Stop C5: Nicholas Hall
Click on the above to listen to audio of Nicholas Hall
Heart of the community
Officially opened in February 1939, Nicholas Hall was constructed to accommodate the social activities of the church and Wesley Mission. It was designed by the prominent Melbourne architect Harry Norris and funded by a generous donation from the Nicholas family. Furthering the Church’s role at the centre of its community, Nicholas Hall has been used as a theatre, a conference venue, a badminton centre and for film screenings.
Where philanthropy meets humanity
The construction of Nicholas Hall in 1938 was enabled by a generous donation from the Nicholas family. The brothers Alfred and George Nicholas, who made their fortune in pharmaceuticals, had previously donated £15,000 to the building fund for the Princess Mary Club. The new hall was named in their honour and was designed by Harry Norris, an architect favoured by the Nicholas family.
Uncover more about Alfred Nicholas here
A place of meeting and forward thinking
Nicholas Hall was used for a variety of purposes including services and meetings. A bio box was installed, so films could be screened, and it also housed a creche. It was even a temporary Polling Station during the East-Timorese Independent Referendum in 1999.
Harry Norris and the Nicholas family
Harry Norris was commissioned to design a number of buildings associated with the Nicholas family. These included the Nicholas Building on Swanston Street (1926) and Burnham Beeches in Sherbrook (1930-34). Other notable buildings designed in the interwar period by Norris are Curtain House on Swanston Street (1921-22), the streamlined Moderne façade of Melford Motors on Elizabeth Street (1929) and Foy & Gibson’s store on the corner of Bourke and Swanston Street (1934-35).
The past revealed
Of interest is the hall’s construction between the School House (1859-60) and the Gothic Revival Conference Hall (1888). Nicholas Hall was built against the wall of the adjacent Conference Hall and its north wall became a party wall. This is the only part of the Conference Hall still in existence today.
Image References
- Nicholas Hall photographed by John T Collins, 1978. Source: State Library of Victoria, H98.252/997
