St Cuthberts Architectural Trail Walk (Brighton)

Walk Summary:

Start: 279 Bay Street, Brighton
Distance: 2.8 kilometres
Walking Time: About 50 minutes
Undulations: Gentle undulations

Trail directions:

1. Former ES&A Bank
Address: 279 Bay St, Brighton (cnr Asling St)
Style: Gothic Revival
Architects: Terry & Oakden
Date: 1882

Brighton's first bank in 1874 was the English Scottish & Australian Bank (ES&A), which merged with the ANZ in 1970. The ES&A Bank, first established in 1874, moved into this building in 1882. It functioned in its intended fashion until 2002. ES&A were known for their series of banks in the Gothic Revival style, many designed by William Wardell, who also designed the ES&A head office, the Gothic Bank, in Collins St, Melbourne (1883). This branch is another example of that style, executed in tuck-pointed brick.

The steeply sloped roof has gabled ends capped with unpainted cement render. Window and door heads are painted and finished with cement render adorned with flower motifs. A small portico projects from the symmetric facade and contains the word 'Bank' embossed on either side, with other text formed in these rendered panels.

2. Former Commercial Bank
Address: 282-284 Bay St, Brighton (cnr St Andrews St)
Style: Renaissance Revival
Architect: Lloyd Tayler
Date: 1890

The North Brighton branch of the Commercial Bank was the second bank in Brighton and rented a building on the corner of Bay and Cochrane Streets when it opened in 1883. The bank later moved to its own purpose-built twostorey building further along Bay Street at this location. This building is very large and grand for a suburban bank, and shows the wealth of the area at that time. The rear and upper floor was originally a four-bedroom residence for the manager.

Its appearance is almost as grand as a town hall and dominates the corner site. Unusually, it was built with an attached shop and residence in matching style.

3. Eco Townhouses
Address: 125 St Andrews St, Brighton
Style: Neo Modern
Architect: Luke Middleton (EME Group)
Date: 2005

In 2003, EME received funding from the Victorian Government's Smart Water Fund initiative to develop a strategy for reducing water use in the home, and these four townhouses are examples of EME Group's commitment to water reduction. The complex is fitted with two 10,000-litre water tanks, with this water being used to flush toilets and water gardens.

EME Group's focus on environmental sustainability is highlighted throughout this design, which also responds cleverly to its context. The building is oriented to the north to allow passive solar gain, and double-glazed windows aim to reduce heat transfer.

The design responds to the surrounding commercial and residential dwellings in a playful manner and includes a reinterpretation of a Victorian-style verandah contrasted with a solid building form.

4. Seagrove
Address: 12 Middle Cres, Brighton
Style: Italianate
Architect: Unknown
Date: 1877

Built for W. Durrant, a dairyman, Seagrove is an example of pise construction (also known as rammed earth), consisting of beach sand, lime and beach stones. It was featured in the book Early Melbourne Architecture 1840-1888. Built at a time when neat villas were replacing the vernacular cottages of the 1850s, Seagrove is a single-storey Victorian villa with a concave-profile verandah supported on coupled timber posts.

The large Moreton Bay fig (Ficus macrophylla) in the front garden is possibly as old as the house. Standing in front of a house like Seagrove gives you a rare glimpse into middle-class life of the 1880s.

5. Kilkerran
Address: 6 William St, Brighton
Style: Italianate
Architect: Unknown, (possibly Charles Webb)
Date: 1885

Built for merchant Robert Wilson, Kilkerran is dominated by a distinctive classical portico that has black-and-white marble floor tiles. Window decoration includes cast-iron balconettes and architrave mouldings, but the upper floor is notably restrained compared with the lower floor.

The exterior of the building is rendered brick with ashlar coursing - fine lines ruled in the render which give the appearance of stonework. It appears never to have been painted. Robert Wilson lived in the house until 1887 when he leased the property to Andrew Jack. The Jack family is memorialised in the Lych Gates at both St Andrews Church, New Street, Brighton (1857) and the Former Congregational Church, Black Street, Brighton (1875). This house stands above others in the area and is visible from a distance. It is interesting to speculate whether it was the first building in the area and whether there was a request for only single-storey houses to be built around it.

The house has recently been renovated in keeping with its original state.

6. St Cuthbert's Presbyterian Church
Address: 10 Wilson St, Brighton
Style: Gothic Revival
Architect: Evander McIvor
Date: 1889

In 1850 the first Presbyterian church for the bayside parish was built on this site, serving the area from St Kilda right through to Cheltenham. However, by the 1880s a bigger church was required and St Cuthbert's was built. (The original bluestone church occupied the land where the current Memorial Hall stands and was demolished in the early 1950s).

St Cuthbert's is a fine example of a bichrome Gothic Revival church. Horizontal red brick banding enlivens the facade, and elaborately decorated doorways create a human scale to the street. The stained-glass windows and Fincham organ are notable, particularly if you are lucky enough to view them from inside. Four rendered finials project up from the gabled square entrance to the east of the church, matching those around the tall spire, adding to a lively skyline.

St Cuthbert's sits on a high point in Brighton and is a prominent marker from the surrounding streets.

