Old St Stephens Church, also known as the Pugin Chapel, is a heritage-listed Roman Catholic

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

at 249 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane City,

City of Brisbane The City of Brisbane is a local government area (LGA) which comprises the inner portion of the metropolitan area of Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. Its governing body is the Brisbane City Council. Unlike LGAs in the other mainlan ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. It was designed by

A W Pugin Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 181214 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and, ultimately, Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival st ...

and built from 1848 to 1850 by Alexander Goold and

Andrew Petrie Andrew Petrie (1798 - 20 February 1872) was a pioneer, architect and builder in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Early life Andrew Petrie was born in Fife, Scotland. He trained as a builder in Edinburgh. He married Mary Cuthbertson in 1821. C ...

. It was added to the

Queensland Heritage Register The Queensland Heritage Register is a heritage register, a statutory list of places in Queensland, Australia that are protected by Queensland legislation, the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. It is maintained by the Queensland Heritage Council. As ...

on 21 October 1992.

History

The land at the site was originally planned for church purposes in 1847. Six allotments of section 33 were set aside for the use of the Roman Catholic Church in September 1848 with the original deeds of grant being signed by

New South Wales Governor The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the A ...

Charles Fitzroy in November 1849 (Queensland did not separate from New South Wales until 1859). StateLibQld 2 196735 St

From the early days of free settlement,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the Sou ...

's Catholic population was significant with Catholics comprising 30% of residents in 1846. In 1849 and 1850 the

New South Wales Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...

, under provisions of Governor Richard Bourke's 1836 Church Act, subsidised the building of Old St Stephens Church which was opened on 12 May 1850. It was built by Alexander Goold, to a design attributed to the internationally renowned Gothic Revival architect Augustus Welby Pugin, a personal friend of Sydney-based

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Bede Polding. With the growth of Brisbane's Catholic community and with Separation approaching, the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Australia located in Brisbane and covering the South East region of Queensland, Australia. Part of the Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical ...

was created in 1859. Old St Stephens became a cathedral but its capacity became increasingly inadequate and on 26 December 1863,

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

James Quinn laid the foundation stone for a new cathedral. In the eleven years it took to finish the new St Stephen's Cathedral, provision was made for extra space in the old church. A wooden annexe was built onto the northern frontage and extra doorways were cut in the stone wall on this side. Inadequate accommodation was not the only problem, for the soft sandstone was crumbling, particularly that of the little belfry which had to be dismantled at some time before 1875. A temporary wooden belfry was erected to a design by architect AB Wilson in 1888. After the consecration of the new cathedral in 1874, the old church was used as a school by the Christian Brothers until they moved to their new site at

Gregory Terrace Gregory Terrace is a road in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Geography Gregory Terrace commences at an intersection with Wickham Terrace and College Road in Spring Hill (). It travels in a north-easterly direction through Spring Hill, Fortit ...

in 1880. The

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic Church, Catholic Woman, women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 Religious sister, sisters worldwide, organized into a num ...

then conducted a school in the old church building until the permanent St Stephens School was opened in 1892. Since that time the building has been variously used as a storeroom, offices, display space, meeting area and choir practice room. On a number of occasions, the demolition of the old church was contemplated. However, it was finally decided to restore it as a place of worship. Based on historical evidence, restoration was done to recreate the bell tower, the stone tracery in the windows and the timber shingle roof. A stained glass window depicting

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

and the story of

St Stephen Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ''Stéphanos'', meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name; c. 5 – c. 34 AD) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first ...

was placed in the west window. The furniture can be re-arranged to suit a variety of church services, weddings, spiritual talks and sacred music performances. The nave is separated from the apse by four timber panels and a rood bar with a crucifix in the midpoint. The apse space contains a shrine of

Saint Mary MacKillop Mary Helen MacKillop RSJ (15 January 1842 – 8 August 1909) was an Australian religious sister who has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church, as St Mary of the Cross. Of Scottish descent, she was born in Melbourne but is best known fo ...

. On 5 February 1999, the church was re-dedicated as St Stephen's Chapel by Archbishop

John Bathersby John Alexius Bathersby (26 July 1936 – 9 March 2020) was an Australian bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the sixth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, serving from 1991 until his retirement in 2011. Bathersby was conferred ...

Description

St Stephen’s Chapel, Brisbane, Queensland 07

The chapel is made of locally quarried sandstone and originally had a shingled roof, now slate. It conforms to a standard English type of small church with a simple rectangular nave with a square chancel attached via an arch. A little square sacristy is attached to the north side of the chancel and a square

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

gives onto the south-west end of the nave. Externally the elevations are extremely simple with an unadorned

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

lower section with small lancets let into the wall above a roll moulding to form a

clerestory In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...

. The chancel has a small rose in the

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aest ...

with three lancets below. The west end of the chapel has a simple but attractive perpendicular window in the upper section with a door in the lower section. The original stone tracery of the window has been replaced with wood. Externally the sandstone has weathered badly. A small stone bell tower was once mounted above the western gable but was taken down before 1875. Internally the chapel has fine Gothic proportions. It has finely crafted timber

trusses A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembla ...

with collar ties and a timber ceiling above. The stonework has been painted and the ecclesiastical accoutrements removed. Old St Stephens Church is located towards the front of the site facing Elizabeth Street and south of the Cathedral. The open space surrounding the church is enclosed to each side by the southern elevation of the Cathedral, the rear of the buildings facing Edward Street and the back of St Stephens Girls School. This is an open grassy area that is now planted with rows of palm trees and crossed by concrete paths as part of the 1989 project involving the renovation of the Cathedral.

Heritage listing

Saint Mary MacKillop Figure St Stephens Chapel-1 (7155731733)

Old St Stephens Church was listed on the

on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history. Old St Stephens Church is significant as the oldest surviving church building in Brisbane and provides evidence of construction techniques used in Brisbane in the 1840s. The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. Old St Stephens Church is significant as the oldest surviving church building in Brisbane and provides evidence of construction techniques used in Brisbane in the 1840s. Old St Stephens Church is an excellent example of a small stone English Gothic Revival church and is significant as an example of the first churches erected in Brisbane with permanence in mind. The place is important because of its aesthetic significance. Old St Stephen's Church is significant as part of a group of prominent ecclesiastical buildings of which this is the earliest component. The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. Old St Stephens Church is important for its association with a religious group of significance in the early settlement of Brisbane. The Church is continues to be a building held in high esteem by both the Catholic community and the general public. The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history. Old St Stephens Church is significant as an example of the work of a prominent early builder, Andrew Petrie, and as the product of a design attributed to renowned British architect, AWN Pugin.

References

Attribution

External links

* * {{cite web, last=Andrews, first=Brian, title=St Stephen's Church, Brisbane, Queensland, website=Pugin Society, url=http://www.thepuginsociety.co.uk/uploads/2/0/5/6/20562880/brisbane_essay.pdf, access-date=8 September 2020, archive-date=26 July 2021, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726054911/http://www.thepuginsociety.co.uk/uploads/2/0/5/6/20562880/brisbane_essay.pdf, url-status=dead Queensland Heritage Register History of Brisbane Articles incorporating text from the Queensland Heritage Register Elizabeth Street, Brisbane Roman Catholic churches in Brisbane 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Australia Roman Catholic churches completed in 1850 Augustus Pugin buildings