Church of the Epiphany, Northcote: exterior view from the west
(photograph by John Maidment [22 December 2009])
Church of the Epiphany, Northcote: exterior view from the west
(photograph by John Maidment [22 December 2009])
Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA, 2013 (last updated March 2013)
Church of the Epiphany, Northcote: architect's drawing showing the envisaged tower and spire
(Louis R. Williams postcard in the collection of John Maidment)
The foundation stone of the Church of the Epiphany was laid on Saturday 18 December 19261 and the building dedicated on 14 April 1927.2 It was built at a cost of £10,000 and placed at the peak of Ruckers Hill on a site claimed to be the highest in the metropolis.3 The building accommodated 400 worshippers and the tower was 81 feet high; sadly the projected spire had to be omitted owing to cost. The architect was Louis R. Williams FRVIA. It is constructed in brick in the Decorated Gothic style, with large rose windows at the east and west. The nave windows have overscaled cusping. The building was used for Anglican worship for only 40 years and is now the Macedonian-Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Church.
Church of the Epiphany, Northcote: the organ
(photograph by John Maidment [February 1966])
The organ was supplied in 1931 by George Fincham & Sons Pty Ltd. A letter written in March 1931 by the firm suggests that this was a stock organ at present erected on the firm's factory floor. It stated that "The organ is almost entirely new, the majority of the pipes are of high class English manufacture of beautiful quality, and the front casework is of English quartered oak hand polished - £750 - 10 yrs guarantee.4 In September 1931 this organ was sold to the Church of the Epiphany, with a £100 deposit offered.5 The Swell Organ consisted of the windchest and pipework from the single-manual J.W. Walker organ of 1858 that had been in St Mary-of-the-Angels Catholic Church, Geelong. An Open Diapason metal 16 was added to the Pedal Organ in 1940 at a cost of £110,6 the pipes of which came from the dismantled west gallery organ of St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, removed in the preceding year. The organ was located in a loft in the right transept and sounded particularly well in a resonant acoustic. The instrument was removed in 1969 by George Fincham & Sons and the parts used elsewhere.
| GREAT Open Diapason Claribel Dulciana Principal Flauto Traverso Fifteenth Swell to Great SWELL Open Diapason Stopt Diapason Gamba Voix Celeste Octave Flute Twelfth Fifteenth Horn Tremulant PEDAL Open Diapason Bourdon Echo Bourdon Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal |
8 8 8 4 4 2 8 8 8 8 4 4 2-2/3 2 8 16 16 16 |
TC TC A A at lower pressure |
Compass: 56/30
Attached stopkey console
Tubular-pneumatic action
Balanced mechanical swell pedal7
1 The Argus 20 December 1926, p.15
2 Ibid., 13 April 1927, p.17
3 Ibid., 14 April 1927, p.13
4 Geo. Fincham & Sons letter 6 May 1931
5 Ibid., 8 September 1931
6 Ibid., 2 March 1940
7 Specification noted by John Maidment February 1966