Catholic Church of Christ the King

Catholic Church of Christ the King is a heritage-listed Catholic church building located at Macarthur Street, Taralga, Upper Lachlan Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Sydney Smith of Ogg & Serpell and built from in 1934 by R. M. Bowcock. It is also known as Church of Christ the King. The property is owned by the Archdiocese of Canberra – Goulburn and was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 30 April 2004.

The Church of Christ the King was designed by Sydney Smith of Ogg & Serpell, 349 Collins Street, Melbourne on 17 January 1933. The architectural drawings were completed by Clement Glancey, Bligh Street, Sydney. The church was constructed by R. M. Bowcock, Ashfield Sydney in 1934. The church was completed and furnished in six months.

The Church of Christ the King is a red brick Inter-War-Romanesque structure approximately 31 metres (102 ft) long and by 12 metres (39 ft) wide. The nave consists of six bays with a large sanctuary at the east and an entry narthex and choir loft at the west of the church. As a result, the church has a strictly correct liturgically geographical alignment and the sun rises directly through the sanctuary windows and sets directly through the Great West Window. The church is the most prominent building in Taralga and can be observed throughout the towns and its environs.

Exterior The Romanesque style of the building is established by the asymmetrical massing and use of red brick to create homogeneous heavily textured exterior walls. There are 31 round-headed arched window openings. The western end gable is finished with a raking arches motif. Above the western portico is an impressive sandstone circular or wheel window with sixteen outer surrounding semi-circles, sixteen spoked segments and a circular hub. The architectural elements around the wheel window, the spiral pillars, the semi-circular arches, the sandstone carved oak leaf motifs, are reiterated harmoniously in the front porch beneath the window.

Interior The interior of the church contains extensive and sometime elaborate plaster work. Each bay has a corded plaster decoration around the full curve of the barrel vaulted ceiling, while Corinthian style capitals are prominent on the pillars and pilasters. Above the sanctuary, there is an impressive life-size Calvary, depicting the Scene "Woman, behold thy son; son behold thy mother", with the Blessed Virgin and the young and beardless Saint John flanking the Crucified. The sanctuary is generously decked with beautiful cream marble in the altar, elaborate reredo and pulpit - all generously decked with very fine brasswork in massive candlesticks, crucifix, sanctuary lamp, lecterns and votive candle stands. The free- standing Post-Vatican II altar was introduced without structural alteration of the sanctuary and tastefully matches the original high altar. The altar is flanked with magnificent dioramas of the period depicting Our Lord's apparition revealing the Sacred Heart to St Margaret Mary, and Our Lady's apparition revealing the Immaculate Conception to St Bernadette. Side altars are dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes and St Joseph. There are shrines of St Therese of Lisieux and St Francis Xavier, the two patrons of Australia as a then "mission country". Original votive lamps are in place. The original altar rails are preserved in situ.

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).