Francis Greenway and Old Saint Mary's : 1

Artist's impression of the Greenway design for old Saint Mary's church
shewing the sanctuary end of the building.

It is not widely known, and yet not completely forgotten that the architect of the first Saint Mary's Cathedral was the renowned convict-era architect, Francis Greenway.  This man, as much remembered for the handsome buildings he designed as for the difficulty of his personality, came to Australia as a felon, convicted of fraud.  Notwithstanding, the Governor, Lachlan Macquarie almost immediately put Greenway to work designing and supervising the construction of civic and ecclesiastical buildings for the township of Sydney.

Francis Greenway
Image : State Library of NSW

In circumstances that are not known, Francis Greenway was employed to prepare a design for Saint Mary's Catholic church, Hyde Park, the foundation of which had been laid by Governor Macquarie and Father Therry in October 1821.

Mr. Greenway did prepare a design for the old church and, by some miracle, the design had survived to this day, preserved in the State Library of New South Wales. 

A design was drawn-up for a small, well-detailed church but it did not entirely find favour with the customer, Father Therry, who had much grander ideas.  Mr Greenway resigned from his involvement with the Catholic church project in 1823 and the building which slowly emerged over the next ten years bore little resemblance to his charming design in the "Regency" Gothick style.

In our next post, we will examine Francis Greenway's design in detail.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

NOTES

The illustration accompanying this post, although it accurately represent Francis Greenway's design, is partly conjectural since the surviving plan does not indicate how long the chapel was intended to be.  It is presented here as having a nave of four bays.

Digital art by the Saint Bede Studio.

AMDG

 

Historic Images of Sydney's Catholic Cathedrals : 3

We continue our series of historic photographs commemorating the bi-centenary of Saint Mary's Cathedral (1821-2021).

This photograph was taken from an alternative direction from the previous two posts, but again looking across Hyde Park.  The photograph was taken 1882-83, just at the completion of the first stages of the Cathedral (1868-1882).

The angle of this photograph, however, makes it clear that the remnant of old Saint Mary's, ravaged by fire in 1865, was no more than a facade and the lower stages of a tower. 

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

AMDG

NOTES

The photographs in this series are taken from a variety of sources, some in online Archival collections, some from books, some original images in the editor's collection.  They are presented here in a "modernised" digital form, and with as much detail of the structure of the Cathedrals enhanced in order to make them more accessible to a new generation of Australian Catholics.  The original image on  which this digital rendering is based is taken from the Sesqui-centenary commemorative book on Saint Mary's Cathedral, a collection of essays and photographs published in 1971 and edited by Professor Patrick O'Farrell. Please do not reproduce these unique images without permission.

Historic Images of Sydney's Catholic Cathedrals : 2

Image : State Library of NSW

 

In our previous post, we presented a photograph of circa 1872 which shewed progress on the building of the present Saint Mary's Cathedral (commenced in 1866).

This photograph is taken from a similar angle, also looking north-east across Hyde Park. The photograph was taken in the year 1883.  It shews the facade of the old Cathedral juxtaposed with the first stage of new Saint Mary's. The photograph was taken by a professional photographer on the same afternoon as another photograph posted here. 

In this photograph we see that the walls of the new Cathedral have risen significantly - although slowly - over the period of ten years.  In our age, when all buildings are completed in a relatively short space of time, it is a helpful reminder that it was not always so.  Work on the new Saint Mary's Cathedral was done carefully and could only proceed as funds permitted.  There was no bank loan to build the Cathedral, no giant bequests, no corporate funding; for the most part, it was built by the small, but steady giving of Catholics in Sydney and beyond.  

The first stages of construction (1866-1882) consisted of ground preparation and the construction of the massive foundations, the construction of the Northern (sanctuary) end, together with the sacristies, the transepts, two bays of the nave and the roofing-over thereof.  That was considered sufficient for the needs of the Archdiocese and realistic in terms of what could be afforded.

After the death of Archbishop John Bede Polding OSB in 1877, the new Archbishop, Roger Bede Vaughan OSB focussed a great deal of his attention on the building of the Cathedral.  In 1880, with the advice of the architect, William Wardell, he embarked on goal to bring the Cathedral to a temporary stage where it could be opened to the Faithful and used for Divine worship.

It is this stage of completion that we see depicted in our photograph.  It consists of the walls up to (but not including) the clerestory windows.  A temporary roof of galvanised iron protecting the completed stonework, whilst a timber scaffold over the top of this roof  permitted further construction to continue.  Inside, all the floors, the stone pillars and their arches, together with the lower-level windows had been completed.  The High altar had been completed - a donation covering its cost - and filling the windows with stained glass commenced. 

In September 1882, with three days of grand liturgical celebrations, this stage of the Cathedral was blessed and opened.  Sadly, Archbishop Vaughan did not live long to delight in the new building.  He left on a journey to Rome in April 1883, but died after his arrival in England aged 49.

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

AMDG

NOTES

The photographs in this series are taken from a variety of sources, some in online Archival collections, some from books, some original images in the editor's collection.  They are presented here in a "modernised" digital form, and with as much detail of the structure of the Cathedrals enhanced in order to make them more accessible to a new generation of Australian Catholics.  The original image on which this digital rendering is based was recently discovered in the Special Collections of the State Library of NSW.  Please do not reproduce these unique images without permission.

Historic Images of Sydney's Catholic Cathedrals : 1

To continue our commemoration of the bi-centenary of the founding of Saint Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, we present this enhanced image from an original photograph held by the State Library of NSW.  The photograph was taken in Hyde Park, looking north-east, either in 1871, or the following year.

In the centre of the photograph, the principal structure is the remnant facade of Old Saint Mary's.  This facade was commenced in the early 1850s to the design of the famed English architect of the Gothic Revival, AWN Pugin.  This was an extension to the earlier section of the building, commenced in 1821 by Father Therry.  In the tragic fire of 29th June 1865, old Saint Mary's was completely burnt out.  The walls of the old section were quickly demolished thereafter, leaving the new facade remaining in a truncated form.

In 1866, the renowned peal of bells of Saint Mary's, which had been housed in a separate tower north of the Cathedral itself, was transferred to the tower section of the old facade, which subsequently had a neat copper roof added to cap it, circa 1869.

To the left of the old facade can be seen the worksite surrounding the rising walls of the new Saint Mary's Cathedral, designed in 1865 by the architect William Wardell.  Work to prepare the site and build the foundations was carried out between 1866 and 1868.  By 1871, the walls had risen to a height of approximately 25 feet.  On the image a STAR indicates the barely visible completed doorway of the new Cathedral's western transept.  The transept has three doors, the one indicated here being the southern door (on the right, when looking across from Hyde Park).

In the background, on the right of the photograph, is shewn the recently-completed Cathedral presbytery, being the residence of the Sydney city clergy.  This building continued to be used for this purpose until its demolition and replacement in the late 1980s.

The photographer captured two men taking their ease in the Park.  One is seen quite clearly, wearing a top hat.  The other is resting against one of the small timber fences which are protecting the Park's young trees.

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

AMDG

NOTES

The photographs in this series are taken from a variety of sources, some in online Archival collections, some from books, some original images in the editor's collection.  They are presented here in a "modernised" digital form, and with as much detail of the structure of the Cathedrals enhanced in order to make them more accessible to a new generation of Australian Catholics.  The original image on which this digital rendering is based is held in the Special Collections of the State Library of NSW.  Please do not reproduce these unique images without permission.