St John's Cathedral (Brisbane)

Apse from Adelaide Street c. 1910

William Webber – the third Bishop of Brisbane and previously a vicar in London – was instrumental in initiating the Brisbane cathedral project.[4] In 1885–86, he commissioned John Loughborough Pearson to make sketch plans for Brisbane cathedral.[5] The Brisbane cathedral movement began in earnest in 1887 as a celebration of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee – St John's was to be paid for by public subscription[5] but the construction of the cathedral in one campaign was found to be financially impossible. As a result, the building has been executed in three stages over two centuries between 1906 and 2009.[4]

In April 1889, Pearson's plans for the cathedral were approved for the original site bounded by George, Elizabeth and William Streets.

It was a cruciform church with a wide nave, double aisles, apse and ambulatory, short transepts about halfway along the length of the building and an apsidal side chapel on the north. The west front had towers close to the end of the nave. The upper part of the west wall was supported by a relieving arch, which continued the line of the interior cross arches. The towers had massive buttresses. Their strong vertical lines carried on into corner turrets set before pyramidal spires.[5]

Pearson died in November 1897, two weeks before Webber presented fresh plans to the cathedral chapter. In 1898, Frank Loughborough Pearson (John Pearson's son and partner) was entrusted to carry out his father's design.[5] In 1899, the cathedral chapter approved Pearson's revised plans only to be forced to reconsider the entire cathedral when the state government bought the original intended site. The present Ann Street site was purchased in late 1899 because it was "central, commodious and had the natural advantage of being able to make the building erected on it a landmark for miles around".[5] Frank Loughborough Pearson spent a year reworking his father's design and, on 22 May 1901, the Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V) laid the foundation stone of the cathedral.[6] In 1903, Bishop William Webber died and in 1904 Frank Pearson submitted his final plans to the cathedral chapter.[5]

The apse and crossing in 1927

Pulpit of St. John's Cathedral, 1928

The first stage of construction began in 1906 and took four years to complete. This included the chancel, sanctuary and ambulatory, the quire and its aisles, the transepts and crossing, the Lady Chapel to the liturgical north of the quire, the double aisles and the first bay of the nave.[4] This first stage was consecrated as the Anglican Cathedral of St John the Evangelist on Friday 28 October 1910.[7][8][9] (The building was re-consecrated after each stage of its construction.[10])

After the Second World War money was raised in the hope of completing the cathedral as a war memorial. In 1947, Field-Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein laid a foundation stone for a further two bays of the nave,[11] but construction ceased after the laying of the foundations.

In 1965 the second stage was commenced.[12] Work on the second stage proceeded for a further four years and consisted of the laying of foundations for the extensions, a two-bay extension to the nave and demolition and removal of the temporary west wall.[4]

The third stage of construction commenced in 1989 and was completed in 2009 (with the exception of 29 life-sized statues on the west front and a set of cloisters on the north side of the cathedral which have yet to be commissioned). The third stage of construction comprised the erection of the south west porch, the final bay of the nave, the west front, the north and south towers and the central tower. This stage of work was overseen by Peter Dare, Master Mason of Exeter Cathedral in England and carried out by stonemasons from Wagners.[13] To ensure enough supply of sandstone for the project, the cathedral authorities purchased a sandstone quarry at Helidon, 100 kilometres (62 mi) from Brisbane where each piece of stone was cut and finished and then trucked to the cathedral site in Ann Street.[14] The quarry was sold in 2012 for $250,000.[15]

The third stage of construction cost A$40 million which was raised by public donations, bequests and grants from the federal, state and local governments.

The copper-clad western spires were lifted into position on 1 March 2008 and subsequently blessed by Bishop John Parkes.

In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, St John's Cathedral was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as a "structure and engineering feat".[16]

The Archbishop of Brisbane, Phillip Aspinall, officially reconsecrated the completed cathedral on 29 October 2009, attended by about 1,500 people, 108 years after the laying of the foundation stone.[17]

On 27 November 2014, a hailstorm struck Brisbane causing widespread damage throughout the city totaling $1.1 billion.[18] St John's Cathedral suffered extensive damage to its roof-tiles and leadlights, as well as damage to the copper sheeting on the front spires and the southern and eastern sides of the bell tower. The cathedral's eastern wall had also bowed approximately 2.5 mm from the force of the wind, leaving it in danger of structural failure. Restoration repairs commenced in early June 2015, and were not completed until November 2018.[19]

In 2015, a series of statues carved by Rhyl Hinwood, costing $45,000 each, were purchased and blessed by Archbishop Aspinall before being installed on the cathedral's facade.[20]

On the 20th September 2022, St John's Cathedral held a service of thanksgiving marking the reign of Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia.

Webber House, 2020

Webber House was built in 1904. It was designed by Robin Dods (1868–1920). The stone used in the Webber house came from the old St John's Pro-Cathedral in William Street. Webber House was formerly known as School House and housed St John's Primary School until 1941.[12] The school went on to become Anglican Church Grammar School.

Church House, 2020

Church House was built in 1909. Also designed by Robin Dods and was designed to conform to Pearson's concept of St John's Cathedral and its traditional cathedral setting. (The heart design found in many of Dods' buildings can be seen on the iron gates.[12]) Both are Gothic in overall form and design, having details mainly in the style of Art Nouveau. They have been placed to conceal a view of the cathedral from a northerly approach.[27]

The oldest building in the precinct is The Deanery, also known as called Adelaide House, built in 1853. From the verandah of this building the first Governor of Queensland, Sir George Bowen, read the proclamation declaring Queensland a separate colony on 10 December 1859. The building then became Queensland's first government house.[12]

The other more eclectic building with Gothic touches found in the precinct is St Martin's House, formerly St Martin's Hospital. It was built as a war memorial after the First World War and is dedicated to St Martin of Tours as 11 November (Remembrance Day) is his feast day.[28] Designed by Lang Powell the design was strongly influenced by the cathedral and adjacent buildings. This is evident through the choice of building materials, roof forms and architectural motifs. St Martin's is sited to protect St John's from noise and visual intrusion from the city and forms a quiet courtyard beside the cathedral. St Martin's shows similarities to the "Red Brick House" designed by Philip Webb for William Morris.[26]

• Cleary, Tania (2001). Cathedral Church of St John The Evangelist. Cleary & Kennedy Pty Ltd and The Cathedral Chapter.
• Hogan, Janet; Stringer, Richard; National Trust of Queensland (1978). Building Queensland's heritage. Richmond Hill Press. ISBN 978-0-908157-02-0.
• Jenner, Margaret; Sayer, Paul; Corey, Pam (1994). Brisbane City churches heritage tour. Brisbane History Group. ISBN 978-0-646-21210-4.
• St John's Cathedral Brisbane- An Historical Guide. John Johnstone. Pumpkin Books, Coorparoo, Brisbane. 1985