St Ignatius' Church, Richmond is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

located in the

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

suburb of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

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. It is one of the largest churches in Melbourne outside of the central business district. It is located in a prominent position, the highest point in Richmond, on Church Street.

History

St Ignatius' Church was designed by English born architect

William Wardell William Wilkinson Wardell (1823–1899) was a noted architect who practiced in the second half of the 19th century, and is best known for a series of landmark buildings in Australia in Melbourne and Sydney. Following a successful career in ...

who had already made a name for himself in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and was also responsible for many of Melbourne's most important early buildings including St Patrick's Cathedral. Like St Patrick's it is in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

style and constructed from local

bluestone Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of natural dimension stone, dimension or building stone varieties, including: * basalt in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand * diabase, dolerites in Tasmania, ...

. The foundation stone was laid on 4 August 1867. The members of the predominantly Irish working class parish managed to save £700 towards construction, a large sum at the time. Stage one of the church was completed in 1927. This was made up of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and part of the tower and allowed services to commence. Construction of the remaining sections of the church took many years due to financial constraints. The

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

was completed in 1888 and the remainder, less the spire, in 1892. It was nearly 40 years later that the spire was completed. Designed by architect G. W. Vanheems, it was much taller than that originally proposed by Wardell. When completed in 1928 it was the tallest structure in Australia at high. Vanheems later designed the even taller spire of St Patrick's which was added, also belatedly, in 1939. A primary school of the same name operated for several decades behind the Church before its closure and amalgamation with St. James' Primary School in 2005.

Parish

The Catholic Parish of Ignatius is administered by the

Australian Jesuits Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

on behalf of the

Archdiocese of Melbourne The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne is a Latin Rite metropolitan archdiocese in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Erected initially in 1847 as the Diocese of Melbourne, a suffragan diocese of Archdiocese of Sydney, the diocese was el ...

Gallery

Stigsfront.jpg, Church entrance Saint Ignatius Richmond (2).jpg, Entrance to the church Saint Ignatius Church, Richmond.jpg, Inner view of the church

References

External links

St Ignatius Parish site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Ignatius Church Richmond Roman Catholic churches in Melbourne Richmond, Ignatius Buildings and structures in the City of Yarra Churches completed in 1928 1867 establishments in Australia Gothic Revival architecture in Melbourne Gothic Revival church buildings in Australia Stone churches in Australia William Wardell church buildings

History

Parish

Gallery

See also

References

External links