St Paul's Church occupies a whole block within the city centre of Ipswich. The site includes the church, church hall, rectory, gardens and perimeter limestone walls, all of which are dominant landmark elements within the urban setting. The
Revival Gothic church is of
Latin cross plan form, with the
sanctuary placed at the western end. External walls are of face brickwork and contain five arched windows of
stained glass with small pivoting vents. The steeply pitched
gable roof is sheeted with flat pan-and-roll
galvanised iron and is penetrated by
dormer window ventilators. The roof structure consists of finely proportioned hammer beam
trusses which intersect above the crossing, supporting a raised lantern roof ventilator. The entrance
porch is at the eastern end and leads to a
foyer beneath the upper
choir loft with timber screen,
cast iron lace
balustrading and cast iron
spiral stair access. The new floor of the church is of traditional clear-finished
hoop pine and walls are painted plaster. The church
pews are of traditional design and appear to be original. The northern
transept did contain the organ and choir stalls, but the organ has been renovated and relocated to the southern transept. The southern transept is also extended to accommodate two
vestries. Side
aisles extend along both sides of the
nave, terminating in small chapels at the western end. The church interior contains some fine timber joinery including sanctuary screens,
communion rail and panelling of cedar and pine. The interior also contains numerous marble tablets and memorials,
pulpit,
baptismal font and
lectern of fine quality. A chapel in the north-eastern corner of the nave honours Mavis Parkinson and contains an altar faced with
New Guinea tapa cloth and a small bamboo cross in a glass case. The rectory is a lowset timber building with
verandahs on all sides and a fine projecting
pedimented entrance porch to the east overlooking the town centre and d'Arcy Doyle Place. Walls are of
chamferboard and the
hipped roof is clad in
corrugated galvanised iron. The roof form has distinctive metal ventilators and banks of brick
chimneys with terracotta
chimney pots. The interior plan form of the rectory remains relatively unchanged except for minor modifications to accommodate the church offices, meeting rooms and storage space. Most of the cedar joinery, except for one fireplace surround, has survived. Contemporary car accommodation has been constructed at the rear and a disabled persons ramp built alongside the northern verandah. The church grounds are raised above the surrounding footpaths and contained on all sides by early limestone retaining walls with sloping concrete copings, once surmounted by a small
picket fence. A pair of circular
crenellated gate pillars exist at the main northeast entrance and are constructed of random rubble
limestone matching the walls adjacent. The garden contains some mature trees and a fine-grained
Celtic cross memorial set on a
stylobate of three steps and engraved with an inscription and traditional Celtic motifs. == Heritage listing ==