The foundation stone of St Andrew's Kirk, Ballarat was laid in 1862 and construction of the bluestone building with freestone detailing was completed in 1864. Built on the corner of Sturt and Dawson Streets, to designs by Charles D. Cuthbert of Ballarat, the porch and vestry were added in 1873. The tower and spire were completed in 1884 to designs by Charles Douglas Figgis and Henry Richards Caselli, and the transepts in 1889 to designs by Figgis and Molloy. Finally the choir vestry was added in 1926.
The congregation had its origin in 1855 when the Free Presbyterian Church appointed a minister to the Ballarat goldfields. The first regular minister, the Rev William Henderson, had been sent out by the Free Church of Scotland to meet the needs of the colony and he held the position for 26 years. He was the Moderator of the Free Church in 1855 and of the Presbyterian Church in 1872, and was a pioneer minister of the State, who wrote extensively on religion and was actively involved in the community. He also founded Ballarat College, the oldest public school for boys in Ballarat in 1864. He died during the construction of the spire of St Andrew's Kirk, and black bands were inserted in the pinnacles to commemorate this event.
Both the Presbyterian and Roman Catholic churches secured prime corner sites in Sturt Street and the first building on the Presbyterian site was a small timber church opened in 1858. This was used as a Sunday School after the new church was erected, but was sold and removed in 1875. The present Sunday School building was opened in 1885, situated to the north of the church, and the manse was erected in 1886-88 to the west of the Sunday School in Lyons Street. Both buildings remain on the church property, the latter however was replaced post 1960. Ballarat College was also built on the Presbyterian site at the corner of Sturt and Lyons Streets, occupying this position from 1874 to 1912. Designed by Henry Richards Caselli, the building was used for part of the Sunday School after it was vacated by the school. The school building was demolished in 1949.
The original church building consisted of a broad six bay nave with side aisles. Nave arcading defines the three spaces internally, which all contain timber lined ceilings. This original section, the later tower and transepts are Norman Romanesque in style and they incorporate a number of well executed Romanesque details. Described as the largest and most complete Norman style church in Victoria, it features freestone details include elaborately decorated concentric orders, blind arcading, arcaded corbel tables, stilted arches, wheel windows, scallop and cushion capitals, chevron moulding and interlaced arches. The last feature, particularly common in Romanesque work in England, can be seen externally in the freestone blind arcading above the entrance and in the cast iron fence, and internally on the timber baptismal font and gallery. The main south portal is of particular note with a profusion of finely carved elements and a centrally placed figure of St Andrew, bearing a Salitre cross. Some of this detail, including rosettes, was added to this elaborate doorway in 1883.
The use of textured bluestone blocks and smooth freestone detailing provides the building with both textural and colour contrasts. This is evident throughout the exterior, particularly in the buttresses, where bluestone blocks are embedded in freestone masonry.
The tower, above the wheel window, and spire were added in 1884, and the latter is the only element of the church building that is Gothic in character. It incorporates pinnacles and lucarnes with pointed arch openings, and rests on a Romanesque tower with blind arcading, arcaded corbel table and round headed arch openings. Designed in conjunction with the spire, the tower retains the Norman character of the rest of the building, with the upper level of windows appearing to be altered before construction from the original pointed arch design shown in drawings.
A cast iron fence, by White’s Eagle Foundry in Ballarat, was constructed along the Sturt and Dawson Street boundaries in 1902. It reflects the style of the Norman church by incorporating interlaced arches in its design. A pair of cast iron lamps, executed by the Victoria Foundry in Leith in Scotland, were erected in the grounds at an unknown date.
St Andrew's Kirk is of architectural significance as an example of the work of three Ballarat architects who between them designed many of the city's significant religious and secular buildings from the 1860s to the 1880s. The original architect, Charles D. Cuthbert, also designed the Gothic St Peter's Anglican Church in Sturt Street between1864 and 1867, and Charles Douglas Figgis and Henry Richards Caselli designed the Gothic Congregational Church in 1881. Henry Richards Caselli designed a large number of churches in Victoria, with two Lombardic Romanesque examples in Ballarat, the Ebenezer Presbyterian church, Armstrong Street South between 1862 and 1863 and the Lutheran Church in Doveton Street in 1876.
St Andrew's Kirk is of historical significance due to the retention of much of its original site in Sturt Street from Dawson Street to Lyons Street, and to the presence of the adjacent 1885 Sunday School building. The Sunday School is of historical significance for its contribution to the spiritual life of the congregation and the religious education of its young people.The manse on the site replaced an earlier building. Both St Andrew's Kirk and St Patrick's Cathedral, either side of Sturt Street, retain their spacious grounds, illustrating the importance of these churches when land was reserved in the 1850s.
