St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, is the cathedral church of the Anglican diocese of Melbourne, Victoria, and the seat of the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, Most Reverend Peter Watson.

The cathedral is located in the centre of the Melbourne, on the corner of Swanston Street and Flinders Street. It is directly opposite Flinders Street Station, which was the transport hub of 19th century Melbourne and is still an important centre. Immediately to the south of the cathedral is Prince's Bridge over the Yarra River, leading to St Kilda Road, so that the cathedral commands the southern approaches to the city.

Although there was no established church in colonial Victoria, most of the colony's establishment were Anglicans, and the Church of England (as it was then called) was given the best site in Melbourne for its cathedral. At the time of its construction St Paul's was the tallest building in central Melbourne and dominated the city's skyline. Unfortunately the growth of multi-storey buildings in central Melbourne during the 20th century robbed St Paul's of its commanding position and restricted views from many angles. The recent construction of Federation Square, which involved the demolition of a pair of adjacent highrise buildings, however, has improved the Cathedral's visibility from the south.

St Paul's is built on the site of Melbourne's first Christian service, conducted on the banks of the Yarra a few months after Melbourne was founded in 1835. The area was a corn market until 1848, when St Paul's Parish Church, a bluestone church, was built on the site. In 1885, as Melbourne grew rapidly, this church was demolished to make way for the new cathedral. It replaced St James's Old Cathedral , which then stood on the corner of William Street and Little Collins Street, but was later removed to a site near the Flagstaff Gardens .

St Paul's is built in a style known as Gothic transitional, being partly Early English and partly Decorated. It was designed by the distinguished English architect William Butterfield, who was noted for his ecclesiastical work. The foundation stone was laid in 1880. Butterfield never saw the site and the building was frequently delayed by disputes between Butterfield, in England, and the Church authorities on the spot. Butterfield resigned in 1884 and the building was finished by a local architect, Joseph Reed.

The Cathedral was consecrated on 22 January 1891, but the building of the spires did not begin until 1926. The spars were designed by John Barr of Sydney. An organ was imported from England and is acknowledged as the finest surviving work of T. C. Lewis , one of the greatest organ-builders of the 19th century. St Paul's has one of the few peals of thirteen bells outside the British Isles, and their chimes are a regular feature of Wednesday evening in Melbourne.

St Paul's in unusual among Melbourne's great 19th century public buildings in that it is not made from bluestone, the city's dominant building material. Instead it is made from sandstone imported from Sydney, giving the cathedral a warm yellow-brown colouring rather than Melbourne's characteristic cold blue-grey. This gives it a strikingly different appearance to the bluestone Gothic of St Patrick's Catholic cathedral on the eastern edge of the city. Because the spires are made from different stone and are thirty years newer, they are of a darker tone than the older parts of the building.

By the 1990s the constant traffic vibration of central Melbourne had led to concerns about the structural soundness of the cathedral, particularly the spires. A public appeal raised A$2.5 million to restore the spires, work which is continuing.

External link

• St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne