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St Brigid's Convent is a heritage-listed convent at 9-17 Upper Clifton Terrace, Red Hill, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Eaton & Bates and built from 1902 to 1923. It is also known as Convent of the Annuciation and Red Hill Convent. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 March 2003. == History == St Brigid's Convent, Red Hill, was erected in 1902-03 for the Order of the Sisters of Mercy in Queensland, to a design by the architectural firm of Eaton and Bates. It occupies the site of an earlier, s private residence known as ''Kenilworth''.〔 The land on which the convent is situated was surveyed and alienated in 1865, as portions 608 and 609, parish of North Brisbane. At this period Red Hill was sparsely populated, the steepness of the hills deterring settlement initially, but from the 1870s, proximity to the town centre, the availability of cheap residential allotments in the valleys, and later the provision of a tram service through the district, encouraged residential development of the area. In 1877 the first St Brigid's Church was erected on the site of the present church on Musgrave Road. In 1881, Sisters of Mercy from All Hallow's Convent, Fortitude Valley, established a school at St Brigid's Church, travelling daily to Red Hill. The Sisters also undertook pastoral work in the Petrie Terrace-Red Hill district. On 9 June 1901, a new St Brigid's School was opened and blessed at Red Hill, adjacent to the Church, reflecting the expansion of residential settlement in the Red Hill district around the turn of the century.〔 Although portions 608 and 609, on which St Brigid's Convent was erected in the early 1900s, were subdivided almost immediately after purchase from the crown in 1865, and changed tenure from 1866, it is possible that the first development of the site only took place after all six subdivisions of portion 608, with frontages to both Upper and Lower Clifton Terrace, were acquired in 1873 by Lydia Pigott, widow of Gayndah grazier Peter John Pigott. In December 1874 Mrs Pigott married Brisbane broker and merchant, William Horsley, and they appear to have been resident at Kenilworth, on Mrs Horsley's property on Clifton Terrace, by 1876. Extensive terracing on portion 608, still evident on the ground, is likely to have been developed as part of the grounds of Kenilworth. In 1889 Lydia Horsley acquired title to an adjacent block, subdivision 11 of portion 609. The Horsleys resided at Kenilworth until , and the house appears to have been rented out for several years prior to its acquisition by the Sisters of Mercy in May 1902, for the sum of £1610.〔 The Sisters commissioned architects Eaton and Bates of Brisbane, Rockhampton and Townsville, one of the more fashionable and prolific architectural firms of the day, to design their new convent. Sydney-trained architects George T Eaton and Albert Edmund Bates had formed a partnership in Rockhampton and developed a successful Central Queensland practice in the late 19th century, with branch offices established at Mount Morgan and Longreach by 1898, Clermont in 1900, Gladstone in 1901, Maryborough in 1902, and Townsville by 1902. Arthur B Polin of Sydney joined the partnership in Townsville , as Eaton, Bates & Polin. Early in 1902 their head office was moved to Brisbane, with branches retained at Rockhampton and Townsville. A branch also operated briefly at Toowoomba in the early 1900s. They entered and won many architectural competitions around the turn of the century, and undertook a wide variety of work, from hotels and commercial buildings to residences, hospitals and masonic halls. One of their most glamorous commissions was for the new Queen's Hotel (1901-04) (Telecasters North Queensland Ltd Building) at Townsville, won in competition. Eaton and Bates received many commissions from the Catholic Church, including churches at Barcaldine, Gladstone and Donnybrook, convents and schools at Mount Morgan, Gladstone and Geraldton and a school at Toowong. The firm also supervised construction of St Joseph's Cathedral, Rockhampton and the Church of the Sacred Heart, Townsville (1896-1902) (now Sacred Heart Cathedral). Their style was eclectic, drawing upon both eastern and western classical traditions, with a particular emphasis on verandahs and pavilions - both as a decorative device and as a response to the warm Queensland climate.〔 In mid-1902, Eaton and Bates called tenders for the erection and completion of brick convent buildings at Red Hill. Possibly initially known as the Convent of the Annunciation, the building was completed and occupied in 1903, with Sister M Thecla Kelleher, Head Teacher at St Brigid's School, as the first Superior. The building cost over £3100 to construct, and it was furnished in 1903 for a little over £500. At this period the north verandah was single-storeyed, a decorative picket fence defined the frontage of the property to Upper Clifton Terrace, and the front grounds contained several mature pines trees.〔 In mid-1906, the Sisters acquired title to several blocks adjacent to St Brigid's Convent: subdivision 10 of portions 615 & 616 (20.6 perches ) and subdivisions 12 & 13 of por 609 (36.2 perches), parish of North Brisbane, county of Stanley, from the estate of Alexander Fraser. Subdivisions 12 and 13 extended the convent grounds along Lower Clifton Terrace.〔 The northern upper floor verandah may have been added in 1923, when additions to the convent costing £1140 were carried out.〔 At its peak, St Brigid's Convent is likely to have accommodated 8 or 9 sisters, but no pupil boarders. The Sisters continued their pastoral work in the district, and in later years, several basement rooms and a small cottage in the backyard (since demolished) are understood to have been used as refuges or temporary accommodation for the homeless. Although St Brigid's School closed in the mid-1980s, several Sisters remained at St Brigid's Convent until the building was vacated by the Order in late 1999.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「St Brigid's Convent, Red Hill」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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