Tempered Modernism: Karl Langer’s Architecture for the Lutheran Church in Queensland

ABSTRACT The Austrian émigré architect Karl Langer (1903–1969) was a major figure in the Queensland architecture scene after WWII. Among his work were two churches and one chapel for the Lutheran Church – St John’s in Bundaberg (1960), St John’s in Ipswich (1961) and St Peter’s College Chapel in Indooroopilly (1968). This paper sketches how a particular transfer of ideas and forms, across time and continents, informed these designs. Throughout his career, Langer endeavoured to combine the classicist principles he inherited from working with Peter Behrens, with his lifelong fascination for the civic culture of the ancient Greeks and contemporary international modernism. The harsh climate, poor economic situation and construction industry constraints in post-war Australia necessarily tempered Langer’s formal or intellectual intentions, though. This forced him to balance his personal ambitions and the agency of the Lutheran Church – seeking to foster its self-image as a progressive, outward-looking faith – against the scarcity of means and materials. Yet, as his church designs show, Langer managed to overcome these constraints thanks to a particular sensitivity to the spirit of place. This capacity gave his ecclesiastic designs a conceptual richness which made them stand out against the straightforwardness of most church architecture in post-war Queensland.