No. 1504 - Hobart - Bathurst Street - Union Chapel (1864)

The Playhouse Theatre on Bathurst Street has been used as a venue for public entertainment for almost a century. The building was constructed in 1864 as a chapel for a Congregational sect led by Reverend John Wilkes Simmons. Following Simmons’ death in 1900 the chapel became the home of the Helping Hand Mission which was administered by Hobart’s Congregational Church. [See No. 1362] In 1935 the building was sold and used as a cinema. In 1938 the former chapel was purchased by Hobart Repertory Theatre Society and was reopened as the Playhouse Theatre.

The history of the Union Chapel is closely bound up with its founder, Reverend John Wilkes Simmons. Simmons was born in Birmingham in 1831 and upon completion of his schooling he trained for the ministry. He was ordained in 1856 and took charge of an Independent Church at Olney, Buckinghamshire. In 1860 he joined the London Missionary Society with the intention of engaging in missionary work in the Pacific ‘South Sea Islands’. He left England in 1861 aboard the missionary ship ‘John Williams’ which arrived in Hobart later in the same year. During the voyage Simmons became very unwell and doctors advised that it was too risky for him to proceed to the islands. Simmons therefore remained in Hobart and took up ministerial work.

Simmons quickly gathered a large following and it was noted that he “possessed peculiar ability for attracting working classes, who appeared to be uninfluenced by the usual religious ministrations”.

In November 1861 a large room in what was known as the ‘People’s Hall’ in Bathurst Street was acquired for religious services and was officially established as a “Union Chapel”. In addition to the meetings held in the People’s Hall, Simmons also held services at the Theatre Royal in Campbell Street on Sunday afternoons as well as lectures on popular topics “which attracted large audiences of the class of people which rarely or ever entered a church”.

Simmons’ lectures appealed to more than the working classes. An article the Hobart ‘Advertiser’ recalled:

“…The Rev. Mr Simmons attracted large audiences at the Theatre Royal, in Campbell-street, at certain special religious services on Sunday afternoons, gentlemen of distinction including His Excellency the Governor, the Mayor of Hobart Town, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Members of the Legislative Council, Justices of the Peace, and others of different Protestant denominations having presided on various occasions at these special services, proving the interest they took in them, and tending to increase the influence of the Rev. Mr Simmons, and the church to which he was attached. A Young Men's Association, Bible Classes, and a thriving Sunday School, formed at Union Chapel, have materially tended to strengthen and consolidate the operations of minister and people, and to encourage the prosecution of the grand object of building the desired new place of worship…”.

Such was Simmons’ following that by 1863 a subscription fund had raised sufficient capital for the construction of a church. A site for a new Union Chapel was purchased and architect Henry Robert Bastow was employed to design a suitable building. The tender for construction was awarded Mr James Gregory.

The ceremonial laying of the chapel’s foundation stone took place on Tuesday 5 January 1864. At the ceremony the building’s architect, Henry Bastow, addressed the gathering:

“The design of the building, which is Italian in character, has been made to suit the peculiarity of the site. The plan consists of a large nave or body, 35ft 6in wide and 64ft long, circular at the back or south end, and approached from the street by an open vestibule. Staircases to an end gallery are also arranged from this vestibule. The total length of building is 85ft. The platform, which has been substituted for a pulpit, is placed within a small apse at the south end of the chapel and communicates on each side with a small vestry. The material to be used is brick, relieved, however, by the use of brown stone in the construction of the north or principal front, and in the window dressings throughout. A cornice of brick is carried round the whole building at the eaves. The roofs will be shingled, and the ceiling of [the] chapel formed in the roof by plastering beneath curved ribs. A bold cornice encircles the building under the ceiling. The seats are to be low open benches of deal, stained; and varnished, and a slight fall towards the platform will be given on the floor….”.

The original plan envisaged a tower but this was omitted due to the additional cost. The chapel was designed to seat 490 persons and was built at a cost of about £2000. The building was completed by late 1864 and wa
s officially opened on Thursday 15 December.

Reverend Simmons held services at the Union Chapel for 36 years until his retirement in 1899 at the age of 68. Simmons passed away in January 1900, only five months after his retirement. His obituary records that, apart from his regular ministerial work, he was for many years secretary of the Congregational Union and Mission of Tasmania as well as chairman of the Hobart Benevolent Society.

The former Union Chapel on Bathurst Street. Photograph: 'Mike W.' Flickr 2012


Reverend Simmons established a place of worship in the People's Hall, Bathurst Street in July 1861. A notice published in the Mercury in November 1861 announcing that the Union Chapel's registration for the "solemnization of marriages".

Reverend John Wilkes Simmons - The Tasmanian 1894

Mercury, Saturday 17 December 1861

The Union Chapel's architect, Henry Robert Bastow. Bastow also designed St Mary's Anglican Church at Bridgewater. Bastow gained fame and fortune as Victoria's Chief Architect and Surveyor. Through his vision, leadership, energy 615 schools were built in just five years, many of which were designed by Bastow himself.

The Union Chapel became the headquarters of the Helping Hand Mission for a period of 30 years. Photograph: John Henry Harvey (1855-1938) The State Library of Victoria.


An early photograph of the Playhouse Theatre. The Tasmanian Archives NS3195/1398

The interior of the Playhouse Theatre - courtesy of the Playhouse Theatre

Reverend Simmons memorial at the Cornelian Bay Cemetery. Photograph courtesy of Gravesites of Tasmania.


Sources:

Launceston Examiner, Saturday 20 July 1861, page 2
The Mercury, Thursday 7 November 1861, page 1
Advertiser, Wednesday 6 January 1864, page 2
Mercury, Wednesday 6 January 1864, page 2
Mercury, Friday 16 December 1864, page 2
Advertiser, Saturday 17 December 1864, page 2 
Mercury, Saturday 17 December 1861, page 3
The Tasmanian, Saturday 7 April 1894, page 1
Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 2 August 1899, page 3
Mercury, Monday 8 January 1900, page 2

https://playhouse.org.au/about-us/the-theatre/
https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/architecture/display/99461-henry-bastow

http://www.gravesoftas.com.au/














 

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