Fortitude Valley Primitive Methodist Church

This brick building was erected in 1876 for the Primitive Methodist congregation of Brisbane, on a site in Brunswick Street acquired by The Corporation of the Primitive Methodist Connexion in 1875. The Association refurbished the building and added a steel-framed mezzanine floor, designed by conservation architect Richard Allom. In 1983 it opened the Potters Gallery on the premises to display and sell members' work. == Description ==

The Fortitude Valley Primitive Methodist Church, a single-storeyed rendered masonry building with a stone plinth, is located on a raised corner site overlooking Brunswick Street and is accessed via twin stairs built into a carefully articulated and unpainted brick retaining wall. The steep pitch gabled roof is clad with corrugated iron, and the building shows a strong Gothic influence in its design. The rectangular plan consists of five bays with buttressed walls, and a rear storeroom with a corrugated iron skillion roof. Each bay houses a single lancet window, each of which is glazed with a sandblasted glass panel. The symmetrical, highly decorative northern elevation has twin pointed arch doorways with entrance porches, a single lancet window and a rose window above. Access is via a twin set of stone stairs, and the elevation is framed by twin spires. The building has decorative timber work to eaves and bargeboards, with decorative mouldings around windows. The southern elevation has a rose window above the original pulpit with the storeroom attached below. The rose windows are glazed in red, blue and yellow glass panels. Internally, open timber trusses are positioned in line with the buttresses and the ceiling is boarded. Interior walls are rendered and a steel mezzanine has been inserted, supported by twelve columns and attached to the side walls in four places. Access is via a stair from the original raised pulpit platform which has the original pulpit and rail. The storeroom has fanlights above windows and doors, and has been partially partitioned. A recent administration building is located to the rear of the building. == Heritage listing ==

The Fortitude Valley Primitive Methodist Church was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria. '''The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history.''' It is important in demonstrating the establishment and evolution of Primitive Methodism in Queensland in the second half of the 19th century. The place is important because of its aesthetic significance. It is important in exhibiting a range of aesthetic characteristics valued by the community, in particular its contribution, through scale, form and materials, to the Brunswick Street streetscape and Fortitude Valley townscape and its highly decorative northern street elevation. '''The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.''' It has a special association with Brisbane architect Richard Gailey, as an example of his ecclesiastical work and with the Fortitude Valley Penny Savings Bank for nearly a century. == References ==