City Tabernacle Baptist Church

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Baptist City Tabernacle is a heritage-listed church at 163 Wickham Terrace, Spring Hill, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Richard Gailey and built from to 1890. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.HistoryThe Baptist City Tabernacle is a large cement rendered church on a corner site overlooking the central business district.Baptists first arrived in Brisbane about 1851, with the first Baptist church being built in 1859 on the corner of Wharf and Adelaide Street. By 1887, with a congregation of over 400, a new church was needed. Prominent Brisbane architect Richard Gailey, a member of the congregation, designed both the Tabernacle and the former manse which still survives on an adjacent site. The dedication took place on 9 October 1890 and the total cost was over £18,000. It was described at the time as being a Classic Venetian style building.The first pastor was Rev. William Whale, a notable Brisbane churchman, leader and preacher of the time. In the early 1900s, Miss Fewing's Private School for Girls, which later became Somerville House, occupied the basement. The Baptist Theological College was formed in the tower and occupied it for many years, along with the minister's fraternal for use as a meeting place. The basement rooms provided space for the Sunday School, and related church activities.