Albert Street Uniting Church

Enjoy the Church’s large open central nave and beautiful stained-glass windows.

One of the most picturesque settings of the inner city is at the corner of Albert and Ann Streets where the Albert Street Uniting Church sits on a slight rise above King George Square and is now reflected in the new Wesley House. The first Methodist church in Brisbane was built by John Petrie, the first Mayor of Brisbane town, and was opened in 1849 on the corner of Albert Street and Burnett Lane, where the Commonwealth Bank now stands.

This building was replaced in 1856, and as the congregation grew, the present site was purchased from the Masonic Lodge for £10,000. Five foundation stones were laid on 18 August 1888 and the church was opened on 8 November 1889. The cost was £12,500.

The church is in the Gothic Revival style of architecture and an attempt was made to harmonise the style with the requirements of a sub-tropical climate with cloisters on three sides (the cloisters at the front were enclosed in 1968 and new glass doors installed). The red bricks were made from clay on a property between Lang Parade and Park Avenue, Milton. Oamaru stone from New Zealand has been used extensively for ornate hood moulds, parapet cornices and gable copings. The octagonal stone spire is based on a square brick tower with louvered window openings and rises 42 metres on the southern aspect of the church. The church’s internal layout is in the classical basilican style incorporating a large, open, central nave, with an upper gallery over the side aisles.

The galleries contain tiered seating and are supported on cast iron columns with decorative Corinthian capitals. The main ceiling is diagonally boarded pine and the gallery and communion rails are of cedar. Many of the stained-glass windows are memorials although the crown fanlight is thought to be from the 1856 church. Recent renovations in 2009–10 have refurbished the minister’s vestry and choir vestry and installed an external door from the ‘crypt’, the area under the organ, to provide access to Wesley House.