Church of the Sacred Heart

By 1898, the large Irish population at Paddington and other local residents expressed a desire for a Catholic church at Rosalie. According to Catholic historian, Father O'Leary: "[t]he city was spreading out in that direction at a rapid rate, and amongst the new inhabitants was a goodly proportion of Catholics who found it a serious inconvenience to travel into the city on Sunday morning". The movement to establish a church was so successful that a foundation stone was laid by Archbishop Dunne on 5 June 1898. The church, designed by W.A. Caldwell, was opened 11 December of the same year. It served as both church and school until 1907 when a new church, designed by J.H. Burley, was built to accommodate the growing congregation. Both of these early churches have since been demolished. 

The present Sacred Heart Church was built to relieve crowded conditions at the parish school, established in 1906 in the first church which was later moved across Fernberg Road. It was decided to construct a new brick church, allowing the old church to be used as an additional school building, rather than erect a new school. The foundation stone of the church was laid by Archbishop Duhig on 17 June 1917. £1,400 was collected at the ceremony, a significant amount in a predominantly working class parish, particularly, as Duhig noted, during the "stringent" years of World War One.

This church is considered by some to be the best of the four Addison churches. Addison was also responsible for the design of St Columba's, Wilston (1915), St Benedict's, East Brisbane (1917) and the church of the Little Flower, Kedron (1924), which has been demolished. The Rosalie church is very similar in design to St Columba's, however it features a large rose window on the front facade. All three churches are Romanesque in style.

Monsignor Cattaneo, the Apostolic Delegate, blessed and opened the new church one year later on 16 June 1918. Several prominent members of the clergy from Queensland and interstate attended the opening ceremony. The church, constructed by F.J. Corbett at a cost of £8,400, was described in a contemporary history as "one of the most handsome Parish churches in the Commonwealth".

The development of the Catholic precinct at Rosalie followed the usual pattern of first establishing a church, which usually doubled as a school, then erecting a more substantial church, and finally, constructing a presbytery and convent. The Sacred Heart Presbytery, designed by the architectural firm of Coutts and Son, was built in 1915 and was significant as one of the few ferro-concrete buildings in the Archdiocese in Brisbane. This was an innovative building technique at the time. It has since been replaced by a modern presbytery.

A striking brick convent, designed by prominent architect, T.R. Hall, was built nearby on Given Terrace in 1919, allowing the Sisters of Mercy, who had travelled previously from All Hallows, to reside in the parish. The Sacred Heart School, run by the Sisters of Mercy, educated generations of children before being closed in 1995 as it was considered to be no longer viable.

In 1942, the church was badly damaged by a fire and required major restoration. Further renovations were required in 1983 when termites were discovered in the woodwork of the church. The infested woodwork was replaced at a cost of $210,000.

The Church of the Sacred Heart, in conjunction with its associated ecclesiastical buildings, is highly valued by the community as a centre of Catholic worship and education on this site for almost a century.

The building is rectangular in plan form with an apsidal sanctuary located at the southern end. Later additions have enclosed the lower portion of this sanctuary. Side entry porches are located midway along the nave on either side and confessionals are attached to the end bay on each side at the northern end.

The building is constructed in distinctive red face brickwork rising from a rendered brick plinth. The tall side walls are strengthened by stepped buttresses which penetrate and project beyond the roof line before terminating with a triangulated rendered capping. Shallow but steeply weathered stepping occurs at head and sill height of clerestory windows and at head height of nave windows. The front and rear walls extend above roof level to provide parapeted gables.

The brickwork is generally laid in stretcher bond with the buttresses and the rear parapeted gable wall laid in English bond.

The steeply pitched roof to the nave and the side entries are sheeted with terra cotta tiles. The roof overhang is lined with timber boarding spaced apart to allow ventilation of the roof space.

The front gabled wall is comprised of a number of architectural features.

The corner stepped buttresses terminate with a moulded capping at the same height as side wall buttresses. Above this capping rises an hexagonal finial topped with a bell shaped capping.

The corner stepped buttresses rise above the parapeted gable and are terminated with triangulated cappings. The apex formed between the central buttresses is accentuated by a cornice mould ledge linking the buttresses. Fixed timber louvres fitted into three lancet type openings in the apex allow ventilation to the high roof space. Rendered brickwork bands at heads of openings and following the semi-circular shape of the opening further accentuate these vents.

