42 8 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



dation stone was laid on the ;th of September, 1886, by the Lady Mayoress, Mrs. 

 Stewart. The contract cost was one hundred and forty-one thousand six hundred and 

 ninety-six pounds seven shillings. 



The south-east angle of Swanston Street was unfortunately chosen as the site of the 

 Protestant Cathedral in preference to a block of land originally intended for it in 

 Clarendon Street, East Melbourne, where it would have occupied a commanding position, 

 equidistant from three great centres of population ; besides being placed amidst 

 surroundings resembling those which heighten the architectural beauty of similiar edifices 

 in the mother-country. Almost the lowest level of the city is reached at the southern 

 extremity of Swanston Street, and as the city must extend skyward, owing to the 

 continually advancing value of land, a noble monument of architecture promises to be 

 dwarfed in time by neighbouring warehouses. 



As the site of the Cathedral is longest on its meridional axis, it has been found 

 necessary to sacrifice the customary orientation of places of worship of this kind, and to 

 cause the main body of the structure to run from north to south ; while the transepts, 

 one of which has had to be shortened, cross it from east to west. The choir is conse- 

 quently at the north, and the principal entrance is at the south end of the building, 

 which has been designed by the architect in conformity with the style adopted during 

 the early period of middle-pointed Gothic architecture, and recalls to mind some of the 

 cathedrals of France and northern Germany. It is a pure example of the style selected, 

 though cramped for space, and is calculated to produce a favourable impression on the 

 mind of a stranger entering the city by way of Prince's Bridge. The two towers facing 

 the south have gabled roofs, and attain the height of one hundred and twenty-seven 

 feet. Between these is the central doorway, and above it a five-light traceried window, 

 the upper part of the gable which terminates the roof of the central aisle being filled 

 with blank arcading, and a cusped vesica, or oval with the ends pointed, enclosing a 

 cross in high relief. Above the intersection of the nave and transepts arises the central 

 tower, forty feet square, from which, at the height of one hundred and thirty-four feet, 

 springs an octagonal spire one hundred and twenty-six feet high, making a total of two 

 hundred and sixty feet. The whole of this superstructure is supported by four massive 

 piers, and the exterior of the flee he is enriched by escaloped bands. In the east transept 

 is a handsome rose window containing six foliated circles, surrounding a seventh filled 

 in with quaterfoils, the whole enclosed in a spherical triangle. The west transept and 

 choir windows agree in character with the south. The Cathedral has a total length of 

 two hundred and forty-six feet, and its extreme breadth is ninety-three feet. Clustered 

 columns constitute the piers of the nave, carrying somewhat depressed pointed arches, 

 above which are lofty clerestories, and these are continued in the chancel. Considered as a 

 specimen of architectural art the Cathedral is an ornament to the city ; and it is situated 

 at the converging point of the Sunday traffic of Melbourne, and within a hundred yards 

 of three railway lines, over which passenger trains are passing every minute of the clay. 



I he new edifice occupies the site upon which St. Paul's Church had previously 

 stood. It was the third place of worship in connection with the Church of England 

 erected in Melbourne, and dating from the year 1852. A plain bluestone building, 

 with lancet windows and a turreted tower, its demolition was witnessed without regret ; 



