Bringing one of Perth’s architectural treasures back from the brink of disrepair and decrepitude was not without its difficulties – but it was also a labour of love and well worth all the effort.
Saint Mary’s Cathedral Presbytery was designed by architect and builder James Manning (Clerk of Works for the Convict Establishment 1850 -1862) and built in 1855-56 as the Episcopal Palace by Joseph Benedict Serra, a Spanish Benedictine monk, Coadjutor to Bishop Brady and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Perth from 1851 to 1862.
It was then a three-storey stone construction with a basement and had a shingle roof in a simple Georgian style.
At the time it was the largest building in Perth. Joseph Ascione, a Benedictine novice and trained mason from Naples, played an important part in building the Episcopal Palace and later, in 1865, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (now St Mary’s Cathedral).
This Georgian style was maintained when a two-storey verandah was added at the northern elevation for Bishop Matthew Gibney (Perth’s third Bishop 1886-1910) although the exact date and builder of this first renovation is unknown (before c 1890).
Joseph Denis Nunan (a trained carpenter and Fenian transported to Perth in 1868 – he received his free pardon in 1869) was used by Bishop Gibney to do some work at the Bishop’s Palace around this time but there is no evidence that he was the builder of this addition.
In 1911-12 the first major alterations and additions were carried out for then Bishop Patrick Clune, Perth’s fourth Bishop from 1911 and later the first Archbishop from 1913 to 1935.
These additions, done by builder William Fairweather, followed the design of architect Michael Francis Cavanagh and changed the Bishop’s Palace giving it a Federation Italianate styling.
In March 1912, as the alterations and renovations approached completion, the ladies of the St Vincent de Paul Society of the Cathedral Parish held a ‘kitchen and linen’ tea so that members of the laity could contribute to furnishing the Bishop’s Palace and The Record reported on 16 March 1912 that “many fine and useful gifts” were received as a result.
The Record reported on 15 June 1912, as the finishing touches were being completed, that the “former eyesore” was “now a building of beauty to compete with anything in Perth”.
From 1913 the residence was referred to as the Archbishop’s Palace. Further alterations and additions were then made in 1938-39 for Archbishop Redmond Prendiville (Archbishop from 1935-1968) by Berry Bros (builders) following a design by architects Howard Bonner & Tracey.
This last set of works extended the building, adding an administration wing in the same style as the previous eastern extension including the roof line balustrade.
The verandah on the northern side had a second floor added with balustrading and the ground floor verandah was built in to make offices.
The 1939 renovations were the last significant additions to the Archbishop’s Palace. Minor changes have occurred since then including converting part of the basement for accommodation (early 1950s) and a new roof in 1956 that removed the roofline balustrading.
The exterior was painted its cream colour (formerly grey) in preparation for the visit of Pope John Paul II who stayed there overnight on 30 November 1986.
In April 1978, the Archbishop’s Palace was Classified by the National Trust, and it was entered on the Register of the National Estate in October 1980.
The Archbishop’s Palace was included in the State Register of Heritage Places in 1996 given its significance as a component in the Victoria Square precinct as well as for its association with the Roman Catholic Church; it is one of the oldest surviving Episcopal residences in Australia.
In 2008, at Archbishop Hickey’s request, the name of the Archbishop’s Palace was changed to Cathedral House.
By 2008, the condition of the Archbishop’s Palace had deteriorated and major repairs were needed as illustrated by the pictures below.
Philip Griffiths Architects were invited to prepare options for making the place the Archbishop’s home once more and to bring the whole of the place up to suitable standards for the clergy and guests. The project was undertaken to coincide with the conservation and completion of St Mary’s Cathedral. The work was undertaken by Colgan Industries and included the removal of ad-hoc furniture, fit-out and services introduction, conservation of the exterior, a sub-basement car park and garden terrace, conservation of the boundary walls, the addition of a caretaker’s unit in the basement and the upgrading of the building interior to contemporary accommodation standards.
During the project a number of discoveries were made that highlighted the distressed and run-down nature of the house prior to the project and reinforced the need for the major repairs to be undertaken if only for the safety of the residents.
Two examples were the inadequate foundations below the main entrance off Hay Street and the rusted beams that held up the concrete balconies. Notable features include the conservation of the main spaces such as the dining room and ‘Chapter Hall’, the installation of a steel frame glass lift in the main entrance foyer, the reinstatement of former balconies to contemporary detail, the creation of a small number of suites in place of the previous priests’ ‘cells’ and conservation of a number of other authentic spaces.
The work involved providing new centralised air-conditioning, upgrading lighting, power and communication services and the provision of new sanitary facilities to individual suites to greatly improve the useability of the building, all of which placed quite a demand on the significant built fabric. Services were designed to run in existing cavities or a small number of new ducts and concealed by new ceilings, all fed off an external service compound. This required substantial design and on-site review to ensure the significant building fabric was not compromised.
Where the imposition of new items, such as the lift, has occurred, these have been done in a transparent nature and affected significant built fabric has been re-presented and interpreted to remark of this process.
The new lift frame was constructed off-site and lowered, through the roof, in one piece.
In addition, evidence of pencil marbling, original brickwork with timber lintels and cement render from previous building campaigns were located, conserved and presented for interpretation.
The new sub-basement car park is set at a level so as not to obstruct the view of the building from Hay Street, and with careful landscaping is camouflaged, leaving the glass balustrade from the garden terrace, the two mature palms and the olive tree to draw the eye. The exterior has been re-painted on the basis of paint scrape investigations, to a colour to match that when it was first painted in 1986, in time for the visit of Pope John Paul II. Though substantial, the project is the refurbishment of both a private house and the official offices of the Archdiocese of Perth.
This has been done to make the building more comfortable and useable to its current and future residents and office workers.
It is the most significant work to occur to the building since the 1939 building phase and seeks to unify the place for its future inhabitants.
The completed work is a credit to the architect Philip Griffiths (project architect Alistair Ravenscroft) and the builder Martin Colgan and sons Nathan and Daniel (site manager Dean Tierney).