Malvern Presbyterian Church: façade facing Wattletree Road
(photograph by John Maidment [2019])
Malvern Presbyterian Church: façade facing Wattletree Road
(photograph by John Maidment [2019])
Historical & Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA 2019
Malvern Presbyterian Church was designed by the accomplished architect Robert Joseph Haddon (1866 -1929) in a free Gothic style.1 It was based upon two contemporary churches in Scotland illustrated in the journal Academy Architecture – Haddon's own copies are held in the Architecture & Planning Library, University of Melbourne.2 The foundation stone was laid on 16 December 19053 and the building dedicated on 28 July 1906.4 Using red brick and stucco, this is a highly imaginative design with extraordinary reticulated Gothic window tracery reminiscent of Norman Shaw's Holy Trinity, Latimer Road, Kensington, London.5 The window in the façade is bisected by a central buttress that rises to a finial. The spacious and well-lit interior has a sloping floor and focusses upon the choir and organ. The interior includes a number of fittings designed by Haddon, including the war memorial, pulpit, font and organ case which incorporates a carved cherub head beneath the central flat.
Malvern Presbyterian Church: interior
(photograph by John Maidment [2006])
Two tenders were submitted for the organ – one from Geo.Fincham & Son and the other from Frederick Taylor. The consultant was Ernest Wood, organist of St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne who sought the addition of a Harmonic Flute 8 to the Great Organ, such as was found on the cathedral organ.6
Malvern Presbyterian Church: organ case
(photograph by John Maidment [2006])
The organ was built by the Fincham firm and opened in July 1906.
GREAT ORGAN |
8 feet 8 feet 8 feet 8 feet 4 feet 4 feet 2 feet 16 feet 8 feet 8 feet 8 feet 8 feet 4 feet 2 feet 8 feet 8 feet 16 feet 16 feet 8 feet |
Metal CC to C Wood CC to C Metal CC to C Metal CC to C Metal CC to C Wood CC to C Metal CC to C Wood CC to C Metal CC to C Wood CC to C Metal CC to C Metal CC to C Metal CC to C Wood CC to C Metal CC to C Metal CC to C Wood CCC to F Wood CCC to F Wood CC to F |
61 pipes 61 pipes 61 pipes 61 pipes 61 pipes 61 pipes 61 pipes 61 pipes 61 pipes 61 pipes 49 pipes grooved bass 49 pipes Tenor C 61 pipes 61 pipes 61 pipes 61 pipes 30 pipes 30 pipes 12 pipes partly derived from Bourdon |
Tubular-pneumatic action
Swell Super Octave
Swell to Great
Swell to Pedal
Great to Pedal
Tremulant to Swell Organ
Balanced crescendo pedal to Swell Organ
3 pneumatic combination pistons to Swell Organ
3 pneumatic combination pistons to Great Organ
The console to be extended
The action to be tubular pneumatic throughout
The organ to be guaranteed for a term of FIVE YEARS, and kept in good order and tune for a term of 12 months without FEE
Ample and steady wind to be supplied by electricity
TERMS: CASH on completion of contract
Contractor to supply 1 H.P. motor
Decorations to be under supervision of the Architect for the Church
Work to be supervised and passed by an Expert, appointed by Church
ORGAN TO BE ERECTED WITIN SIX MONTHS7
The Fincham letters record: Hatherley & Horsfall Art Decorators Burwood Road Hawthorn – the firm did the front for Malvern Pres. in a very able manner (R.J. Haddon).8
In 1956 the organ was rebuilt with electro-pneumatic action and a new stopkey console by Geo. Fincham & Sons Pty Ltd. The following tonal changes were made:
Echo Gamba 8 added to the Swell Organ
Echo Bourdon 16 added to the Pedal Organ, derived from the Swell
Principal 8 added to the Pedal Organ, derived from the Open Diapason 169
In 1983 Geo.Fincham & Sons Pty Ltd added further stops:
Great Twelfth 2-2/3
Great Trumpet 8
Pedal Bombarde 16 partly derived from Trumpet10
The current specification follows:
| GREAT Open Diapason Stopped Diapason Harmonic Flute Dulciana Principal Flute Twelfth Fifteenth Trumpet Super Octave Swell to Great Sub Swell to Great Swell to Great Super SWELL Bourdon Violin Diapason Gedact Gamba Voix Celeste Echo Gamba Octave Piccolo Cornopean Oboe Tremulant Sub Octave Super Octave PEDAL Open Diapason Bourdon Echo Bourdon Principal Bass Flute Bombarde Great to Pedal Great to Pedal Super Octave Swell to Pedal |
8 8 8 8 4 4 2-2/3 2 8 16 8 8 8 8 8 4 2 8 8 16 16 16 8 8 16 |
A B TC C D B C D A |
Compass: 61/30
Electro-pneumatic action
Detached stopkey console11
1. Roslyn F. Hunter, 'Haddon, Robert Joseph (1866–1929)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/haddon-robert-joseph-6516/text11185, published first in hardcopy 1983, accessed online 21 January 2019
2. Observed by John Maidment 2005
3. The Argus, 18 December 1905, p.6
4. Ibid., 28 July 1906, p.8
5. Andrew Saint, Richard Norman Shaw. Rev.ed. New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 2010, pp.316-17
6. Details from the organ file, Malvern Presbyterian Church, kindly supplied by Rhys Boak, organist, 14 June 1999
7. Specification and estimate in organ file from Geo.Fincham & Son and Fred Taylor
8. Fincham letters (State Library of Victoria), p.328, 10 November 1906
9. Specification noted by John Maidment, circa 1962
10. Information provided by David Fincham, Geo.Fincham & Sons Pty Ltd
11. Specification noted by John Maidment 1983
Malvern Presbyterian Church: detail of organ case
(photograph by John Maidment [2006])