Sydney, NSW - St Mary's Catholic Cathedral

History and Architecture:

William Wilkinson Wardell was commissioned by Archbishop Polding to design a new St Mary's following the fire of 1865 which ruined the original Cathedral. It was constructed of dressed local sandstone in the "Gothic Revival" style.

There were to be two intermediate stages. A temporary wooden church was constructed, which was also destroyed by fire in the summer of 1869. The third temporary provision was a sturdy brick building on the site, not of the cathedral but of St Mary's School, which it was to serve long after the present structure was in use.

The Foundation stone was laid in 1868.

The customary east-west orientation of cathedrals was abandoned by Wardell due to the fall of the land therefore the Sanctuary of St Mary's is located at the northern end of the plan, with the main faade and principal entrance at the southern end.

The stained-glass windows were crafted in England, at the Hardman studios of Birmingham, from 1881 onwards.

The Cathedral's central edifice, known as the Cardinal's tower, which was named for Cardinal Moran who completed it, houses the bells. These were first rung in the new tower on November 6, 1900.