The Mowbraytown Presbyterian Church is a heritage-listed former Presbyterian and Uniting church and associated precinct at 22–28 Mowbray Terrace, East Brisbane, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The former church was designed by Alexander Brown Wilson and built from 1885 to . The former church was also known as East Brisbane Presbyterian Church. The building was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 22 October 1993.
The church closed in December 1992 and was sold in 1995. The building is now used as commercial office space.
History
The former Mowbraytown Presbyterian Church was erected in late 1885 on land donated by Williamina Mowbray, widow of the "father" of Presbyterianism in Queensland, Rev. Thomas Mowbray. In 1851, Mowbray was instrumental in establishing at Grey Street, South Brisbane, Queensland's first Presbyterian church. This building has been demolished, but his name and work is commemorated in the Mowbraytown Presbyterian Church.
In the 1850s, Mowbray acquired a substantial parcel of land, including what is now Mowbray Park and parts of East Brisbane, at what was then referred to as Kangaroo Point. In 1884 Mrs Mowbray sold part of the estate to Josiah Young of Brisbane. Young immediately subdivided this land as the Mowbraytown Estate, from which East Brisbane derives much of its identity. In 1885 Mrs Mowbray re-acquired from Young two allotments at the corner of Geelong Street and Mowbray Terrace, which she then donated to the church.
The rapid development of the East Brisbane area during the 1880s prompted the establishment of a Charge in Mowbraytown. Mowbraytown was unusual also in that it emerged almost immediately as an established and self-sustaining charge. The first service was conducted on 22 November 1885 and a minister was appointed permanently in March 1886.
The Mowbraytown former church was designed by newly established Brisbane architect Alexander Brown Wilson - later an elder of the congregation - and was erected by South Brisbane carpenter and contractor Thomas Gillies at a cost of , inclusive of seats and fencing. When completed in November 1885, the body of the former church measured , and seated 230 persons. The building was entered via two porches either side of the front gable, and the roof was shingled. The windows opened on pivots, and those in the gabled ends had leadlight borders. The bell, sent from Scotland, was erected in January 1886.
In 1888 a small Sunday school hall, which later became a kindergarten, was built at the rear of the former church. The northern half of the former church transepts was added in 1899. In 1902 a pipe organ was installed, to which an electric blower was added in 1925.
In 1909, major alterations to the Mowbraytown former church included completion of the second half of the transepts, construction of a new vestry, extension of the nave toward the street, removal of the main doors from the sides to the front, and the addition of an entry porch. Later, two porches with side doors were added to the northern transept.
A larger Sunday school hall, adjacent to the former church and facing Mowbray Terrace, was erected , on land acquired in 1904 from church elder Alexander Smith Lang.
Following the First World War an honour board and memorial pulpit were erected in the former church. The building appears to have been re-roofed , with fibrous cement tiles similar to those on the hall. The exterior walls were clad and sprayed in 1966.
The leadlight windows at the front of the former church were donated by Alexander Brown Wilson, who as church architect had designed the extensions and both halls. Wilson designed several other Presbyterian buildings in Brisbane, including extensions to the Ann Street Presbyterian Church. Following his father's retirement in 1928, Ronald Martin Wilson was appointed church architect.
The former Mowbraytown Presbyterian Church has played a strong role in the spiritual and social life of East Brisbane. The hall has been the venue not only for church activities, but also for community concerts, ballet and gymnastics classes, meetings and seminars, dances, children's play groups, and polling booths. Both the former church and hall are local landmarks, and have featured prominently in heritage walking tours of East Brisbane organised by the Mowbraytown Residents' Association.
The church was closed in December 1992 and sold in 1995. The former church building was occupied by several businesses, and the organ, pulpit and surrounding church fittings have been preserved. Since April 2009, the building has been occupied by BCA Consultants.