Uniting Church Central Memorial Hall is a heritage-listed church hall at 86 East Street, Ipswich, City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by George Brockwell Gill and built from 1895 to 1895 by W Betts. It is also known as Congregational Sunday School. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 9 July 1993.
History
The Uniting Church Central Memorial Hall is a two storeyed brick building erected in 1895 to the design of architect George Brockwell Gill as a Sunday school for the Congregational Church. The Ipswich Congregational Church was formed in 1854 with Reverend Edward Griffith as its first pastor. A year later, the first church was erected on a site in Brisbane Street. This was replaced in 1870, with the earlier building becoming the Sunday school. After the 1893 flood destroyed the Sunday school, a new site was sought. In 1894, the East Street site was purchased by the Church.
The site, opposite the court house and police station had previously been granted to the Ipswich Town Council as a site for the erection of the Town Hall, however this did not proceed and in 1893 was proclaimed a town lot. Plans for the new Sunday school were ambitious; however the work of the Sunday school was considered important, given the secular nature of the state's education system and their enrolment substantial. In 1895, the Congregational Sunday School had 429 scholars and fifty-one teachers under the superintendence of James Clarke Cribb.
George Brockwell Gill's plans provided for a number of classrooms accommodating both children and adults. They were located in the wings of the hall, on the raised platform, and on the front second storey. An infants room and large storeroom were located under the platform at ground level. Opening off the entrance was a library and a room known as the Endeavour Room. The new school cost £3,000. The contractor was W Betts and the brickwork was undertaken by John Mackenzie.
In 1938, the Church acquired the adjoining residence Keiraville previously owned by the Cribb family who were prominent members of the church. After this, Keiraville became the manse. In 1957, a new brick church was erected to the north of the hall. This was known as the Central Memorial Church in memory of those who served in the two World Wars. In 1978, the property was transferred to the Uniting Church. In recent years, the church and Sunday school were closed. The hall is now regularly used by various community groups. The lower former infants classrooms is used as a kindergarten.
Description
The Memorial Hall is a substantial polychromatic brick building with a corrugated iron roof. It has a two-storeyed wing with a gabled roof fronting onto East St, and a two-storey height hall with a gabled roof extending out to the east: the site slopes away and another storey is included at the rear. The East St elevation has a central entry portico, and a decorative gable breaks the roofline above. The eastern end of the building finishes by expressing the hall roof in a gable end, which is flanked by gables projecting to the north and south; this elevation also has a central timber portico. The north and south walls have skillion roofs under clerestory windows, and timber stairs and entrance porticos. The Memorial Hall is a distinctive member of a small grouping of public buildings on East St, which include the Police Station (1930s) and Old Ipswich Courthouse (1859 and 1880).
The exterior is finely detailed, with rich variations in materials and openings. The base of the building has broad arches, while the upper level openings have hemispherical and flat arches. The gable peaks have circular vents. Surrounds include combinations of beige brick voussoirs and toothing, and terracotta voussoirs, hood mouldings, red brick surrounds, and toothed concrete sills and keystones. The main entrance portico to the west has series of concrete arches with keystones on brick columns under a gabled roof. Other external decoration includes beige brick quoins, and several string courses, made up of combinations of diagonally-placed bricks and projecting bricks, with a concrete string course at hall floor level. The building has in total five timber entrance porticos with fine timber detailing including battens and, cross-braced balustrades. The roof is crowned with a timber and corrugated iron fleche with four gables with finials, which when erected contained a Boyles patent ventilator.