7. Brighton Town Hall
Address: 30 Wilson St, Brighton (cnr Carpenter St)
Style: Renaissance Revival
Architects: Wilson & Beswicke (1885-86), Oakley & Parkes (1933)
Date: 1885-86, 1933

Originally the Brighton Town Hall housed both the Municipal Offices and the Courthouse. The building was controversial at the time as it exceeded the estimated 6,000 pound budget by 2,000 pounds. Beswicke designed a number of town halls, including Essendon (1885), Hawthorn (1887), and Dandenong (1890).

The design of the building, with its Renaissance Revival pilastered facades and prominent tower (in this case with a clock), balustraded parapet and French Second Empire mansard roof, is characteristic of the many town halls built in this period in Victoria. Malvern Town Hall is a similar design with a corner tower. The double-height hall with projecting cast-iron portico has hosted many great balls, weddings and receptions. The first gathering was held on 21 April 1886, when a serious argument broke out; it is said that Mayor Thomas Bent (1838-1909) hit someone with his cane.

Oakley & Parkes designed alterations to the interior in 1933 and more than 20 years later designed the new Council Chambers behind.

8. Brighton Civic Centre
Address: 15 Boxshall St, Brighton
Style: Modernist
Architect: K F Knight (Oakley & Parkes)
Date: 1959

Built to celebrate Brighton's centenary in 1959, the Brighton Civic Centre was unique and unusual for its time. Considered by many to be influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian style and his Guggenheim Museum in New York (1946-59), it is interesting that the architect has always rejected this link. The building itself sits opposite the Brighton Town Hall (1885-86), which highlights the progression in municipal patronage over 73 years. The distinctive cylindrical drum consists of three bands of brickwork, each projecting out slightly from the one below, all seemingly supported on a glass ring. The building also has very strong horizontal lines. The projecting flat concrete roof of the ground floor enables the building to feel less overwhelming and connects the circular section with the square section. Industrial designer Grant Featherston, forerunner of the post World War II industrial design movement in Australia, designed the peacock blue interior and accompanying furniture. The cork oak tree (Quercus suber) on the Boxhall Street boundary is significant as it is estimated to be nearly 100 years old. Other names: City of Brighton Council Offices, City of Bayside Municipal Library.

9. Residence
Address: 61 St Andrews St, Brighton
Style: Vernacular, Edwardian
Architect: Unknown
Date: pre-1861

This early bluestone cottage sits nestled on a corner allotment, originally surrounded by land holdings that extend out to the rear of the property. The date of construction is unknown; however, in 1861 (the year of Brighton's first rate-books) Robert Gall, a contractor, was listed as owner/occupant.

The original cottage was built with randomly coursed bluestone, which was unusual in Brighton as it had to be transported across the Bay. The building has undergone many changes since it was originally constructed. There have been timber additions at the rear and all the windows have been changed. It has been re-roofed with terracotta tiles, which flow onto a verandah supported by turned timber posts, typical of the Edwardian period.

The original part of this charming, simple cottage is a rare surviving example of mid-nineteenth century housing in Bayside.

10. Residence:
Address: 56 Middle Crescent, Brighton
Style: Neo Modern
Architects: Crone Nation
Date: 2005-06

Cubic in form, this building highlights the contemporary use of contrasting materials and colours. From the rendered front walls to the sheet cladding on the upper storey, every material used creates definition between sections. The upper level sheet cladding and windows have been set on an angle to add further interest.

The timber-slatted fence introduces a more natural, organic element to an otherwise industrial, hard-edged design.

11. Residence
Address: 8 Parliament St, Brighton
Style: Italianate
Architect: Unknown
Date: 1876

Hundreds of small double-fronted timber cottages were built in Melbourne in the late nineteenth century, often featuring the hipped roof with a bracketed eave and the 'ashlar' boards (square blocks in imitation of stone) on the front facade seen here. They all have verandahs across the front as well, but few are as grand as this one, with its bell-curve shaped roof, rich castiron work, and, most striking of all, the tall, arched and pedimented entry portico.

This four-room cottage was built in 1876. The striking verandah may be original, but might have been added in the boom years of the 1880s as a response to the ubiquitous Brighton towered mansions rising all around.

Recently, the house has been painted in sympathetic colours that accentuate its ornate features. A picket fence in a complementary style completes the picture.

12. Higinbotham Hall
Address: 104 Bay St, Brighton (cnr Parliament St)
Style: Renaissance Revival
Architects: Treeby & Cutler
Date: 1886-87

Local resident and Chief Justice of Victoria, the Hon. George Higinbotham (1826-1892), officially opened Brighton's Public Library, later known as Higinbotham Hall, on 7 May 1887. Higinbotham Hall served as a library until June 1978 when the service was relocated to the Brighton Town Hall. The Hall is a substantial and ornate symmetrical Renaissance Revival two-storey building. The street facade has a projecting entry porch, with a balcony above and arched windows with modelled keystones on the first floor. The set of windows opening onto the balcony over the entrance are known as 'Serlian Motif', from the sixteenth-century Italian architect Serlio. The side elevations are plainer, with simple round arched windows.

There was drama at the opening of the building as the Board of Health regulations prevented the use of the 'too narrow' staircase, so no-one could actually enter the building until it was altered. Similar in style to Brighton Town Hall and built only one year later, Higinbotham Hall is currently home to the Brighton Dance Academy, the local dance school and other community organisations.