Methodist Church (fmr)

Statement of Significance

114 Onslow Road, Shenton Park, Subiaco is of cultural heritage significance: • As the only example of a former Methodist church remaining in the City of Subiaco (which over time saw the construction of seven Methodist churches on various sites in Subiaco, Shenton Park and Jolimont); • As an example of the ecclesiastical work of Powell, Cameron and Chisholm, architects, during the inter-war era; • As physical evidence of the consolidation of Shenton Park as an established suburb in the Inter-War period; • For the historical and social values related to its former use as part of the Subiaco Circuit of the Methodist (and later Uniting) Church; • For the historical and social values related to its role as part of the ongoing presence of the Anglican Church in the City of Subiaco; • For its social significance for former and current members of the congregations and for those who have celebrated important life events at this church; • For its landmark value in Shenton Park.

Physical Description

114 Onslow Road, Shenton Park, was designed in the Inter-war Gothic style, a traditional form which was still widely favoured for church buildings during that period. Key elements include the: • Asymmetrical plan, which is subtly expressed in the rectangular entrance porch at the south-western corner; • Steeply pitched gabled roof, clad with grey tiles (originally designed as an orange, terra-cotta roof); • Red face-brick walls, constructed in Flemish bond to the face of the main (south) façade and in stretcher bond to the other walls and buttresses; • Rock-faced stone foundations with a rendered cap; • Rendered cement detailing to the main façade, including window quoins, moulded string courses, a decorative triple arched panel below the main window, raised triangular buttress caps, parapet capping and a chequer-board apex panel; • Rendered cement detailing to the squat entrance porch at the south-western corner, including crenellations, raised triangular buttress caps, deep moulded cornice and quoins; • Restrained rendered cement detailing to the other elevations, comprising simple window quoins and buttress caps; • Ecclesiastical designs for the stained glass to the main triple arched windows of the south elevation. • Multi-coloured, diamond patterned glazing to the other windows of the south elevation and to the entrance porch. • Pair of foundation stones, one set below each of the side windows to the main façade. The c.1960 addition, which is attached to the rear of the eastern elevation of the church, was designed in the style of a hall, with red face-brick walls and a wide gabled roof, clad with clay tiles in dark autumn tones. The 1990s addition, which is attached to the front of the eastern elevation of the church, features a raked glazed link to the church, a square entrance portico and a single storey, cross-gable frontage extending along Onslow Road. This was constructed with mixed-tone red brick walls (featuring a wide rendered string course) and clay tiles in dark autumn tones. At the rear of the church, there is a sealed carpark. The surrounding streetscapes include the Rosalie Primary School (opposite), plus a mixture of inter-war housing and late twentieth century redevelopment (including flats, units and detached houses). A mature eucalypt on the Onslow Road verge partially screens streetscape views of the main façade.