Dominating the parapeted gable is a stained glass rose window surrounded by brick lining comprising alternate bands of red and cream coloured bricks. A label mould cornice caps the rose window and links it to the central buttresses.

Below the rose window and above the entry porch at the clerestory level is an arcaded feature containing hopper windows to four of the bays, the centre bay containing a sculptured figure. This arcading comprises a line of arches raised on columns in front of brick mullions.

The entrance porch is in the Palladian style, comprising an arched opening flanked by two smaller square headed openings. The entrance porch and steps leading to it are tiled with glazed terra cotta tiles.

Clerestory windows between buttresses consist of two vertical banks of hopper windows with a semi-circular arch head and a small rondel window located above. The arched heads and rondel surround are formed in alternate bands of red and cream coloured bricks. A label mould above unifies this window element. Windows at ground level consist of two vertical banks of hopper windows.

The clerestory windows along both sides consist of two vertical banks of three hopper windows in aluminium frames, the heads in semi-circular arch form. Brick voussoirs consist of alternate bands of red and cream coloured bricks (similar to front elevation). The rendered sill band running between buttresses is weathered at the windows. The lower level windows are directly under and similar to the clerestory windows.

The windows throughout the building are hopper windows in aluminium frames. (It is assumed that the original window frames have been replaced with aluminium.) Generally the glazing to the lower level windows is stained glass with opaque glass being used in the clerestory windows.

The side entry porches are constructed in face brickwork and incorporate a semi-circular arched entry and a parapeted gable front and parapeted returns to main walls of building.

The roof is sheeted with terra cotta tiles and falls to concealed box gutters.

The stepped corner buttresses extend above the parapet line and terminate with a triangulated capping.

Confessional projections are also constructed in face brickwork, which terminates as a flat parapet concealing a flat roof and box gutter.

The blank rear (southern) wall is constructed in English bond brickwork and forms a parapeted gable extending upwards at the apex to form a bell-cote. The bell-cote projects a 

half brick beyond the wall face and is supported on a cornice moulding. Corner and central stepped buttresses project above the parapet line and are capped with a triangulated capping.

The semi-octagonal apse projecting from the southern end is of similar construction to the building. Fixed stained glass rose windows with cream and red brick surrounds are built into three of the wall faces and provide light to the sanctuary. 

Later additions to the church have resulted in the apse being surrounded by rooms and a rear porch. The brickwork to this extension is laid in stretcher bond and the joints pointed.

Interior

Exposed timber hammer beam trusses with steel tie rods are located at each buttress. The infill between each truss member is lined with tongue and groove boarding fixed diagonally.

The concrete floor is sheeted throughout the nave with vinyl tiles.

The external walls are lined with a timber wainscot up to sill level and then rendered up to the ceiling. A quatrefoil motif cornice runs around the perimeter of the nave.

1. Age (Brisbane), 17 June 1917

2. Brisbane Centenary Celebrations Committee 1924, Brisbane Centenary Official Historical Souvenir, Brisbane

3. Clark H.R. and D.R. Keenan. Brisbane Tramways: The Last Decade, Sans Souci, NSW: Transit Press, 1977

4. Ferrier, P. 1986, The Golden Period of Catholic Progress: Archdiocese of Brisbane 1912-1927, B.Arch. thesis, University of Queensland

5. O'Leary, Rev J. 1914, A Catholic Miscellany: Containing Items of Interest to Queenslanders, Irishmen and Irish Australians, J. O’Leary, St James' Presbytery, Coorparoo

6. O'Leary, Rev J. 1919, Catholic Progress: Archdiocese of Brisbane 1912-1919,J. O'Leary, St James' Presbytery, Coorparoo

7. RAIA 1988, Register of Significant Twentieth Century Architecture: Queensland, Brisbane

8. Ries, E. nd. Short Precis of the History of Rosalie Parish: taken from the history of Rosalie Parish researched by Father Denis Power, typed manuscript, Rosalie Parish File, Catholic Archives

9. Steer, G.R. “Brisbane Tramways: Their History and Development”. Historical Society of Queensland Journal, Vol. 3, No.3, May 1944, pp.209-233