clocktowers

St. Andrew’s Anglican Church was constructed in 1926 and was the second Anglican church to be built on the site. The new church integrated parts of the old 1866 timber church in its design by Melbourne architect Louis Williams. It has become a local landmark for its unique architecture and prominent hilltop position. It was also the first Church of England church in Brisbane to have a tower or spire. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, St Andrew’s parish continued to expand and by 1947 had become the largest parish in the diocese. To accommodate this continued expansion, in 1960, the 1866 church parts were demolished and sympathetic extensions were made to the 1926 church. A timber lych gate, which was completed in 1924 in anticipation of the new church, is also included in this heritage listing. The symmetrical front facade of the building has a central square tower, with an entry door, accessible via a flight of tiled steps. To each side of this, massive parapet walls feature a few narrow stained glass windows. Below sill height, several projecting stringcourses form horizontal bands across the facade above a narrow stone and brick plinth. The tower rises above the building's main entry doors which are set into a stepped pointed arch opening and surmounted by a decorative brick cross. Above this, the front wall of the tower features a pair of lancet windows and a clock. Large vents to each face of the tower identify the belfry, each vent is framed by a squinch arch. Buttresses to each corner of the tower extend past a chamfered brick coping that caps the tower. It is crowned by a flagpole that extends from the center of the tower. Source: heritage.brisbane.qld.gov.au/heritage-places/1009#descrip...

grace!

This is how the Duomo looked like more than 100 years ago, before my grand-grandparents died in the quake of 1908. My grandma could remember that "there was a time when the Duomo had no tower". Really, there was a time before than this, when it had two.