Annerley Uniting Church

Although some land in the Annerley area had been sold by public auction and several large holdings established by the 1860s, it was during the 1880s economic boom that several residential estates were developed in the vicinity of Cracknell Road. Situated on the main thoroughfare of Ipswich Road, and relatively near the city centre, this area of Annerley had rich potential for development, particularly after the opening of the tramline along Ipswich Road in 1899. As the area became more densely settled, churches and schools were erected to meet the needs of the growing population. Early churches established in the area were the Presbyterian Church in the Thompson Estate (1886), the Baptist Church at Fairfield (1880), and the Annerley Methodist Church in Ipswich Road (1890).

A Congregational church community was established in the Cracknell Road area in the late 1890s, when Sunday School classes were held in the homes of parishioners, Mrs B. G. Wilson (The Wilderness) and Mrs W. G. Grimes (Tarragindi House). Mrs Grimes is considered by some to be the founder of the Cracknell Road Congregational Church and both families continued to play a significant role in the development of the Church. 

Church services began in a small church built at Tarragindi during the 1890s which was enlarged and moved to a site opposite the present church in Cracknell Road. The first church service was conducted on 30 May 1899 although a formal church meeting was not held until 1901. By 1915 the congregation had grown to the extent that it could purchase the site of the present Uniting Church for £500 and construct a manse. 

In March 1924, amidst plans to erect a new church building, the manse was moved to a new site in Horatio Street. 

Prominent architects Atkinson & Conrad drew up the design for the new church and in November 1924 a tender of £1,810 was accepted from Mr C. G. Harris for the construction of the new church. Gifts to the church included a church bell from Mr and Mrs H. Bardwell, furniture and fittings hand-carved by Mr R. Tomkins and a stained glass window. The bell was placed in a free-standing tower constructed of timber with the roof sheeted with timber shingles and lined on the underside with tongue and groove boarding. The bell tower was removed in around 2004. A pipe organ was purchased for £500 from the City Church and dedicated on 13 November 1927. The Cracknell Road Congregational Church was opened on 28 June, 1925, with a remaining debt of £1,000. Fundraising drives continued into the 1930s in an effort to reduce the debt on the church.

Through the years of the Great Depression and World War II, the Cracknell Road Congregational Church continued to meet the spiritual needs of its community, despite financial difficulties and a period during the late 1940s when the church was without a minister. 

The Jubilee Hall, situated to the rear of the church was built in 1951 to celebrate the Church's Golden Jubilee.

The building of the Jubilee Hall was both the culmination of long held hopes for a hall, and a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Cracknell Road Congregational Church. In 1977, when the Uniting Church was formed by the amalgamation of Congregational, Presbyterian and Methodist Churches, the church was renamed the Annerley Uniting Church.

This Interwar Carpenter Gothic style, symmetrical fronted building is slightly cruciform in plan form with an attached entry porch on the northern end, and a later vestry extension to the south. Positioned on the eastern side of the site, the structure is of timber construction elevated approximately 750mm above ground level and seated generally on timber piers. Several of the external timber piers have been replaced with brick piers. Horizontal timber battens fixed between piers enclose the under-floor area.

The building is clad externally with weatherboards up to sill level and chamferboard above. The lower level weatherboards up to sill height have a beaded edge whilst the chamfer boards above sill level are plain. A continuous timber rail at sill level provides a definition between the two types of boarding. This timber rail also allows for a differentiation in paint colour between upper and lower boarding.

The gable ends above the chamferboard are finished with timber shingles in which are inserted a vertical bank of louvres providing ventilation to the roof space. Timber dentils line the transition between chamferboard and shingles. The gable end to the attached entry porch at the northern end is lined with fibrous cement sheeting with attached timber cover strips. A timber staircase and balustrade on either side of the entry porch provide the main access to the building. No provision has been made for disabled access.

Ribbed metal sheeting covers the steeply pitched roof which is splayed out slightly at the eaves by means of timber packing pieces fixed to the top of the exposed rafters. The eaves are lined with tongue and groove boarding. The roof of each projecting vestry incorporates a Dutch gable.

A small steeple, sheeted in flat metal and containing a small bank of louvres on each face is mounted on the roof ridge at the northern end of the building.

Windows are generally timber framed casements in banks of two or three and glazed with leadlight coloured glass, the top rail of the casement being slightly arched on the underside. Two stained glass windows have been installed in the southern wall on either side of the rear extensions.

Access doors to side projections are vertical joint boarding bolted to timber rails and hung on ornate cast metal hinged brackets.

A small brick 'lean to' with corrugated iron roof has been erected onto the side of the rear extensions.

1. Brisbane City Council Properties on the Web

2. Queensland Post Office Directories 1904-1926

3. Cracknell Road Congregational Church, Cracknell Road Congregational Church:Jubilee 1901-1951, Cracknell Road Congregational Church, Annerley, 1951

4. Kennedy, Michael Owen, Graduate Report: Domestic Architecture in Queensland Between the Wars, Jan 1989, p 12

5. Architectural and Building Journal of Queensland, September 3 1924

6. A Heritage Study: Brisbane Places of Worship Pre 1940, Heritage Unit, Brisbane City Council

7. Brisbane Courier, 10 January 1931, p 19

8. O’Brien, J and G Dean, A History of Wellers Hill, Tarragindi and Ekibin 1850-1976 presented by Wellers Hill State School on the occasion of its Golden Jubilee 1926-1976, Wellers Hill State School, Brisbane 1976