Before the financial crash of the 1890’s the thrill of building and showing off one’s good fortune still prevailed. There was money a-plenty to be spent on the construction of new buildings, public buildings, business buildings and religious buildings. In Australia at the time, we had imported and grown some of our own architects, but our styles of building and design still largely reflected those of England and Europe, and to a lesser extent, America.

The prevalence of non-costly journals and magazines that highlighted the details of many of the styles also contributed to the consistency of style throughout the architectural world. However, in Australia the ‘tyranny of distance’ also meant that we were more able to develop our own styles, whilst still adhering generally to the Anglo/European styles. Here, we took to Free Gothic as a flexible characteristic, and while many religious groups maintained the formal approach of the Academic Gothic, some of the more radical denominations chose to use Victorian Free Gothic to represent their church.

It was interesting to note that many architects who used Free Gothic, perhaps did so because they were not as educated in the disciplines of other Gothic styles and choosing to build in Free Gothic was to them a statement of building in the present – or so they claimed. Others claimed of the architects, that perhaps they just didn’t have the requisite skills required.

One of the main characteristics of Free Gothic was that architects and designers often chose eclectic styles and merged them on the one building. This sometimes looked dramatic and spectacular – at other times the result looked rather over the top.

This image highlights the use of Free Gothic principles such as asymmetrical towers, layers of ornamental brickwork and additional added features, such as irregular and informal appearance. There was also much use made of newer building materials such as tiles, large glass panes, concrete and purpose-made bricks.

The style was used frequently right across Australia. View examples