Independently Owned, Locally Grown, Community Loved
St Patrick's Church. Source: Bianka Vidonja Balanzategui
By Dr Bianka Vidonja Balanzategui
You may have noticed that St Peter’s Church, Halifax has undergone a refurbishment. What do St Peter’s, St Patrick’s Church and Lee’s Hotel, all have in common?
It all has to do with a man named Alexander Ian Ferrier.
Our story starts with the Day Dawn Hotel, in 1954.
The proprietor of The Day Dawn Hotel, John Herbert Holman, had presented preliminary plans for improvement of the hotel to the Hinchinbrook Shire Council. But Council rejected the plans because they did not comply with the provisions of the Local Government Act. Holman was told that he would need to build an entirely new building on the site.
Consequently, Rupert Lee (Snr) bought the Day Dawn Hotel in 1958. Finding it so far gone, and realizing that restoration was impossible, the building (originating from 1883) was demolished, though local folklore has long had it that it burnt down.
Lee then engaged Alexander Ian Ferrier, a young emerging architect, to design a modern hotel. Ferrier graduated in 1952 from McGill University, Montreal Canada. He immigrated to Australia in 1953 and founded his own practice in 1957 in Brisbane.
The avant-garde design for what was going to be the new Day Dawn Hotel were drawn up with work beginning in 1958. By the time it opened in 1960, it had a new name - Lee's Hotel.
Ferrier’s design philosophy was described as “very much about honest expression of structure and response to climate.” He became renowned for his designs which incorporated innovative adaptions to the tropical climate like completely openable walls of doors to allow cross ventilation. Countless schools, commercial buildings and homes across Queensland and northern Australia bear his inimitable imprint.
Afterward, cathedrals, churches and chapels became Ferrier’s speciality.
His notable local achievements are St. Peter’s Church in Halifax and St. Patrick’s Church in Ingham.
Others of his religious architectural designs include the Cairns and Darwin Cathedrals, the former now Heritage-listed.
Others recognisable for his style are the Holy Spirit Church in Cranbrook, St Patrick’s College Chapel, Townsville and the Mount Saint Bernard College Chapel, Herberton.
A notable feature of Ferrier’s architecture was that it was complimented by commissioned sculpture, stained glass and mosaics. He also designed much of the church furniture including pews, altars, stations of the cross and holy water fonts. St Patrick’s Church building is in the shape of a cross.
The cross above the altar was hand-carved in Oberammergau and the Stations of the Cross hand-carved in Italy.
Next time you have the occasion to find yourself inside either St Peter’s or St Patrick’s Churches, see if you can recognize any innovative adaptions to the tropical climate in their architecture.
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