Old Ipswich Town Hall is a heritage-listed former town hall at 116 Brisbane Street, Ipswich, City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by James Percy Owen Cowlishaw and built from 1861 to 1879. It is also known as Mechanics School of Arts and the School of Arts. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. Since its inception in 1861 the building has had many uses, and several extensions. The old town hall was originally the Ipswich School of Arts, incorporating a library and meeting rooms. The façade of the building fronting Brisbane Street dates from 1864 and is 2 stories of brick with render finish and rich decoration. The Ipswich Town Council assumed control of the building in 1869 when the School of Arts committee experienced financial problems. By 1892 it was felt that the town hall was too small and an extension was designed by well-known architect George Brockwell Gill who is responsible for many beautiful and heritage listed buildings in Ipswich. In the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century the hall was used for adult education classes, staging of plays and concerts, boxing tournaments, immunisation clinics, and the Red Cross Chelsea Flower Show. During the 1940s dances were a big drawcard. The hall closed to the public and became council offices in 1969.
History
The Old Ipswich Town Hall is a two-storeyed painted rendered masonry building with a clock tower and a hipped corrugated iron roof at the rear. It is located in the centre of Ipswich fronting Brisbane Street to the north. A Deed of Grant for the original land content, allotments 10 and 23 of section 5, was issued on 7 September 1861 for School of Arts purposes to the trustees Benjamin Cribb, Charles Gray, Frederick Forbes, George Thorn and Henry Challinor. The building was constructed in three stages, with the rear section in 1861, the Brisbane Street section in 1864, and the clock tower in 1879. Schools of Arts were synonymous with mechanics' institutes, established in Britain early in the 19th century, and transplanted throughout the British Empire during the colonial era. The movement was instituted by George Birkbeck, who in 1800 established a class for journeymen mechanics in Glasgow, and later formed the first Mechanics' Institute in London in 1824. The purpose of forming such an institute was to improve the education of working men, and to instruct them in various trades. By the late 19th century, Mechanics' Institutes had become popular agencies of adult education in general. Mechanics' institutes were part of a wider 19th century movement promoting popular education in Britain, at which time co-operative societies, working men's colleges and the university extension movement were established. The call for popular education in turn can be contextualised within the broader liberal, laissez-faire, non-interventionist philosophy which dominated British social, economic and political ideologies in the 19th century. In this environment, Mechanics' institutes flourished as a means by which working men might improve their lot, either through self-education (the provision of reading rooms was an important facility provided by the Institutes), or by participating in instructional classes organised and funded by Institute members. In the Australian colonies, mechanics' institutes were more likely to be called Schools of Arts, and they were more likely to be run by the middle-classes. The provision of reading rooms, museums, lectures and classes were still important, but the Australian schools were also more likely to include a social programme in their calendar of events. The Ipswich Literary Institution was formed at a public meeting held on 31 July 1850, with its aim being to provide a news room and library. Six days later another public meeting established a School of Arts merging with the Ipswich Literary Institution for the purpose of obtaining the New South Wales Government subsidy (the establishment of Queensland as a separate state did not occur until 1859) which was being made available to Schools of Arts. In July 1854 the name of the literary institution of the School of Arts became the Ipswich Subscription Library and reading room. At a further public meeting on 11 August 1858 the School of Arts Society again changed its name to the Mechanics School of Arts and soon after made an application to the New South Wales Government for a grant of land for the purpose of erecting a permanent School of Arts building. Records indicate that at the time a cottage formerly used as the Courthouse was being occupied.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
