The intended location for the cathedral was increasing at the southern end of the interior city suburb of Fortitude Valley, between Ann and Wickham Roads.
The website of the Holy Brand Cathedral possessed previously been the site of “Dara”, the 1850 built home of the first of all Catholic Bishop of Brisbane, James Quinn (1859-1881). The 1850 residence was demolished and substituted by a more substantive dwelling of the same brand that housed the next bishop, Robert Dunne, who was later the first of all Archbishop of Brisbane (1830-1917) and then Archbishop Duhig from 1917 until 1928 when “Dara” was demolished to create method for the Holy Name Cathedral project.
The website also comprised laånd that were bought by the Brisbane Area Council just as one site for their new town hall. However, Charles Moffatt Jenkinson, the mayor of Brisbane in 1914, made a decision to construct the city hall at Albert Square (now known as King George Square) and dedicated the council to that decision by selling the choice internet site in Fortitude Valley to the Catholic Church for the construction of the Holy Name Cathedral. Some of the blog in Kemp Place, Fortitude Valley (where in fact the crypt was later on built) was distributed in the first 1920s for a nominal rate to the Council (who later on purchased it to the Catholic Church at an extremely high price tag) by Simon Kreutzer (1865-1926) “who was simply popular as a blacksmith”. (Image of Simon outside his store in about 1906 is obtainable.) (Simon was of 8 kids born to Christian Kreutzer,(1824-1896) a vinedresser, and Marianne (née Moledar)(born 1827) from Kaferthal, Baden, Germany who had sailed in 1852-3 on the ‘Johan Cosar’ to Sydney and after farmed property on the banking institutions of Kedron Brook and possessed a house where in fact the ‘Toombultown’ shopping centre is now . These were literate Roman Catholics and possessed 30 grandchildren in Australia.)
Holy Brand Cathedral was created by the Sydney organization of architects “Hennessy, Hennessy & Co.”
It was designed to be “the major sacred building in the Commonwealth” staying 330 feet (100 m) long, 220 feet (67 m) wide and 270 feet (82 m) huge. It was to manage to seat 4000 people.
Cement foundations for the building had been laid in the 1920s. The building blocks stone was laid on 14 Sept 1928 by the papal legate, Cardinal Cerretti, with a group of 35,000 persons in attendance. As a result of Great Depression, fund-raising initiatives stalled. Because of lack of funds due to unwise investment in essential oil shares of the Roma essential oil wells the dream did not become a reality. Nevertheless, Duhig managed to raise enough money to create a crypt on the website which was accomplished in 1934. In August 1935, the main altar in the crypt was consecrated by Duhig. However, fundraising efforts stalled shortly thereafter and structure never recommenced.
The Holy Name Cathedral project was subject to furthermore ongoing setbacks. In 1949 the Holy Brand architect Jack Hennessy, junior sued for unpaid charges and in 1950 the courtroom awarded him over £25,000.
The archdiocese sold the site to property creators in 1985. Today the perimeter walls plus some balustrades in Ann Street and a portion of Gotha Street have been preserved in an apartment complex named “Cathedral Place”; these remnants of the cathedral had been heritage-listed in 1992.
Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane Sir James Duhig
Duhig was a priest for almost seventy years and archbishop for practically sixty. His biographer, Catholic scholar and historian Dad TP Boland, says that his “kindness and gentleness, his fondness for kids, and his compassion had been well known”. Duhig was a grand communicator, both orally and in writing, and an indefatigable traveller throughout his religious life. He mixed simply as very easily with royalty much like the normal parishioner, and his determination to education in Queensland was exemplary.
But it is not these admirable qualities for which James Duhig is virtually all remembered. He had a significant effect on the architecture and the production of Brisbane as a metropolis. His attraction to home and his ambition to raise the reach of his church observed him in charge of the development of over 400 properties in Brisbane, incorporating hospitals, schools and churches. He became known as “James the builder”, and this may be the story of the task that was simultaneously his fondest dream, but also his greatest failing.
By enough time he reached the positioning of Brisbane’s archbishop, his church was moribund due to the declining overall health of his predecessor Robert Dunne. There is no pension for an archbishop then – his duties ended simply at death. Dunne’s final years dragged on the subject of, and the business enterprise of the Catholic church suffered through lack of actions. Once on the throne, Duhig’s remarkable energy sparked an immediate upswing in activity. Even while he commenced building churches and academic institutions, James Duhig wanted to exchange the venerable Cathedral of St Stephen with a far more elaborate and striking cathedral to signify the value of the Catholic faith in Brisbane.
Archbishop Duhig’s home was the opulent Dara, positioned on Ann St opposite All Hallows’ school, an area known therefore as Duncan’s Hill. The initial Dara was built in 1850, but after being purchased by the church to make use of as the archbishop’s home, a fresh Dara was created in 1891. Duhig’s ambition to erect a grand cathedral was thus strong that he demolished Dara in 1928 and transferred to Wynberg at New Farm, his home for the others of his life and still the house of the Catholic archbishop. His intention was to erect the Cathedral of the Holy Brand on the website formerly occupied by Dara.
But the rapid growth in the church acquired come at a cost. The proposed cathedral was out of reach financially. Already heavily with debt to the banks consequently of his building program, Duhig needed to find another way to invest in the cathedral project. He thought he observed it in, of most places, western Queensland.
Cathedral Place - Brisbane Australia 