[1] The interwar period was a time of enormous transformation of Brisbane's CBD despite economic downturn in the immediate post-World War I years and the Great Depression from 1929 into the 1930s.

The Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America in 1879 by influential American author, teacher and religious leader, Mary Baker Eddy, who is noted for her groundbreaking ideas about spirituality and health, which she named Christian Science.

[22] The earliest recorded meetings began in Melbourne in June 1898 while several people met in the Brisbane home of Mrs Eliza Caroline Dutton before September 1899.

[36][1] Throughout the 1920s the Christian Science movement expanded, with new branches and bigger churches opening, especially in suburban Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, as well as new groups meeting outside capital cities.

[37][38][1] By 1930 the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Brisbane had outgrown its North Quay building, so Centennial Hall at 104 Adelaide Street was purchased for £16,500 and converted to accommodate 1000 people for services, while the Sunday School was held in a nearby cafe.

It purchased two allotments on North Quay to the west of its earlier site in c. 1939 (the Grimes' house, which was part of Loretto Hostel) and in March 1939 (Crossen-an-Oder).

[46][47][48] Autonomy in the choice of architectural design and the departure from long accepted church types was supported by the Christian Science movement from the outset.

Increasingly the principles of Modernism were adopted to create distinctive places of worship where the architectural form developed from the planning and practical requirements of the Church.

Melbourne's First Church in St Kilda, designed in 1914 by Harold Dumsday of Bates, Peebles and Smart, and completed in 1922, has a temple-like form, Greek Revival elements and Byzantine influences.

Modernism embraced the ideals of Functionalism, new technologies and the rejection of ornament in an endeavour to create new and appropriate architectural solutions that reflected the social conditions of the time.

[1] As the wide-ranging architectural expression of the Christian Science movement developed around the globe, there were operational and performance characteristics common to all, with several marked departures from the planning of orthodox churches and cathedrals.

[1] The buildings, no matter how their exteriors were expressed, were functional and innovative, and adopted advanced acoustics, lighting and state of the art ventilation systems.

A large portion of the Sunday services consisted of reading from a dual pulpit in fixed positions, another aspect that church designers had to take into consideration.

The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Brisbane in its current location on North Quay opened on 4 August 1940 with three special services during the day.

[60] At this time it was described as follows:[1][60]A site of unusual shape has dictated the unorthodox plan adopted by the architects (Messrs FB Lucas and RP Cummings) in order to provide for the main activities of the church organisation.

Walls are finished in cream brick and the main entrance emphasised by a colonnade treatment in artificial stone.Internally a feeling of space and restfulness is gained by handling of large surfaces of colour in light tones.

The timber pews of special design are in similar material.The auditorium is ventilated by a forced draught system of filtered air.... diffused artificial lighting is employed in the auditoriumThe pipe organ ... built by B.

B. Whitehouse and Co. Ltd [local organ-makers], is housed above the readers' platform behind a wide grille, while the console is to the side of the platform in a well, out of sight of the congregation.Queensland timbers and materials are featured.... [Most] materials and labour are of Queensland origin.The new building also incorporated the cornerstone of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Brisbane's earlier church on the corner of Tank Street and North Quay.

[61][1] Architects Frederick Bruce Lucas and Robert Percy Cummings were key figures in architecture in Queensland before and after World War II and had an affinity with the Modern movement.

Cummings had previously designed the Second Church of Christ, Scientist at Clayfield, a commission he may have received due to connections to Christian Science through his mother-in-law.

Despite limited opportunities to practice architecture in the 1930s-40s due to the Great Depression, World War II and post-war shortages, Lucas and Cummings produced a number of innovative projects.

Its careful composition of simple, cubic volumes of one and two storeys, enveloped in buff-coloured brickwork with concrete parapets and continuous window hoods derives from its unconventional floor plan, which fits inside the boundaries of its irregular shaped allotment.

In response both to its siting on a busy thoroughfare and to the introspective nature required of its interior, its limited fenestration to North Quay gives the building an introverted appearance.

[1] Elevated from North Quay and accessed by a short flight of wide stairs, the main entrance to the Church is a simple, dignified triple-fronted portico lined with artificial stone.

[1] The First Church of Christ Scientist, Brisbane, exhibits a high degree of intactness and integrity which make it exceptional in illustrating the key attributes of a Modernist building in Queensland.

The skilful organisation of its cubic massing determined by practical demands is clearly articulated through the asymmetrical composition, simple geometric shapes and clean lines of its external form.

Steel framed windows, undecorated brick walls, flat cantilevered concrete awnings and low pitched roofs concealed behind parapets, contribute to this aesthetic.

A bold modern design, the First Church of Christ Scientist, Brisbane, has aesthetic significance for its modernist architectural qualities.

Abstract monumental elevations, rectangular and cubic massing, asymmetrical composition, simplicity and clarify of form, and an emphasis on horizontal lines create particular visual appeal, delight and interest.

The refined design with decorative restraint in the external and internal form, furniture, fittings and detailing, employs exceptional quality materials and construction.