Ithaca Presbyterian Church

Perhaps the improving economy of the mid-1880s provided a more stable population, as the church began to expand in country and metropolitan centres, so that by 1886 13.7% of the Queensland population were recorded as Presbyterians. It was in 1885, during a growth period for the district, that the Enoggera Terrace Presbyterian congregation, which had begun services in 1880, built their first church. The shingle-roofed wooden structure was built 30 feet wide by 40 feet long to hold 270 people. It was constructed by Red Hill builder, E. Farris for the sum of £280. 

In 1914-15 the name of the congregation was changed from Enoggera Terrace to Ithaca. In 1919 the Queensland Presbyterian Church purchased the property at 100 Enoggera Terrace and presented it to the Ithaca congregation. In April 1922, the congregation of the Ithaca Presbyterian Church, led by Rev James Gibson, established a building fund to erect a church which they hoped would be "a credit to the Presbyterian Church, not only of Brisbane or Queensland, but of Australia". Funds for the church were raised by donations, socials in the Church Hall and private dwellings, Senior Girls Guild Concerts and principally by an annual fete known as The Fete of Victoria the Good. A house on the site was moved closer to View Street and used as a manse until the current manse was built in 1959. In November 1927 the congregation accepted the tender of builder H.J. Erb for £8,000 for the erection of a new church. It was designed in Gothic Style by the prominent architectural firm A.B. and R.M. Wilson. The firm's founder, Alexander .B. Wilson was, in fact, honorary architect to the Presbyterian Church in Queensland.

The church occupies a high and outstanding position facing Enoggera Terrace, and when it was built could be seen from all directions. The spire, which is 54ft above the footpath, was easily discernible from all parts of Red Hill. While the congregation maintained the fine record of service begun in 1880, other associated organisations were established. The Boys' Brigade in the parish continued the traditions of the order in Scotland.

With the construction of the present Ithaca Presbyterian Church, the former church building saw use as an associated hall. When the Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational churches joined to form the Uniting Church in 1977, the Ithaca Presbyterian community decided to stay outside the Union to maintain what they saw as essential components of the Presbyterian faith.

The church is built in the traditional form with a western front, and a cruciform plan form incorporating nave, transepts and apsidal sanctuary. Attached to the southern transept is the minister's vestry and necessary conveniences.

Rising from a brick plinth the building is constructed of brickwork that has been rendered to represent a sandstone finish. Stepped buttresses provide stiffening to the high walls and absorb the thrust of the steeply pitched roof. Buttresses at the front terminate above the roof line with triangulated capping pieces.

The shallow stepping of the buttresses are finished with a Gothic style drip moulding.

The asymmetrical western front presents a bell spire to the left of the main entrance, and flanking the front parapeted gable is a finely proportioned four light lead lighted window of Gothic tracery which is capped with a label mould.

The main front porch projects slightly forward from the front gable and is flanked by buttresses similar to those to the parapeted gable. The pair of entry doors are framed tongue and groove boarding laid diagonally and hung on large brass hinge brackets. The entrance porch gable is decorated with a trefoil motif and the apex is capped with a crocket finial.

The steeply pitched roof is sheeted with terra cotta roof tiles. Earlier forms of roof ventilation (four on either side of the nave roof) have been removed and holes in the roof sheeting have been covered with metal flashing. The roof overhang is lined with timber boarding spaced apart to allow eaves ventilation to the roof space.

The nave windows are of two light design with tracery heads. Each steel framed light consists of a pivoted window and fixed fanlight above and are glazed with lead lighting. The nave window closest to the transept on the southern side is glazed with stained glass and is protected by a mesh screen.

Transept windows consist of three lancet type windows with tracery heads and are capped with a label mould. Each window consists of two steel framed pivoted windows and fixed fanlight above. All are glazed with lead lighting.

Vestry gable end windows are similar to the nave windows but contain a smaller pivoted window and incorporate a label mould over the tracery. 

Advantage has been taken of the sloping site to provide a basement at the rear under the sanctuary and minister's vestry. Windows to this area are steel framed casements glazed with opaque glass.

Side access to the building is provided by a framed tongue and groove door located in the southern transept. Floor level at this point is only one step above the surrounding ground level and almost provides barrier free access for the disabled.

Fixed timber louvres in timber frames mounted high in the gables to both transepts and the eastern (vestry) gable provide ventilation to the roof space.

A columbarium wall has been provided between the first and second buttresses on the northern side under the nave window.

A coping mould at sill level runs between buttresses along both sides and across the rear wall.

The bell spire is roofed with flat metal sheeting slightly belled out at base. The belfry is faced on all eight sides with fixed timber louvres set in Gothic style frames.

Internally, the building has a silky oak dado, choir screen and pulpit of carved Gothic detail. Walls are sandstone finish plastered brickwork and capped with a decorative plaster frieze. The open timber curved ribbed roof trusses and the ceiling are panelled out to Gothic detail and stained and polished.

The building has been maintained and is in reasonably good condition.

The street alignment fence consists of a series of rendered brick pillars rising above a rendered brick dwarf wall. These pillars are increased in size at the driveways and main pedestrian entrance. A decorative mild steel balustrade and hinged gates span between pillars.

The original church, located further along Enoggera Terrace at the corner of Surrey Street, is a timber framed Federation Carpenter Gothic style building.

Erected on a site which slopes away from the street the main floor level is slightly below the Enoggera Terrace street alignment.

1. Architectural and Building Journal of Queensland, 10 January, 1928

2. Architectural and Building Journal of Queensland, 11 February 1929

3. Donald Watson and Judith Mackay, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century, p 208

4. Daily Sun, 19 February 1983

5. The Sun, 2 September 1988