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Restoring St Nicholas
St Nicholas church in Humffray St, Ballarat East, was built in 1867. Originally named the Bible Christian Church, it was built by Cornish miners in the evenings and weekends after they had returned from their work at the diggings.
Like most buildings of its time it was built to last, constructed of solid brick with lime mortar. By the 1970s, the mortar was crumbling and the church community of the time re-mortared it with cement, a process we now know was incorrect for buildings of its age. The cement mortar, combined with rising damp, caused salt attack in many of the original bricks and the building literally began to crumble.
In 2009 the Greek Orthodox community of St Nicholas approached the City of Ballarat, Heritage Victoria and the trade school at the University of Ballarat to form a unique partnership to restore the church. This project allowed young apprentices to learn traditional trade skills and practice the technique of mixing and using lime mortar. In the process, the humble church has had its life extended, and the Greek community have a religious and cultural centre they can use for generations to come.
Film - Ivan Hexter and Jay Watson, 'Restoring St Nicholas', Heritage Victoria
Courtesy of Heritage Victoria, Ivan Hexter and Jay Watson
Film - Ivan Hexter and Jay Watson, 'Restoring St Nicholas', Heritage Victoria
- This is the Church of St. Nicholas. This hasn't always been a Greek Orthodox church. It was bought by the Greek community in 1975.
- It was formally a Methodist Church. It actually started it's life in 1867. So, it's a grand old dame. It's been an important part on this area of Ballarat, and an important part of the history of Ballarat.
- Well, the origins of this church feature very much in my family history. Great, great grandfather came out from Cornwall in 1866. And so, when they got here to this area, there was no church. And so, with other miners, built this little church. And it was all done after the mining ships were finished. It was all done after hours.
- My role here is the Heritage restoration bricklayer. We were first shown the building. We noticed there was a fair bit of damage, being damage bricks. And the reason for that was, we think around the 1970's, the mortared joints had fretted away, and brickies at the time always thought, well that's no good because lime mortar was no good. It was too soft, so they put in cement mortar.
PAUL BRITT: And then, when they plugged it up with the cement mortar, the cement mortar became harder than the brick itself. So any breathing, or breath-ability, was nullified. We found that what happened was the salts were rising dampened, and a salt attack had occurred and had blown the face off some of the bricks.
PAUL BRITT: So there and then, we thought we really need to get the cement mortar out. Scratch it back. Get rid of as of many the salt as possible, and replace it with the traditional lime mortar mix.
- I got involved in this project through a partnership between the University of Ballarat and Paul Britt, the bricklaying contractor. And, took the opportunity to learn how to restore buildings.
BRENDON PRENTICE: I value learning all this heritage restoration. Firstly, for potential for work later on in the future, for the skills and knowledge of the different tools used, and just the timeline of what we used to use before we used cement mortar. It's a good lesson in history.
- The Greek community started off with some discussions with the city of Ballarat, to seek assistance, to try and restore the exterior. And after some discussions with the Heritage advisors, we decided as a community to apply for heritage grants from Heritage Victoria to try and restore the exterior.
- This was a great opportunity to partner with community and other bodies, like Heritage Victoria and also the Ballarat University, to get the job done. We have seen a problem in how do we develop the area in specialty trade skills? How do we work with our university to ensure that we don't lose these skills? So, it seemed like the absolute fit to partner together to come up with a solution that everyone could benefit from, was really such a fabulous space to be in.
- A lot of the students these days deal with brick veneer, houses, and homes. So, they don't really get to understand how these older buildings were together and why they've lasted for, say 150 years. What the old boys know about, I look at it in awe sometimes. The men working, how they went about doing their craft, something special.
PAUL BRITT: Yeah, I think it's significant that young people take on this. It's bit of a lost art. Bit of a lost skill in looking after these buildings. Who's going to pass it on to the next generation? The generation after that? Only be a shame to lose that. Hopefully one day down the track, they'll say, you know, great effort. The old boys had a crack though, did the right thing and you say, oh my great granddad looked after that building. Have a look, it's still standing today. And who know, it could be another 150 years away.
ANDREAS LITRAS: The St. Nicholas Church is at the heart, and a real focal point for the Greek community. A lot of community celebrations that take place are centred around religious festivals. And it's the place where our community comes together.
OLGA GRINOS: We're here today, together with the priest, and with the whole community to participate in this beautiful service today.
- I felt so grateful to hear some words from our priest, for the religion, for us, for the whole community. Thank you all, you know, to help us to keep this beautiful church.
[MAN SINGING]
OLGA GRINOS: Yeah, because it's not just any particular building. It's a meaning to us, this church. The meaning is community. The meaning is the children, the meaning is religion. The meaning is culture. Even inside, to me, I feel we belong here.
