Historical information

St Andrew’s Anglican Church, located at 228 New St, Brighton, is the oldest continuous Anglican Church in Victoria. Opened on St Andrews day in 1842, it was one of the earliest Christian churches established in the Port Phillip District.
A second church building was erected on the site in 1851, followed by a third building and schoolhouse in 1857 which was enlarged in 1886. A fire in 1961 engulfed the building and renowned Australian church architect Louis Williams was appointed to be the architect of the new building.
The present church complex is amongst the largest church buildings in Australasia. Using over 500,000 bricks and over 16,000 roof tiles, this space consisted of three areas: the main church building, the Pioneer chapel and the Lady chapel. The large arcaded cloister, seen in this painting, with an internal cloister garden, is extremely rare in any church in Australasia, and links the Pioneer Chapel to the narthex of the new building.