History

The first Wesleyan Methodist Church in the Subiaco district was constructed on Broome Road (Hay Street) in 1896. Six years later the Methodist Church of Australasia was formed by the merging of four Methodist bodies - the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Primitive Methodists, the Bible Christians and the United Methodist Free Churches. To serve the growing congregation, additional churches were established in Keightley Road, Rosalie (Shenton Park) in 1903 and in Jersey Street, Jolimont in 1905. The readily available evidence suggests that all of these early churches were constructed of timber and that the first substantial brick church for the Subiaco circuit of the Methodist Church was constructed in Bagot Road in 1906 (replacing the Broome Road premises). Over time, larger churches were also built in Jolimont (1912) and Shenton Park (1919). The latter, then known as the West Subiaco or Derby Road church was located on a new site, immediately north of the present building. Its construction was approved by the Methodist Conference in March 1919 and services were being held there by April of that year. Historical aerial photographs confirm that this building had been demolished prior to 1953. Long-term plans for a larger church to serve the West Subiaco area were put in place in September 1923, when Lots 17, 18 and 19 on deposited plan 2374 were transferred to a group of local men, serving as trustees under the provisions of the Methodist Church Model Deed of Western Australia, 1912. This site extended the church grounds along the Derby Road frontage to Onlsow Road. Almost 9 years later, in February 1932, tenders were called by the architects (Powell, Cameron and Chisholm) for the erection of a new church, which was described as follows: The building will be of brick on a stone foundation, with a terra cotta tiled roof, the principals of which will be of oregon, while the interior ceiling will be jarrah lined from the wall plate to the apex. Provision is made for a nave (44ft. by 32ft.), vestry (12ft. x 32ft.), choir enclosure (12ft. by 26ft.), and entrance porch (9ft. 8in. by 8ft. 6in.). The choir enclosure will be screened on a raised platform which will be sloped to the nave. The interior walls will be cement-coated and lined out to imitate masonry. Cement quoins to the windows, which will have steel frames and leadlights, will give a pleasing effect. In the following month it was announced that Mr H. A. Doust’s tender of £1,296 had been accepted, and work soon commenced, with the foundation stone being laid on 7 May: The foundation stones of the new Methodist Church in Derby-road, West Subiaco, will be laid to-day at 3 p.m. by the Lord Mayor of Perth (Sir William Lathlain) and the president of the Methodist Conference (the Rev. M. R. Maley). The new Methodist Church was dedicated on 6 August: Between 400 and 500 people crowded into the new Methodist Church in Derby-road, West Subiaco, on Saturday afternoon, when the building was dedicated by the president of the West Australian Methodist Conference (the Rev. M. R. Maley). The erection of a new church was first suggested about eight years ago, when, owing to the foresight of the late Mr. E. S. Snow, arrangements were made to secure the three blocks upon which the building stands. Since then the debt on the block has been discharged, and £650 has been collected or donated towards the cost of the building and furnishings (about £1,600). Contemporary newspaper reports also noted the following gifts to the new church: • Communion table - presented by Mrs. Snow • Pulpit – presented by the Rev. and Mrs F. S.Finch, in memory of Mrs. Warne (Mrs. Finch's mother) • Bible - presented by Mrs. J. B. Semple • Seating - Mr. G. Ward and various organisations of the Church • Music cabinet – presented by Mr H Hunt • Drapings and cushion for the pulpit – presented by the Girl’s Club Work apparently continued on the building after the official opening, because the vestry was not completed until June 1933. The mortgage taken out in 1932 was discharged in 1954 and a new mortgage was registered, presumably to help fund the proposed construction of a major addition. Historical aerial photographs confirm that this was completed at some stage between 1953 and 1965, and that it was the wing which still abuts the north-eastern corner of the church. In 1977, the Methodist, Congregational and Presbyterian Churches of Australia merged as the Uniting Church. Over time, the combined church property was rationalised with some church buildings becoming surplus to requirements – including all of the former Methodist Church buildings in Subiaco. By the mid 1990s the Subiaco congregation “had agreed to sell their traditional church buildings and taken a step of faith to explore how to be ‘God’s presence’ in their community in a new way.” In 2000 this was achieved in Shenton Park by the establishment of the Warehouse café on Onslow Road, which aimed to provide “a Christ-centred place where people from all walks of life felt comfortable.” In 1996-1997, the Derby Road Church was offered a new lease of life when it was re-dedicated as St Matthew’s Anglican Church, replacing the former Anglican Church at 74-78 Keightley Road, Shenton Park (since demolished). In the late 1990s, the place was once again enlarged, when a new building was erected on the eastern side of the church, immediately in front of the c.1960 addition. This provided space for offices and meeting rooms as well as a new entry to the church. Within the City of Subiaco, St Matthew’s Anglican Church is now the only surviving example of a former Methodist Church.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity -High: The place continues to be occupied as a church. Authenticity - High: The original external detailing of the building is largely intact (although the eastern elevation is now concealed by later additions). Rarity/Representativeness - 114 Onslow Road, Shenton Park is a good representative example of suburban church designed in a conservative interpretation of the Inter-War Gothic style.

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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