St Michael & All Angels Hall

The newly formed parish congregation decided to proceed immediately with the construction of a building to serve as church, school and hall. This building, designed by Diocesan Architect J H Buckeridge, was destroyed by fire soon after completion in November 1890. The insurance payment for this church made its immediate replacement with another similar building possible. The contractor was Joseph Monahon and the building cost £860.  This second building, dedicated by Bishop Webber on 19 March 1891, is the present ‘Friendship House’, which has been relocated onto a brick base.

This hardwood timber building was designed by John Hingeston Buckeridge to serve as a church, school and hall. The construction of timber churches, sometimes for multiple uses, was a common practice in the late nineteenth century as new parishes were established and a local economic downturn strained parish finances. They were mostly constructed as temporary buildings in the expectation that the parish could afford a more suitable stone church in the not too distant future. Often these timber churches were small, modest structures.

There are a number of timber churches designed by Buckeridge in Brisbane that display his innovative design skills. Bishop Webber appointed Buckeridge as Diocesan Architect in 1887. Webber was keenly interested in good architecture as attested by his commissioning of St John’s Cathedral. This interest was carried to parish level as Buckeridge’s designs were used to construct churches at Milton (Christ Church), Indooroopilly (St Andrew’s) and Bulimba (St John’s) as well as in Toowoomba, Bundaberg, Thursday Island and other regional areas.

At St Michael and All Angels, Buckeridge’s use of weatherboard externally and VJ lining internally was unusual, as was the inclusion of verandahs, ridge ventilators, eaves and casement windows. The latter indicate an innovative consideration of climate, and in conjunction with the restrained external decorative detailing, provide evidence of the planned future use of the building as a school hall.

St Michael and All Angels continued to be used as a church after a parish hall was built in 1903.  A rectory was erected and dedicated on 28 December 1910.  While a permanent church of stone, brick or masonry was planned in 1921, the scheme did not proceed and St Michael’s and All Angels continued to be the focal point of Anglican worship in New Farm.

In late 1922 two stained glass windows were added to the timber church.  In 1948, the Balfour Street property was purchased for £1,200.  An old house on this site was sold and removed to raise capital and make room for the 1891 building. In July 1954, the original 75 tonne church was moved 150 feet to the new site using a ramp. The Church Chronicle reported that 500 people attended the dedication of the hall and vestry by Bishop H.H. Dixon M.A. on 21 November 1954.

The old church was modified substantially at a cost of £7,947.  Architect A.W. Bretnall designed the alterations and Mr Barclary was the building contractor.   The alterations included the addition of timber stairs to the vestry on the northern side, timber stairs to the north verandah, an enlargement of the verandah to the south and concrete steps linking the first and ground floors on the south.  Brick walls were constructed below the 1891 church to provide a ground floor hall with an attached kitchen.  The upper level served as the church until the new masonry church was dedicated on the Brunswick Street site on 22 March 1959.  

Further modifications were carried out in the late 1980s when the first floor was subdivided and a mezzanine level installed under the supervision of R. Spencer and Associates.  The hall was re-named “Friendship House”, as from 1986-2001, the upper floors were leased to the Queensland Mental Health Association.  The ground floor was still used for parish activities.  In 2001 the Anglican church sold the Balfour Street property to a private owner.

The hall has an exposed roof structure, comprising timber scissor trusses with steel tie rods. The ceiling is timber-boarded, and has diagonal boards to the end bays. The south-eastern end of the hall is flanked by pointed arch timber arcading, which has square timber columns with square capitals. The bay to the north-west has a faceted timber boarded ceiling, and is framed with a fine timber surround which meets a dado rail. The south-eastern wall has a three-light pointed arch window set in broad carved timber surrounds, surmounted by a single pointed arch window.

Externally, the building is restrained in its decorative detailing. It has pointed arch doorways, with boarded and framed double doors leading onto the verandahs from the nave. The verandahs have raked timber boarded ceilings and exposed rafters, landing on square timber columns with square capitals. Basket arched timber trim runs between the columns. The windows have timber trefoil motifs, and are sheltered to the north-east with corrugated iron awnings on shaped timber brackets. The north-eastern gable has a leaf-shaped ventilation panel.

The external appearance of the building has been altered by the raising and enclosing at ground level, however the form and much of the fabric remain intact including key elements such as the trusses, timber arcading and projecting bay.

The new brick hall is 71 feet long, 36 feet wide and has seven large steel joists supporting the timber church above.  These joists are set in brick piers in the walls of the hall.  The floor of the hall is concrete, and has been covered in parquetry in a herring-bone pattern with a border of red and white wood blocks.

1. Allom-Lovell Marquis-Kyle Christ Church Milton: A Conservation Study, A Report for the Anglican Parish of Christ Church Milton, 1991

2. Andresen, Brit. “Queensland Timber Churches: A Study of the Anglican Churches of the Diocese of Brisbane”, National Trust Journal, February 1991

3. Andresen, Brit. Church Register. An Inventory of Parish Churches within the Diocese of Brisbane 1847-1903. Department of Architecture, University of Queensland 1998

4. Brisbane City Council Building Card Records

5. Brisbane City Council Minutes, 4 February 1958

6. Brisbane City Council, Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Detail Plan No: 161, 1937

7. The Church Chronicle, November 1909, p.354; December 1909, p.378; February 1910, p.426; November 1957, p.332; April 1959, p.117

8. Courier Mail, 2 June 1954

9. Department of Natural Resources. Queensland Certificates of Title

10. Environmental Protection Authority File No: 600260

11. National Trust of Queensland citation no. 1/542

12. St Michael and All Angels Anglican Church, Order of Service to Commemorate the Centenary of the Church Building, 1991

13. Donald Watson and Judith McKay, Queensland Architects of the Nineteenth Century, South Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1994