The Former Parish Hall and Kindergarten of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist – Pollack Street, Colac

            Built in Colac’s religious precinct on Pollack Street, the former Parish Hall and kindergarten of Church of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist is nestled alongside the Colac Church of England.  

The Church of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist was added to by Louis Reginald Williams in 1933.  As part of that, an Arts and Crafts style Parish Hall and Kindergarten Room were added next to the church, using funds raised by local parishioner Esther Walton and the Young Helpers League.  The building is very domestic in style, and is built from locally produced brown clinker bricks.  The shingling on the bargeboards, the brick and stone detailing, and the windows of muted blue and yellow glass are all typical of the Arts and Crafts movement, as is the round front door.  Louis Williams loved designing in the Arts and Crafts style, and was equally enthusiastic about Gothic architecture, so the hall features a small amount of detailed gothic detailing which seems somewhat at odds to the rest of the building’s uncluttered design.

Today, the Parish Hall has taken on a new life as part of an aged care facility that surrounds the Church of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist on three sides that is managed by the Anglican Church.  Perhaps some of those people who live in it have fond memories of being looked after in the kindergarten room, or singing songs in the Sunday School beneath the hall’s roof.

Louis Reginald Williams (1890 – 1980) was born in Hobart, Tasmania and attended school at Queen’s College.   His father was a furniture manufacturer, and the family was very religious. Louis’ interest in churches guided him into choosing a career in architecture.  He was trained by architect Alexander North, with whom Louis eventually formed a joint partnership when they moved to mainland Australia and set up an architectural firm, Williams and North, in Little Collins Street in Melbourne.  Although Louis was commissioned to design commercial buildings and houses, it is for his ecclesiastical buildings that he is best known.  He worked mostly in either traditional Gothic or Arts and Crafts styles.  Not only was he concerned about the exteriors of his churches, but the interiors as well, and he maintained a group of skilled craftsmen whom he trusted to create his designs for furniture and fittings to harmonise with the buildings he created. He also advised on stained glass, lighting and even mosaic tiling, and no detail was too small for Louis.  He designed churches throughout Australia for the Church of England, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists and the Christian Scientists.  His career lasted for nearly sixty-five years until he was in his mid eighties.    

Located approximately 150 kilometres to the south-west of Melbourne, past Geelong is the small Western District city of Colac.  The area was originally settled by Europeans in 1837 by pastoralist Hugh Murray.  A small community sprung up on the southern shore of a large lake amid the volcanic plains.  The community was proclaimed a town, Lake Colac, in 1848, named after the lake upon which it perches.  The post office opened in 1848 as Lake Colac and was renamed Colac in 1854 when the city changed its name.  The township grew over the years, its wealth generated by the booming grazing industries of the large estates of the Western District and the dairy industry that accompanied it.  Colac has a long high street shopping precinct, several churches, botanic gardens, a Masonic hall and a smattering of large properties within its boundaries, showing the conspicuous wealth of the city.  Today Colac is still a commercial centre for the agricultural district that surrounds it with a population of around 10,000 people.  Although not strictly a tourist town, Colac has many beautiful surviving historical buildings or interest, tree lined streets.  Colac is known as “the Gateway to the Otways” (a reference to the Otway Ranges and surrounding forest area that is located just to the south of the town).

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

Taken on: April 22, 2014

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