Church House is a heritage-listed

office building An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...

at 417 Ann Street, Brisbane City,

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

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. It sits within the grounds of

St John's Cathedral, Brisbane St John's Cathedral is the cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane and the metropolitan cathedral of the ecclesiastical province of Queensland, Australia. It is dedicated to St John the Evangelist. The cathedral is situated in Ann Street ...

. It was designed by

Robin Dods Robert Smith (Robin) Dods (9 June 1868 – 23 July 1920) was a New Zealand-born Australian architect. Personal life Dods was born in Dunedin, New Zealand on 9 June 1868. His parents were Robert Smith Dods (a wholesale grocer) and Elizabeth Gray ...

and built in 1909. 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

In 1899 the Church of England acquired property in Ann Street for the construction of a St John's Cathedral, a day school and church offices. In 1909 Church House, to a design of Robin Dods, the diocesan architect, was built as the Diocesan Offices for the

Anglican Diocese of Brisbane The Anglican Diocese of Brisbane, also known as Anglican Church Southern Queensland, is based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The diocesan bishop's seat is at St John's Cathedral, Brisbane. The diocese stretches from the south-eastern coastl ...

. It was stage one of a complex which was also to include a Synod Hall. The complete design followed an L-shape plan and would have extended the building close to Webber House, creating a small closed space around St John's Cathedral. The design was applauded by fellow architects and displayed at the Royal Academy Exhibition at London in 1910. Church House is still used as offices and currently houses the Diocesan Archives and the Anglican Schools Commission. In the past, it has also housed the

Australian Board of Missions Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

, Anglican Refugee and Mission Service, Mothers Union, and the Social Welfare department of the Diocese.Records and Archives Centre, Anglican Church Southern Queensland

Description

Church House is a two-storeyed building, constructed in brick with some relieving stone courses and dressings to the windows. The steeply pitched

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 aesth ...

roof is tiled and finishes at the southern end with a low raking

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

. The other end features a simple gable indicating the proposed second stage extension. It is essentially

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

in its overall form, especially the dominant high pitched roof and narrow

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

s but has been greatly influenced by the

Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

. The upper storey of the Ann Street facade has three

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

ed concrete balconies with

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

balustrading A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its c ...

and an

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window generally projects from an ...

. The

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...

overhang of the roof skirts around the gable ends as a sunhood. The fenestration on the upper level has square heads while the lower level has gothic arches apart from a side doorway which has a

semi-circular arch In architecture, a semicircular arch is an arch with an intrados (inner surface) shaped like a semicircle. This type of arch was adopted and very widely used by the Romans, thus becoming permanently associated with Roman architecture. Termi ...

. The main entry off Ann Street is a broad gothic arched opening with stone trimmings. Internally, most of the original fabric remains. Changes have included some modern partitioning and surface ducted air-conditioning.

Heritage listing

Church House 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. Church House is significant for its association with the Anglican Diocese since 1904. The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. Combining the Arts and Crafts manner, Church House is significant for its well resolved design and detail, forming an integral part of an ecclesiastical group of buildings. The place is important because of its aesthetic significance. Combining the Arts and Crafts manner, Church House is significant for its well resolved design and detail, forming an integral part of an ecclesiastical group of buildings. The place is important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period. Combining the Arts and Crafts manner, Church House is significant for its well resolved design and detail, forming an integral part of an ecclesiastical group of buildings. The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history. Church House is significant as an important work of prominent Brisbane architect Robin Dods.

References

Attribution

External links