Church Restaurant

Statement of Significance

Church Restaurant, former Methodist Church, is a fine and notable example of Interwar Gothic architecture that is a landmark on Walcott Street. It was a grand and confident gesture in the future at the time of its construction during the Depression. It has associations with the Methodist Church and demonstrates an appropriate adaptation to a new use after the discontinuance of its church function.

Physical Description

The imposing gable fronted brick structure with stone quoins and tracery was constructed with Gothic design elements including arched windows and doors, and buttresses at the sides. The windows feature fine stone tracery and stained glass lead lighting. The great stepped gabled north wall features tripartite doors and windows, divided by mullions that rise to Gothic finials. A louvred decorative ventilator, at the centre of the gable, surmounts the composition. Vestries and meeting rooms are formed into a two storey wing at the rear of the Church, which gives the appearance of a transept. The church is grander than a comparable Interwar Methodist Church by the same architects in Shenton Park, now St. Matthew's Anglican Church, at the corner of Onslow and Derby Roads. In a prominent location on the side of the hill overlooking a park, it is set back from the street behind a low brick wall. Internal modifications

History

The ecclesiastical building on the corner of Walcott and Curtis Streets was constructed in 1933, as the Forrest Park Methodist Church, the name taken from the park that is bordered by the two streets. At the time of the construction in 1933, a church hall named 'Wesleyan Hall', which was constructed circa 1929, already existed at the rear of subject lot, to the immediate southwest of the proposed church. The Wise's Post Office Directories list the subject lot as 'Wesleyan Hall' between 1930 and 1934 and later as 'Forrest Park Methodist Church' from 1935. The church was designed by architectural firm Powell, Cameron and Chisholm '˜on perpendicular Gothic lines'. The builder was John Hawkins & Sons, and construction costs were £2,483. The church, which measured 38 ft x 48 ft, was designed to seat 250 people, with provision for a choir, two vestries and an organ loft. Forrest Park Methodist Church was officially opened on 1 July 1933 by Mrs R. Hocking. A Metropolitan Water Supply Sewerage & Drainage Department (MWSSD) Plan dated 1953 illustrates that the weatherboard church hall was extant at the rear of the brick Methodist Church in that year. A two-storey flat, with two brick garages at the rear, were located to the immediate northwest of the church. These two adjacent buildings are both no longer extant. Following the amalgamation of the Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches to form the Uniting Church in 1977, the new body had an oversupply of churches. Surplus buildings in the Mount Lawley Parish were disposed of, among them the Forrest Park Methodist Church which was deconsecrated, prior to its conversion for use as a restaurant in 1982. The conversion was undertaken by Colin Rule Christou & Associates for the then owner Keppel Nominees. As a result of the conversion, various alterations and additions has been undertaken at the subject place included the construction of a new alfresco deck area and the widening of the mezzanine level.

Integrity/Authenticity

High

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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