St Agatha's Catholic Church

St Agatha's Church was opened on 5 April 1925 by Archbishop Duhig, who described the new church as "a notable link in the chain of ecclesiastical buildings, which within the last dozen years we have woven round the city of Brisbane". The church was designed in the Italian Romanesque style by Jack Donoghue, at that time in partnership with the Brisbane firm of Hennessy, Hennessy, Keesing and Co. This firm was responsible for the design of several Catholic churches in Queensland including St. Joseph's church at Dalby (1921), St Augustine's Church, Coolangatta (1926) and Corpus Christi at Nundah (1926). St Agatha's was almost an exact replica of the Catholic church at Dalby built four years earlier. Jack Donoghue also designed Holy Spirit Catholic Church at New Farm.

CHURCH

This Romanesque style, brown brick building has a tiled gable roof and semi-conical sanctuary roof to its rear, clad in copper. It is situated on the lower side of a steeply sloping site shared with a school and presbytery, which overlooks Oriel Road.

The floor plan of the church is shaped like a cross consisting of a large nave, with two transept chapels, vestries and a semi-circular sanctuary to the north. To the nave's southern end is an entry vestibule, other smaller rooms and stairs leading to a gallery above. A portico that projects from the centre of the building’s front facade frames the main entry doors of the building. These front doors are reached via several flights of steps. The building can also be entered via a door to each side of the nave, or through the chapels and vestries. Several protrusions occur along each side wall of the nave including an open porch to each entry door, a balcony on which another door opens and a small confessional room. No disabled access is provided. The sanctuary, crossing and transepts appear to have been added to the church at a later date.

Exterior

The tiled gable roof of the nave terminates to the front with a large parapeted gable wall. The roof extends back to the sanctuary where it is clad in copper sheeting and forms into a semi-conical shape. Lower tiled roofs extend over the nave's side doors and confessionals, whilst a verandah which flanks the rear of the sanctuary has a copper lean-to roof. This verandah connects the transept wings which have skillion roofs springing from the nave's side walls below clerestory windows. Clad in corrugated iron, these roofs are hidden from view by parapet walls.

The side walls of the nave are divided into bays by stepped buttresses. Each side wall bay contains either a round arch stained glass window, a blind arch or a circular clerestory window. The arched metal framed windows have fixed fanlights with three pivoted panes below, or one when located above doorways. Two of the wall bays above the transepts feature circular clerestory windows. The walls of the semi circular sanctuary have no buttressing and feature square and circular windows and two large circular vents. Smaller round arch windows are located in the chapels and vestries. These windows have a fixed fanlight and casement window, both comprising of opaque glass. Smaller rectangular windows light the confessionals and front rooms below the gallery.

The walls of the building rise from a rendered plinth and feature darker brick architectural elements. These include: corbelling to the top of each wall bay; horizontal bands; window sills and arched

heads; plus copings and gablets to each stepped section of the buttresses. More complex decoration is employed in the front facade including rendered elements. The front facade is divided into three bays by large engaged piers and is crowned with a bulky rendered coping and an apex cross. Decorative brick corbelling and small raking arches line the underside of the coping; the later being accentuated by a rendered band behind. The wall features several darker brick horizontal bands, decorative arches, dentils and diamond patterning. The most prominent features of the church are a rendered portico and a large rose window which sits above a row of arched windows central to the wall.

Interior

The rendered interior walls of the nave rise to a vaulted ceiling, which has cover strips laid in a grid pattern creating a coffered effect. Engaged piers along each side wall are crowned with simple capitals before rising beyond the walls forming ceiling ribs. Arches span between each pier, framing each side wall bay. Two of these arched bays are left open accessing the chapels. They are further divided into two smaller arches featuring columns with Corinthian style capitals.

The buildings concrete floor is clad in vinyl to traffic areas and rises up to marble clad sanctuary and chapel platforms. The vaulted ceiling ribs continue into the sanctuary's semi-domical roof which spring from four piers. The gallery to the opposite end of the nave is supported on two timber posts to its front and has a timber panelled balustrade. The building is very intact. Evidence of later additions is detectable due to slight changes in external brick colour, although the building appears as a homogeneous whole.

PRESBYTERY

This two storey building has a central brick core, two storeys in height with a hipped terra cotta tile roof with gable to the front. The central gable wall is flanked on both sides by heavily massed parapets with rendered architectural elements such as crenellated cappings and window surrounds. A doorway located centrally within the gable consists of a single glass door with side windows crowned by a pointed arch stained glass fanlight. The doorway has a moulded surround and label mould. The door opens onto a small timber framed balcony which appears to be a later addition.

To each side of the brick core are timber framed sections, clad in weatherboards. To the church side of the building an enclosed verandah extends from the top floor. A verandah to the opposite end of the building has been left open with vertical joint timber lining boards and french windows. The building has timber framed leadlight windows to its upper floor. The undercroft/ground floor of the building appears to have undergone alterations including the addition of a double garage and aluminium windows.

BELL TOWER

To the rear of the Presbytery is a bell suspended from an open metal framed tower.