Nudgee History
Part 2 - A continuing history of Nudgee's building programs.
Part 1 "Establishing Nudgee" click here to review
A continuing history of Nudgee’s building programs.
 The northern half of the Main Building, including a section of the North Wing, was finished in 1904. This completed Stombuco and Son's design and the symmetry of the Main Building around the central tower. An arcade across the front of the building, which faced west into the strong afternoon sun, was added to the initial design and the tower was heightened and topped with a dome.
The architect for this work was James Percy Cowlishaw (1867-1925), son of one of Brisbane's earliest private architects, James Cowlishaw.
The ground floor contained senior classrooms and a students' hall, now known as Ryan Hall. The first floor held a library and both the first and second floors contained dormitories with bathrooms. This wing, was opened officially by Governor Sir Herbert Chermside on 24th June 1904.
In the early 20th century St Joseph's College continued to grow and by 1913 enrolments had reached 209. Overcrowding made further extensions a necessity, but the College remained heavily in debt.
In 1911, the Golden Jubilee celebration for Brother Barrett, a Christian Brother who had taught for many years at both Gregory Terrace and Nudgee, was made the occasion for the beginning of a fundraising campaign. An appeal was made to the Queensland Catholic community and funds raised by this campaign made it possible to commence work on further extensions including the present chapel, new servants' quarters, laundry, kitchen, storerooms and infirmary, as well as the fitting up of science rooms.
The new buildings, with the exception of the chapel, were probably located immediately to the south of the Main Building.
Archbishop James Duhig of Brisbane laid the foundation stone for a new chapel on 5th October 1913 as part of the fund raising campaign. Construction commenced late in 1914 and the building was dedicated on 25th March 1916.
Prominent Catholic architect Thomas Ramsay Hall (later one of the designers of Brisbane City Hall in 1919) was commissioned to design the new chapel.
Hall was a Queensland-trained architect, a cadet in the Queensland Public Works Department, before joining the architectural firm of F.R. Hall and R.S. Dods and then establishing his own practice in 1907.
Hall was one of Brisbane's most successful architects of the early 20th century. His collaborations with G.G. Prentice as Hall and Prentice (1919-1929) and with L.B. Phillips as Hall and Phillips from 1929 to 1948 produced some of Queensland's most important commercial buildings of the first half of the 20th century. His early work included Sandgate Town Hall (1911) and numerous public works designs.
Hall designed the new chapel at St Joseph's College in the Renaissance Revival Style, to harmonise with, the Main Building.
Internally he created a light and airy space, with white walls and light stained woodwork. The sanctuary was flanked by Ionic Columns of dark red marble and the Altar was of grey marble.
With the death of Archbishop Dunne in 1917, St Joseph's College received an unexpected windfall. Dunne bequeathed £30,000 of Church funds to the Brothers, of which £15,000 was allocated to Nudgee.
This financed further building, again made necessary by overcrowding. 285 boys were enrolled in 1917 and even the library was being used as a dormitory.
The block constructed in 1900 was extended to include 12 music rooms, teachers' rooms, a dentist's room, a men's dining room, and a new toilet block.
The Dunne Memorial Block (later the Duhig Building) was a substantial two-storeyed structure containing 8 classrooms.
Located close to the North Wing of the Main Building, it remained detached until 1975. T.R. Hall was again engaged as architect. The block was completed in 1919 but no public opening was held due to an influenza epidemic.
"Big Ben" is the name applied to a College Icon, a large freestanding clock of English manufacture, located in a lawn to the east of the Quadrangle. It was reputedly obtained by the Queensland government in 1895 and exhibited in Brisbane at the Queensland International Exhibition of 1897.
Heindorff and Company of Queen Street then purchased the clock, which stood on the Queen Street footpath until the College acquired it in 1917.
In 1930 a substantial front wall with imposing entrance gates was constructed, funded by Brisbane Catholic businessman T.C. Beirne.
In 1937 the Main Building was linked to the dormitory block constructed in 1900, by a three-storey extension to the South Wing.
This extension was principally a service block, providing two new locker rooms, new bathroom and lavatory accommodation and on the ground floor, serveries and an extension to the kitchen.
By the late 1950s, overcrowding yet again led to a renewed building program. Contributing to the overcrowding was the increased numbers of boys who were returning after Junior - a reflection of changed social expectations and economic circumstances.
Expansion in the senior school was accommodated by further extensions to the Main Building. Two dormitories with shower blocks and new Brothers' rooms were constructed over pre- existing refectory extensions.
In addition to these extensions, three new classrooms to the rear of the tennis courts were constructed.
The architect for this work was Frank Cullen, a nephew of Archbishop Duhig, who had commenced his career in 1928 as an articled pupil of Hennessy, Hennessy and Co., Brisbane.
He established his own practice in 1936. Cullen undertook many works for the Catholic Church in Queensland.
The largest and most significant structure away from the Main Building is the Senior Secondary School, erected in the mid-1960s.
Its construction reflected a state-wide rise in secondary school attendance combined with educational reform. In the 1950s Queensland had experienced a rapid growth in secondary student numbers, the outcome of the post- war 'baby boom' and increased immigration (including significant numbers of Catholics) combined with national economic growth.
These changes together with the educational reforms brought about by the Committee of Inquiry on Secondary Education m in 1961, led to increased numbers in the Senior School at St Joseph's Nudgee College and pressures on the senior curriculum. Improved funding for Catholic Schools from the Federal Government aided the expansion necessary to accommodate these changes.
As early as 1959 it was clear that better senior facilities would be needed. Plans for a self-contained complex for the senior school were completed in 1964. It was the largest single building project since construction of the Main Building in 1890 and was estimated to cost £1,000,000.
Construction commenced in August 1965. The complex was opened and blessed on the 21 May 1967 and the accommodation section was occupied in July 1967.
The original building included the Senior Residence and School but not the Year Eleven Residence. Designed to provide for all senior school requirements, it included accommodation, laundries, classrooms, science laboratories and refreshment facilities.
Professor Neville Anderson of the School of Architecture of the University of New South Wales was asked to consult on the project. He had worked for the Christian Brothers at Waverley College in Sydney and spent several days at the school developing the brief.
Designing architects were Cullen, Fagg, Hargraves and Mooney, a practice that had carried out many commissions for the Catholic Church. The new Senior School, although similar in scale to the older buildings, was the first major building in the College grounds to depart from the Italianate architectural style adopted by Stombuco and Son in the late 1880s.
In 1975 during a building program the Dunne Memorial Block was joined to the North Wing by the construction of the Junior Sciences Block (now the Gallagher Building).
The original wooden verandas on the northern facade of the 1900 South Wing were replaced in concrete and the South Wing was extended east to provide a new infirmary.
Construction was plagued by industrial unrest and the main contractor went into liquidation.
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