The Belfry of the Former St Andrew's Presbyterian Church - Camp Street, Daylesford

            Located at number 19 Camp Street in the former Gold Rush town of Daylesford, the former St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church offers wonderful views as it looks down from the high side of the road, across the township, now known for its natural mineral springs and day spas.  

Built in 1903 under the benefaction of Jessie Leggatt, who laid the foundation stone on the 9th of December that year, St Andrew’s is not unlike the Castlemaine Presbyterian Church in Lyttleton Street.  Built of red brick with sandstone detailing, St Andrew’s has been built in a Picturesque Gothic style with adaptations of both Florentine and Pauduan Gothic.  It features a splendid slate roof, and has been built in a symmetrical style, with two hexagonal towers to either side of the enclosed loggia entrance.  The taller of the towers on the left hand side serves also as the church’s belfry and has a crenellated parapet and a copper covered spire.  The gable over the front doors is pierced with a traceried window with two mullions in early English decorated style. The small gables of the transepts are pierced with single mullioned windows of the same period. The interior is filled with magnificent original features including stained glass windows, ceiling roses, cathedral ceilings, lovely old floorboards and an extremely rare church organ.

In the intervening years since 1903, Daylesford has gone through many changes, going from a town populated by citizens seeking to make their fortunes in gold, to those come to seek rest and relaxation in this now resort town in central Victoria.  With parish numbers dwindling, the Presbyterian Church has seen fit to close the doors of St Andrew’s, opting for a smaller and less formal presence in the town’s community centre.  At the time of photographing, St Andrew’s is up for sale, and has had council approval for the construction of apartments and town houses in the rear of the property and the adaptation of the church itself into a single or multiple dwellings.  With an asking price just short of one million dollars, to date there has been very little interest in the property, and so St Andrew’s falls slowly, but surely into decay as neglect sinks in.  The grass grows high around its bluestone foundations; graffiti denigrates Jessie Leggatt’s memorial plaque in the entranceway; the painted archway above the gates rots, save for the faded letters that spell out St Andrew’s in weathered greyish white flecks, and the old weatherboard Sunday School sags into the briars.  A large holly tree, planted when the church was first built still sits at the side, waiting, like the church, for a new lease of life like other former churches in the area.

Taken in: Australia / Victoria / Daylesford (show map)

Taken on: December 30, 2012

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St Andrew's

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Jessie Leggatt

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Camera: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS, f/4.5, 1/500 sec, 14.3mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS
Aperture:	f/4.5
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/500)
Focal Length:	14.3mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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