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St John’s: ‘A Queensland Masterpiece’ St John’s Cathedral is the mother church of the Diocese of Brisbane, which was created in 1859. It was the vision of Bishop William Webber, the third Bishop of Brisbane, to build an Anglican Cathedral here and for this purpose, he engaged as architect John Loughborough Pearson (1817—1897). Pearson had already designed Truro Cathedral in Cornwall. St John’s Cathedral emerges as a mixture of French and English Victorian Gothic Revival styles – and, interestingly, evokes many features of Barcelona Cathedral. All internal walls and ceilings are built of sandstone from Helidon, west of Brisbane. Sandstone from Pyrmont on the shores of Sydney Harbour was used externally for part of the first stage of construction only. The distinctive pink and lavender-toned stone used for the external walls is known as ‘Brisbane Tuff’. St John’s Cathedral has the distinction of having the only fully stone-vaulted ceiling in Australia. After the Foundation Stone was laid in 1901, the building work proceeded in three stages: 1906—1910, 1964—1968, and 1989—2009. Today the Cathedral houses the Cathedra, the Archbishop’s official seat, and also serves many other functions. It is a Parish Church for the local congregation, a gallery space, a venue for musical performance, a historic building, and a space for quiet reflection within a busy capital city. Source: www.stjohnscathedral.com.au/discover-st-johns/

The present Albert Street Church building was opened in 1889, but the history of its people goes back to when the first Methodist congregation met in Brisbane in 1847. This church was regarded as the mother of Queensland Methodism and has been the scene of many historic events. Among these were state and national conferences of the Methodist church, and the ordination of its Ministers. The first Methodist church in Brisbane was built by John Petrie, the first Mayor of Brisbane town, and was opened on March 10, 1849, on the corner of Albert Street and Burnett Lane, where the Commonwealth Bank now stands. This was a plain rectangular brick building, quite small, and the congregation soon outgrew it. The second Methodist church was built in 1856 on the same site as the first by Mr. Jeays. Frederick Richard (Dick) Smith in his book, “The Church on the Square: A History of the Albert Street Church”, notes that Mr. Jeays was also the builder of Parliament House in George Street. The second church cost £2667 and was 80 feet long, 40 feet wide, and could accommodate 500 people seated. It was approximate twice the size of the original. The building style was Gothic Revival with a wooden shingle roof and its stained glass windows were created by Mr. Murray. The original wooden pews from the first church were reused in this building, along with additional pews made specifically for the new building. The opening service was held on 6 December 1856. In 1877, the second church was extensively renovated and additions such as a new schoolroom facing Adelaide Street were built. It was reopened in 1878 with a gallery added to increase the seating capacity and the wooden shingles changed to slate to reduce the fire hazard. Smith notes that a decorative iron railing was used to separate the sanctuary and in front of the new gallery. A pipe organ, made by Mr. James Cole of Manchester, England, was installed and had 17 stops and 622 pipes costing £350. Since 1847, the mission to the wider community has always been at the heart of the Albert Street Church and was formalised in 1907 with the creation of the Central Methodist Mission. “The Central Methodist Mission [was] constituted by the Annual Conference of the Methodist Church of Queensland for the purpose of Divine Worship according to the ordinances of the Methodist Church, establishing charitable institutions and engaging in a ministry of social service irrespective of ages, class or creed.” – extract from F.R Smith’s The Church on the Square. Source: www.wmq.org.au/albert-street-uniting-church/our-history