St Lawrence's Anglican Church & Rectory

Statement of Significance

St Lawrence's Anglican Church has strong significant aesthetic. historic and social cultural heritage value. In co-operation with the Vestry. the building committee and the Rector. the architects designed a building of high aesthetic standards. The Church displays the elements necessary both internally and externally to qualify as a fine piece of architectural composition - proportion. form. harmony. rhythm, unity and scale. Designed by Polish architect Anthony Solarski. St Lawrence's demonstrates the Modernist influence of postwar immigrant architects on architecture in Western Australia in the 1950s and 60s. Responding to contemporary issues the architect designed this building to be a neutral backdrop to ensure the congregation focused on the colour and movement of the liturgical presentation. The use of 'negative detailing' at the junction of materials throughout. was innovative in Western Australian architecture in this period. The building is a clear enunciation of the designer's philosophical objectives and demonstrates solutions to problems such as sun control, lines of vision and relationship between the celebrant and the congregation. All of it is executed in an innovative contemporary style that acknowledges traditional church design. The building reflects a high standard of design accomplishment with refinement of detail, such that the solution of complicated problems, appears almost as an over-simplification. The scale and harmonious treatment of the exterior form of the building ensure it melds into the residential nature of the environs and the adjoining open space. St Lawrence's is highly valued by the Dalkeith Parish in reflecting the needs of a new liturgical approach following World War II. The building represents the culmination of the efforts of the founding Vestry of the new Parish.

Physical Description

St Lawrence's Anglican Church is located on the southern side of Viking Road among the Inter-War residential development of Dalkeith. The church site occupies two standard suburban lots, and contains the Church, the Rectory and a Church Hall, called the Blain Room. The Rectory was designed by Hawkins and Sands. The Church, built contemporaneously with the Rectory, was designed by Anthony Solarski and built by Sloan Constructions in 1957. Sympathetic use of building materials ensures visual harmony and unity of the buildings on the site. An important design doctrine adopted by Solarski was what is called negative detailing whereby junctions between materials were treated by forming a grooved recess at the joint rather than the accepted method of covering the junction with a moulding. Solarski also adopted specific and conscious methods for the control of insolation, most evident on the north and west wall of the building. Further, the low roof pitch, the massing of the components and the flat internal ceilings are a fundamental rejection of the Gothic pointed arch as an ecclesiastical idiom in favour of the Mediterranean Romanesque. Accordingly, the building is an innovative post war example of the co-ordinated amalgamation of form and function. The exterior was restricted to three basic. yet harmonious materials - beige face brickwork, rendered and rough cast concrete details and traditional Mediterranean orange terracotta cordova roof tiles. The roof is a saddle back type of low pitch. the rough cast perimeter beam raking to form the gable barges. The masonry surfaces have been treated as sculptural structural panels. The main entrance to the building in the north west corner is surmounted by the Bell Tower with a cantilevered rough cast concrete canopy. The brick and concrete Tower (fitted with loud speakers) is capped with a semi-circular rough cast finished precast concrete slab and flat slabs at intermediate levels. A pattern of textured brickwork in the Tower has been provided by offsetting groups of bricks. The building was an important design development in Perth as an influential forerunner in the evolution of the Late Twentieth-Century Perth Regional 1960 style. It has been maintained to a reasonable standard since constrnction and is in sound condition. Some defects have become apparent including fretting mortar in the lower courses of brickwork and degradation of some areas of concrete. possibly due to insufficient cover of the reinforcement. Members of the congregation of St Lawrence's will. in aLI likelihood. press for the building fabric to be altered from time to time. not only to accommodate new forms of liturgical expression. but also to accommodate memorabilia and largess. Changes in the fabric include the replacement of the original cross, installation of a carpet run in the aisle of the Nave. the predominantly blue leadlight glazing and the gate to the Choir Gallery. These changes are reversible or are not seen as overly intrusive. Otherwise. the designer's original intentions arc intact and the place retains a high degree of integrity.

History

The Parish of Dalkeith evolved from the Parish of East Claremont in May 1955. The former Rector of East Claremont, Reverend A F J Blain, was appointed and took services in a house on the south west corner of the intersection of Waratah Avenue and Adelma Road, some distance from the present site. The new Vestry, which included Mr Charles Court (later to be Premier of WA), Mr Lloyd Fethers, Mr Oliver Hynes and Mr Reg North, soon decided to demolish the old house and build a new hall on the site. The design and construction of the Rectory in Alexander Road was commenced by 1956, followed by the commissioning of the design and later, the construction of the church. The foundation stone was laid by the Governor, Sir Charles Gairdner, on 28 April 1957 and the building was consecrated on 15 September of the same year. The project was partially funded from loans which eventually became burdensome for the Parish. In 1968 the hall was sold to the Bridge Club and a new hall, called the Blain Room, was built adjoining the church in Alexander Road. Reverend Blain served as Rector until 30 June 1967, handing over to the Reverend John Cook who continued for the next eight years. In October 1975, Bishop Denis Bryant commenced a tenure of ten years to be succeeded by the Reverend Barry May between October 1989 and September 1992, and the Reverend Peter Ferguson from February 1993. In 1962 the St Lawrence Church Tower was used to enhance the television coverage of the Empire Games. Fixed high in the tower was a beam bender, part of Channel 7's equipment for a direct telecast of the Lawn Bowls events at Dalkeith. Channel 7 engineers found they could not beam signals direct from the Dalkeith Bowling Club to the Tuart Hill Studio for transmission - St Lawrence's Tower saved the day.

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