Catholic Ladies College Chapel

Cathedral Place, East Melbourne

Built 1871 William Anderson for the Congregational Church, Fitzroy
Enlarged 1891 Alfred Fuller (addition of Swell Organ)
Installed 1903 Geo. Fincham & Son at Catholic Ladies College
Removed 1970 Geoff Thiele; some parts used in organ at
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Ringwood
2 manuals, 12 speaking stops, 3 couplers, mechanical action




Catholic Ladies College, East Melbourne – exterior
(photograph by John T. Collins, from State Library of Victoria [1972])


Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA, February 2022

The Catholic Ladies College was opened by Archbishop Thomas Carr on 20 March 1902.1 The site had been previously occupied by Chalmers Presbyterian Church and the Greek Church. A four-storey building, in a Gothic style and constructed in bluestone with brick and stucco dressings, was erected facing Parliament Place, with a lofty chapel to the right. The architect was Philip A. Kennedy.2 This building was demolished around 1972 when the school moved to a new site in Eltham.

The organ was built by William Anderson for the Congregational Church, located at the corner of Victoria Parade and Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy, where it was opened on 13 July 1871.3 The Swell Organ was added by Alfred Fuller and opened on 16 July 1891.4 It incorporated a Gothic-style case with three flats surmounted by gables. The Congregational Church site was sold and the church demolished.



Catholic Ladies College, East Melbourne – organ
(photograph by W.G.S. Smith [c.1970])

The organ was sold to the Catholic Ladies College where it was installed in the chapel by Geo. Fincham & Son in March 1903.5 The organ remained unaltered until its removal by Geoff Thiele and others in 1970 for installation at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Ringwood. Only the slider windchests and some of the pipework were retained at Ringwood, and the fine Gothic-style casework, action, reservoir and attached console were discarded.6



Catholic Ladies College, East Melbourne – console
(photograph by W.G.S. Smith [c.1970])

GREAT
Open Diapason
Stopped Diapason Bass
Clarabella
Keraulophon
Principal
Flute
Fifteenth
Swell to Great
8
8
8
8
4
4
2
CC and CC# inside organ
CC-BB
TC
TC

stopped wood, with drilled stoppers



  
SWELL
Open Diapason
Gedacht
[spare slide]
Principal
Oboe


8
8

4
8
CC-BB open wood

not connected at console

Cremona, with Bassoon bass

  
PEDAL
Bourdon
Great to Pedals
Swell to Pedals
16



 

Compass: 56/30
3 composition pedals to Great
2 composition pedals to Swell
Trigger swell lever
Mechanical key and stop action7

1 The Argus, 21 March 1902, p.6

2 The Advocate, 22 March 1902, p.14

3 Victorian Independent, 5 August 1871 (cited by E.N. Matthews, Colonial Organs and Organbuilders (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 1969), pp.132, 133)

4 Ibid., September 1891

5 Matthews, op.cit., p.108

6 Noted 1970 by John Maidment

7 Specification noted 1970 John Maidment