St. Mary's Catholic Church, South Brisbane
| St Mary's Catholic Church, South Brisbane | |
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St. Mary's Catholic Church at South Brisbane, 2015
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| Location | 20 Merivale Street (corner of Peel Street), South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Coordinates | 27°28′26″S 153°00′55″E / 27.4739°S 153.0153°ECoordinates: 27°28′26″S 153°00′55″E / 27.4739°S 153.0153°E |
| Design period | 1870s - 1890s (late 19th century) |
| Built | 1892 - 1929 |
| Architect | Simkin & Ibler |
| Architectural style(s) | Romanesque |
| Official name: St Mary's Catholic Church | |
| Type | state heritage (built) |
| Designated | 3 December 2004 |
| Reference no. | 602187 |
| Significant period | 1890s (historical) 1890s, 1920s (fabric) |
| Significant components | stained glass window/s, views to, furniture/fittings, church |
 Location of St Mary's Catholic Church, South Brisbane in Queensland
St Mary's Catholic Church, South Brisbane (Australia)
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St Mary's Catholic Church is a heritage-listed Roman Catholic church at 20 Merivale Street (corner of Peel Street), South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Simkin & Ibler and built from 1892 to 1929. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 3 December 2004.
St Mary's Catholic Church, South Brisbane, is a late nineteenth century rendered brick church designed by Brisbane architects, Simkin and Ibler and constructed by Woollam and Norman in 1892-1893. At the time of its opening on 2 July 1893 construction of the church was not finalised. The proposed tower, transepts and chancel were never built and it was not until 1929 a permanent sanctuary was added to the eastern end of the church to the design of architects Cavanagh and Cavanagh. The former Presbytery (now parish house), built at about the same time as the church, was completed by February 1893.
St Mary's was the second Catholic Church to be built in South Brisbane and was built adjacent to the first church, a small wooden chapel erected in 1865. The chapel was expanded in 1868 when two aisles were added almost doubling its size. Sparsely inhabited in 1861, the population was only 1080, South Brisbane was a small but growing residential suburb. By 1871 the number of inhabitants had increased to 4222.
In the 1880s, Brisbane experienced an economic and building boom and South Brisbane's population trebled, reaching 22,849 in 1891. The connection of the rail network and the development of commercial, industrial and dockside activities on the southern banks of the river further contributed to South Brisbane's growth. The Municipality of South Brisbane was declared in 1888. As residential suburbs expanded the population of the old municipality of Brisbane decreased, by more than 2000 between 1886 and 1891.
The expansion of the population meant that the chapel was no longer adequate to the needs of the South Brisbane congregation and a meeting was held in August 1889 to discuss the construction of a new and larger church. The Catholic Church had begun acquiring allotments adjoining the original church reserve in 1884 and by 1889 it had amassed considerable land at the northwest end of the block bounded by Cordelia, Peel and Merivale Streets. Fund raising for the construction of a new church commenced in 1890 and by the end of 1891 half the cost of the building had been collected. Architects Simkin and Ibler produced drawings of the proposed church. An imposing edifice with Italianate and Romanesque revival details, it was designed to accommodate a congregation of 800 people.
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