Celebrating function and form at Catholic Theological College

Nearly 30 years after it was designed, the Thomas Carr Centre—home to the Catholic Theological College (CTC) and the Mannix Library—continues to draw people in with its imaginative use of colours, textures and curves.

As part of the annual Melbourne Open House program in July, several Catholic buildings opened their doors, including the Thomas Carr Centre on Victoria Parade.

The program was launched to foster public appreciation for architecture and engagement on how our cities look and operate.

Wardell employed the Gothic Revival style, which he reportedly said was the only architectural style worthy of God.

Back in the 1990s, when the award-winning architect Gregory Burgess was tasked with the development of the college, he asked seminarians and other stakeholders what they wanted to see in the new complex. Then located in Clayton, the college was shifting to East Melbourne to a site shared by an imposing three-storey bluestone building designed by William Wardell in 1871.

Like his other landmark ecclesiastical buildings—St Patrick’s Cathedral, St Ignatius in Richmond and St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney—Wardell employed the Gothic Revival style, which he reportedly said was the only architectural style worthy of God.

Over the years, the bluestone building was home to Parade College before the junior school moved to Alphington and later the whole school transferred to the current Bundoora and Preston sites. Then it became Cathedral College for boys from Year 5 to Year 10 until 1995.

The Victorian Heritage Register listing describes the building as being of state significance, and one of the ‘finest bluestone buildings in the state’.

Mr Burgess, principal of Gregory Burgess Architects, tells Melbourne Catholic he was approached to come up with a design for the site by the then Master of CTC, Very Rev Dr Mark Coleridge—now Emeritus Archbishop of Brisbane.

The intense enthusiasm and open sharing of ideas I found wonderfully stimulating and at times quite moving—one sensed the occasions were graced.

Mr Burgess is well known for his community-focused approach to design, and his use of architecture to foster relationships with clients and communities employed this approach in the project.

Mr Burgess shared his reflections during the Open House session.

‘They already had five submissions, and I was invited to make one,’ he said. He also suggested that it would be helpful to meet with the college community to gain a more detailed understanding of their needs and aspirations.

Standing on the old school’s rear veranda, looking across to the newer building, Mr Burgess outlined the process to tie the two buildings together. Now a corridor, the veranda has been closed in with a window treatment that respects the original cast iron posts and lacework but adds to the function of the building.

Punctuating the window are the distinctive Stations of the Cross, panels of mouth-blown antique glass. Created by Bill Gleeson in 1973 for the former Clayton Corpus Christi, the stations were restored and installed in 2012.

Mr Burgess said staff and students wanted their new building to engage with the life and culture of the city, express the aspirations and aims of the college, and represent the diverse expressions of Catholicism in contemporary society.

‘The workshops that followed were a real catalyst for the creative process. The intense enthusiasm and open sharing of ideas I found wonderfully stimulating and at times quite moving—one sensed the occasions were graced,’ Mr Burgess recalled in a Knox Public Lecture in 1999.

A crisp, transparent connection links the buildings at two levels and allows the new to grow out of the old with respect and unity.

He said the curves of the newer building—which accommodates the Daniel Mannix Library, and administration and office space—reach out to connect to the old building, creating an interplay between the old and the new.

He refers to this in the lecture as a ‘dance of polarities’, where the two very different buildings with their contradictory elements interact. Above the curved outline is a line of smaller windows, which he described as the many voices of the Church. The bands of blue tiles on the new building, which complement the bluestone, could be viewed as Mary’s cloak, according to Mr Burgess. The green represents vitality, rebirth and regeneration.

‘A crisp, transparent connection links the buildings at two levels and allows the new to grow out of the old with respect and unity,’ explained Mr Burgess.

‘From this point the fluid structure follows the site perimeter on the west and south boundaries and unfolds around its inner courtyard towards Eades Street it in a unifying, powerful double curve—comprising many angles and many views—an imagination of an inclusive Catholic culture,’ Mr Burgess said in the Knox Lecture.

According to Mr Burgess, the old building stands tall, sombre and enclosed in its dark bluestone, absorbing light, while its sandstone trim brings welcome warmth. ‘The new shows an energised movement, a layered transparency and a lively variety of materials, colours and surfaces—playing with contrast and scale.’

The old building includes a chapel, and each of the classrooms is named after a significant person in international and Australian Catholic history, ranging from Thomas Aquinas to Caroline Chisholm and Catherine of Siena.

The imaginative bringing-together of the heritage building and the forward-looking design features of the new structure has been a great success.

The Daniel Mannix Library upstairs in the new building offers more than 130,000 printed items and online resources. A large portrait of Archbishop Mannix, who famously walked from Raheen in Kew to the Cathedral each day, looks over the space.

‘This college is not only beautiful in design but comfortable and functional to work in,’ says the Master of CTC, Very Rev Dr Kevin Lenehan.

‘The imaginative bringing-together of the heritage building and the forward-looking design features of the new structure has been a great success. Staff, students and visitors love coming to this site.’

CTC is a member of the University of Divinity, which consists of 12 theological colleges across Australia, and works in partnership with more than 30 Christian churches, religious orders and associated organisations.