St Mary’s College Mercy House Heritage Refurbishment, Ipswich
Project Details
Architects
Fulton Trotter Architects
Address
Mary Street, Woodend, Ipswich Queensland 4305
Submitter
Mark Trotter
Cost
$ 3.6 Million
Photographer
Angus Martin
Project Overview
The two key aspects of the project were to reverse the unsympathetic additions while upgrading the buildings with new services and improve access to the Convent and Chapel. To enable a viable continuing use, the building has been adapted to accommodate the college’s administration functions.
St Mary’s College was established in 1863 by the Catholic Sisters of Mercy. The school is located on a rise overlooking the Bremer River and is a prominent landmark in the Ipswich Heritage landscape. The physical and historical heart of the school is Mercy House, a State Heritage listed former convent completed in 1884.
Over time, the building had become festooned (both externally and internally) with unattractive surface-mounted building services and a major aim of the project was to reverse this unsympathetic outcome whilst upgrading the building with additional new services. Several ad-hoc additions to the convent had resulted in enclosed verandas, amenities located in areas never intended to be plumbed and areas with little ventilation and natural light. With great care, the additions were removed, services re-organised and concealed with the verandahs opened up to return, where possible, the building to its original design.
Access was improved by the installation of a new lift and stairs, allowing equitable access and satisfying fire safety requirements for upper floors. The internal planning has responded as far as possible to the original spatial configuration of the building with minimal (and reversible) insertion of new partitions. Missing timber parquetry was reconstructed, early timber wall graining was restored, marble fireplaces were opened up and the original kitchen fireplace, a large early wood stove was found in-situ.
Typical of a building of this vintage, lead paint was found throughout. Also in the intervening decades, asbestos was used extensively in maintenance and additions, with over 1km2 of asbestos sheeting being found in the building. Extensive termite damage to the concealed timber structure was found and repaired. New trusses were installed to strengthen the upper floor. Investigation of early interior and exterior colour schemes identified original and subsequent colour schemes which were replicated or reinterpreted in the refurbishment.
