Hobart, TAS - St John's Presbyterian

Year Built: 1843

Denomination: Presbyterian

Saint: John

Address: 188 Macquarie Street, Hobart, Tasmania, 7000

Architect: Unknown

Architectural Style: Neo Classical

Traditional Owners: Palawa people

Last Updated: 19/03/2024

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History and Architecture:

A stone church in non-conformist neo-classical style.

THE first service in Hobart was conducted by an ordained Presbyterian minister was in 1823 at the corner of Macquarie and Murray streets, and the first Presbyterian church was built at Bathurst Street. In 1840 a building committee was formed with ex-convict, architect James Thomson as chairman.

The sandstone church was designed to replicate a Greek temple, a particular feature of which is the large triangular pediment spanning the front. The gable roof extends for the length of the church and the back hall.

In the pediment is a circular recess for a clock that was never installed. The doorway is flanked by a pair of Doric columns which are correctly fluted and detailed, but lack the slight tapering (entasis) at the top favoured by Ancient Greeks.

The windows with their pediments are the same width as the front door, which makes the doorway look too small. The window and door pediments also have horn-shaped decorations (acroterion) which are more commonly seen at the apex and corners of a roof pediment on a true classical Greek temple.

Clergy:

This list may not contain every serving cleric, past or present, for this church.
Further submissions welcomed.

Years Name Annotation D.o.B D.o.D
1840 - 1853 Rev James Bell 1852
1853 - 1870 Rev Robert McClean
1866 - 1870 Rev John Service
1870 - 1887 Rev James Scott
1887 - 1895 Rev Isaac Kirker McIntyre
1895 - 1898 Rev George Moorehead
1898 - 1904 Rev W. R. Cunningham
1904 - 1923 Rev Johannes Heyer
1921 - 1923 Rev F. E. Oxer 1950
1924 - 1926 Rev John Frederick Sims
1932 - 1936 Rev John Aitken
1936 - 1940 Rev Roy Vernon Merritt 1975
1940 - 1946 Rev Jack Hern Price 1987
1946 - 1959 Rev Cecil Young Reid
1958 - 1967 Rev George H. Leicester
1967 - 1980 Rev Alan Charles Stubs
1980 - Rev Milan Vladimir Skalicky
2012 - Rev Alistair Bain

Organ:

No information currently available. Submissions welcomed.

Source:

1. Churches of Colonial Hobart, a field guide to Hobart's history in 24 buildings.
2. St John's Hobart Presbyterian Church 1840 - 1990. 285.09946 HAR