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Courtesy of Heritage Victoria, Ivan Hexter and Jay Watson
This short film documents the restoration the Church of St Nicholas and the Greek Orthodox community at its centre.
It features interviews with St Nicholas community members; Paul Britt, the heritage bricklayer; Brendon Prentice, and other apprentices; Val D’Angri, a descendent of some of the original church builders; and Cr Sam McIntosh of the City of Ballarat.
Photograph - Ian Wilson Photography, 'Re-mortaring with lime mortar', Heritage Victoria
Courtesy of City of Ballarat and Heritage Victoria
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Courtesy of City of Ballarat and Heritage Victoria
St Nicholas was originally constructed with bricks and lime mortar. By the 1970s the mortar was crumbling, and the community of the day removed the lime and replaced it with cement. At the time, cement was considered to be a stronger material that would outlast the lime. Unfortunately the cement proved too strong for the porous bricks.
Traditionally, as damp rose in buildings it would escape through the lime mortar, sparing the bricks. The mortar acted as a sacrificial and replaceable element, leaving the bricks strong. The use of cement mortar with old bricks, softer than the cement, saw the damp rise and, unable to escape through the mortar, begin to destroy the bricks themselves.
At St Nicholas Church in Ballarat many of the bricks had been ‘blown’ by the rising damp and related salt attack on the bricks. The restoration process involved replacing cement with lime mortar, and recycling or replacing over 400 blown bricks.
In this image the cement mortar has been removed and lime mortar, the traditional material, is being re-inserted.
Photograph - Ian Wilson Photography, 'Brick decay around window frame, St Nicholas Church', Heritage Victoria
Courtesy of City of Ballarat and Heritage Victoria
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Courtesy of City of Ballarat and Heritage Victoria
This image shows the damage inflicted on the bricks through rising damp and salt attack.
The cream “Lal Lal” bricks, so named because of the quarry the clay originated from, are particularly affected by decay due to their soft consistency.
Photograph - Ian Wilson Photography, 'Apprentices working on wall of St Nicholas Church', Heritage Victoria
Courtesy of City of Ballarat and Heritage Victoria
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Courtesy of City of Ballarat and Heritage Victoria
This image shows apprentices re-mortaring the Church. The photos shown in the church window indicate the state of the brick decay prior to restoration work beginning.
Photograph - Ian Wilson Photography, 'Interior of St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church', Heritage Victoria
Courtesy of City of Ballarat and Heritage Victoria
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Courtesy of City of Ballarat and Heritage Victoria
This image shows the interior of St Nicholas Church. This church is much-loved by its Greek Orthodox congregation and is a focal point of the community’s cultural and religious activities.
Photograph - 'Thomas Cornish Curnow'
Courtesy of Val D'Angri
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“On August 21st 1886, a meeting was held at the home of Mr Edwin Cornish to consider the advisability of erecting a Bible Christian Church in Humffray St. …"
“No time was lost in procuring a site (the site of the present church) and in the erection of a building. No Government grant being given on which to erect a building for Divine Worship, the Trustees purchased the land for £49 and accepted a tender for £448 for the erection of a brick building designed by Mr. S. H. Lugg. The foundation stone was laid by Rev. James Rowe on October 30th.1866, and opened on January 21 1867."
“Much help was voluntarily given in preparing the building for public worship. The miners gave valuable service between shifts and others in their spare time did likewise. The late Mr T. C. Curnow [pictured] often recalled that frequently, as a young lad, he carried water in buckets from what was known as the Black Hill dam, and the late Mr. J. Berryman often referred with interest to his early memories of the pioneers and their work.”
Extract from The History of the Humffray St Church, a booklet printed for the Radium Jubilee of the Church, 1937. From the possession of Val D’Angri - a descendent of the Curnow family.
Photograph - W. H. Nankervis, 'Group of Men at Mining Camp', c. 1866-1880, State Library of Victoria, Pictures Collection
Courtesy of State Library Victoria
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St Nicholas Church, then the Bible Christian Church, was built by a group of miners in Ballarat in 1866-67.
This image - of another group of miners in Ballarat - was taken at a similar time to the construction of St Nicholas and shows what the original Church builders would have been doing in their ‘day jobs’.
Photograph - 'Humffray Street North Methodist church – circa 1950s', c. 1950s
Courtesy of Val D'Angri
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A view of the Humffray Street North Methodist Church, as it was then called, on a busy Sunday morning in the 1950s.
The original church building, still standing, is the brick building in the background of this image. The timber building in the foreground was used as a Sunday school and meeting room.
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