The Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola is a heritage-listed Roman Catholic church at 46 Grove Street, Toowong, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by architect Jack Hennessy, junior, and built from 1929 to 1936 by Concrete Construction (QLD) Limited. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 12 July 2005.
History
The Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola at Toowong was opened in 1930 and is a Romanesque Revival building designed by Sydney architect, Jack Hennessy, junior. It was constructed as part of Archbishop James Duhig's vision for the development of the Church in Brisbane through a major building program that included several such landmark churches.
Early Catholicism in Brisbane
Although there was European settlement at Toowong in the 1860s, the area did not develop until the opening of the Brisbane to Ipswich railway line in 1875 made it readily accessible. A number of villa houses were constructed on large estates on the Toowong ridge, while more modest residences occupied the lower levels. The first St Thomas Church of England opened in 1875 and by 1878 Toowong had enough families to warrant a provisional school.
In 1879, the first Catholic Mass was celebrated at Toowong in a private home, as there was no church in the area. Catholics living in the area attended St Stephens Cathedral in the Brisbane central business district. In 1888 Archbishop Robert Dunne purchased land in Holland Street below the site of the present church and on 9 April 1893 the new timber church, called St Michael and the Holy Souls, was blessed and opened there.
In 1902, the Sisters of Mercy purchased a large private home, Goldicott, at the top of the hill and took up residence there, naming it Mount St Mary's Convent. They began teaching at the school next to the church in 1903. A tramline from the city opened in 1904 and was soon extended, contributing to the growth of the Toowong area.
In 1912, James Duhig became Dunne's Co-Adjudicator, taking on much of his administrative duties. The first Catholic Brisbane parishes were erected at Coorparoo, Kangaroo Point, South Brisbane, Red Hill and Rosalie, the parish of Toowong being later formed from part of Rosalie. Although Dunne had only encouraged the Sisters of Mercy and the Christian Brothers to establish branches of their orders themselves in Queensland, Duhig was keen to encourage other religious orders in order to expand education. In August 1915 he wrote to Father John Ryan of the Society of Jesus in Sydney in this regard. In 1916 Toowong became the responsibility of the Jesuits who purchased and enlarged a house near the church for use as a presbytery. It was opened on St Ignatius Loyola Day, 30 July 1916.
By the early 1920s, both church and school were becoming inadequate for the growing congregation and the distance between convent and school had always been inconvenient for the teaching nuns, so the Sisters of Mercy provided a solution by offering part of their land for a new building. A public meeting was held in November 1928 at which it was suggested that costs could be kept down by building a hall underneath the church and by using it as a school. John Francis (Jack) Hennessy drew up the plans at the end of 1929. His father, also John Hennessy, founder of the Sydney firm of Hennessy and Hennessy, was an ecclesiastical architect who had worked on St Patrick's, Manly and St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill. Duhig met the younger Hennessey when he was Bishop of Rockhampton and they had become friends. After Duhig became Archbishop of Brisbane, Jack Hennessey received a number of commissions from him. These included the churches of St Agatha, Clayfield (1925), Corpus Christi, Nundah (1926), and St Augustine, Coolangatta (1926). He also designed the ambitious Cathedral of the Holy Name whose construction commenced but was never completed.
Construction commenced
The foundation stone for the church was laid on 16 June 1929. Duhig announced at the ceremony that "the day of wooden churches are past" and that he hoped that no more would be built in the city. His vision for the development of the Catholic Church in Queensland included plans for the building of a number of substantial churches to manifest the strength and presence of the Church. Seeking landmark sites, he chose many on hilltops.