St Alban's Church, Highgate

Statement of Significance

St Albans Church is a fine example of the early ecclesiastical architecture of J.J. Talbott Hobbs in the late 1880s and 1890s. Its Romanesque style marks a departure from the Gothic style previously preferred for Anglican churches. The church served Highgate Hill, the first suburb developed north of Perth. It was extended within a decade of its original construction. It has provided religious support to the Highgate Hill community and for parishioners in the local community for over 110 years.

Physical Description

The church is built of limestone with red brick quoins and buttresses in the informal Romanesque style, which in the late colonial period was often used as an alternative to the Gothic, which had been the preferred style for churches from the time of the dominance of the British ecclesiological movement, particularly in the colonies. The church consists of a gabled nave and sanctuary with a parallel gabled aisle, supplemented by gabled porches, chapel, vestry etc. Gables carry arched stained glass windows. The church has a fleche located above the western door. A free standing bell tower stands at the rear of the church. The pipe organ and other original interior details remain in place. The church is setback from the road in an open lawned setting with mature shrubs across the front of the building. 1970 hall addition

History

St Alban's Anglican Church, named after the first martyr of Britain, was built on five acres of bushland to serve the new subdivision of Highgate Hill, the first suburb on the north side of Perth. The area had been subdivided and developed by surveyor Charles Crossland in 1874, and named for his birthplace in London. Highgate Hill consisted of a small isolated cluster of homes erected for workmen's cottages, in the hollow on the east side of Beaufort Street. The first service was held on the stie under a gum tree in September 1888. A public meeting was held in January 1889 in the St George's Cathedral school room regarding 'the erection of a Mission Chapel at Highgate Hill'. Such was the response that enough money was raised for the work to go ahead and the foundation stone was laid the following month by Mrs Hare (27 February 1889). The church was designed by architect J.J. Talbot Hobbs and completed in just four months. It was consecrated on 13 June 1889. In 1895, a Rectory, also designed by Hobbs, was built on the Beaufort-Lincoln street corner of the site. The first Parish Hall was built on the Beaufort Street-St Alban's Ave corner and opened on 18 August 1896. The hall was used for Sunday School and later for Brownies and Girl Guides as well as for many other social occasions. In 1898, St Alban's became a separate parish and a mission was opened along with the hall. At that stage Beaufort Street was not formed much past St Alban's and 'night after night we went trampling through the sand signing hymns and bringing many back with us to the crowded hall'. (Revd F J Price, 1937). That same year the church was enlarged and a memorial stone for the extension was laid by Sir John Forrest on 30 July. The completed church was dedicated on 1 November 1898, on St Alban's Day. When St Alban's was built in 1889, it was planned that the window in the sanctuary, the middle window on each side wall and a small window in the front would be filled in with some stained glass which had been imported a decade earlier for St George's Cathedral, but not used. However the windows in the side walls, were fitted with clear glass instead, and the stained glass, depicting St Michael and St George, was later uncovered in a storage room. It was eventually installed when the Church was enlarged in 1898. At some later stage an organ made by Robert Cecil Clifton (1854-1931) was installed. It is still in use. Clifton also built three other organs for Anglican churches in Western Australia. The St Alban's one was built in 1902 for the music room in Clifton's Adelaide Terrace hme. At the time of its construction Clifton was a clerk in the Lands Department. Later on in his career he became Under Secretary for Lands. The original wooden parish hall was demolished and replaced by the present hall c.1970's.

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