used as the windows on the second storey. Some aedicules were household shrines that have an alter in front of them, which can be seen in the front side of the Former Royal Mint building. The interior of the building has multiple cornices all around the ceilings, adding character and making the room seem more classic. Ionic columns were also seen in the exterior and interior of the building. Ionic columns were one of the column styles used in ancient Greece and can be seen influencing renaissance architecture and the neoclassical period.

     The colors in the interior and exterior the building include a gradient of white, beige and greys. The simplicity of the color makes the building look more elegant and pure. In the interior, the walls and ceilings were of the same color but the carpet on the floor and stairs are mostly navy. According to Matthews (2017), the color blue symbolizes intelligence, divinity and sincerity; all needed for a place where money is being manufactured by the government. On the exterior, the motif of the building does not seem as heavy because the first storey and the sides of the building consist of large horizontal lines instead of aedicules, giving it a historical yet sophisticated, simplistic appearance.

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