page_title: Old St Stephen's Church
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Old St Stephen's Church / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Interior of St Stephen’s Chapel located next to Saint Stephen's Cathedral, Brisbane
context_page_description: Old St Stephens Church is a heritage-listed Roman Catholic church at 249 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by A W Pugin and built from 1849 to 1850 by Alexander Goold and Andrew Petrie. It is also known as Pugin Chapel. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
context_section_description: The land at the site was originally planned for church purposes in 1847. Six allotments of section 33 were set aside for the use of the Roman Catholic Church in September 1848 with the original deeds of grant being signed by New South Wales Governor Charles Fitzroy in November 1849 (Queensland did not separate from New South Wales until 1859).
  From the early days of free settlement, Brisbane's Catholic population was significant with Catholics comprising 30% of residents in 1846. In 1849 and 1850 the New South Wales Government, under provisions of Governor Richard Bourke's 1836 Church Act, subsidised the building of Old St Stephens Church which was opened on 12 May 1850. It was built by Alexander Goold, to a design attributed to the internationally renowned Gothic Revival architect Augustus Welby Pugin, a personal friend of Sydney-based Archbishop Bede Polding.
  With the growth of Brisbane's Catholic community and with Separation approaching, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane was created in 1859. Old St Stephens became a cathedral but its capacity became increasingly inadequate and on 26 December 1863, Bishop James Quinn laid the foundation stone for a new cathedral. In the eleven years it took to finish the new St Stephen's Cathedral, provision was made for extra space in the old church. A wooden annexe was built onto the northern frontage and extra doorways were cut in the stone wall on this side. Inadequate accommodation was not the only problem, for the soft sandstone was crumbling, particularly that of the little belfry which had to be dismantled at some time before 1875. A temporary wooden belfry was erected to a design by architect AB Wilson in 1888.
  After the consecration of the new cathedral in 1874, the old church was used as a school by the Christian Brothers until they moved to their new site at Gregory Terrace in 1880. The Sisters of Mercy then conducted a school in the old church building until the permanent St Stephens School was opened in 1892. Since that time the building has been variously used as a storeroom, offices, display space, meeting area and choir practice room.
  On a number of occasions, the demolition of the old church was contemplated. However, it was finally decided to restore it as a place of worship. Based on historical evidence, restoration was done to recreate the bell tower, the stone tracery in the windows and the timber shingle roof. A stained glass window depicting Jesus Christ and the story of St Stephen was placed in the west window. The furniture can be re-arranged to suit a variety of church services, weddings, spiritual talks and sacred music performances. The nave is separated from the apse by four timber panels and a rood bar with a crucifix in the midpoint. The apse space contains a shrine of Saint Mary MacKillop. On 5 February 1999, the church was re-dedicated as St Stephen's Chapel by Archbishop John Bathersby.
caption: St Stephen's Chapel interior, 2014
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