By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Greater Dandenong Council has made overtures to preserve a 143-year-old heritage building in a disrepaired state in Keysborough.
The council has expressed concerns to the owner, the Uniting Church, about the condition of the Keysborough Methodist Church built at 176 Chapel Road in 1877.
In a 19 May letter to a concerned resident, Greater Dandenong city planning director Jody Bosman confirmed he and mayor Jim Memeti had written separately to the Uniting Church about the matter.
“Council officers have raised the heritage significance of the building and concerns over the structural decline of the church and the apparent lack of intervention by the building’s custodians to safeguard both the structure and the artefacts within it.”
The council was seeking to discuss providing technical advice as well as supporting any applications to Heritage Victoria by the church to “facilitate the protection of the building”.
A rare remnant of the suburb’s 19th-century heritage, the Keysborough Methodist Church is listed as significant in Greater Dandenong’s heritage study.
However the council has conceded it is effectively powerless to compel the Uniting Church to preserve the building.
In recent years, the cordoned-off building’s striking Gothic structure, coloured stained-glass windows and shingle roof have been noticeably marred.
Speculation has been raised about its future, including that it will be left to decay until there was “no heritage value left”.
At that point, under Victoria’s “incredibly weak” heritage laws, the owner could simply “knock it down to build townhouses”, Greater Dandenong councillor Matthew Kirwan has said.
In response, residents have created a Facebook page and a change.org petition in a campaign to save the church.
The Uniting Church did not respond to the Journal’s enquiries.
In March, a Uniting Church spokesperson told the Journal the building was “unsafe” and “neither used or needed” by its congregation.
“(The) building itself has no formal heritage standing.
“In its current state it has been deemed unsafe and would require a significant amount of money spent on it to change that status.
“The local congregation and the Presbytery of Port Philip East continue to look at options for the future of the site.”
The neighbouring newer church building was however in regular use by the congregation and an associated charity, the spokesperson said.
“That building has had substantial repairs in recent years to ensure that it fulfills its current need.”
