| On Thursday 08 July 1897 two daughter congregations ceceded from the
DR Church Johannesburg, being the DR Church Jeppestown and the
DR Church Johannesburg East ("Irene").
The new congregation started off by having its meetings and ser-
vices in the old Johannesburg church building on Von Brandis Square. How-
ever, not long afterwards they were obliged to look for an alternative
venue - presumably because the building had been sold. After failed
negotiations with the German missionary, Hon. Nauhaus, (as well as
the subsequent owner) regarding the use (or purchase) of the church
near Friedebrug, the congregation found accommodation by renting
the Masonic Hall on Plein Street. From there they moved into the
newly-built church hall on the 4th September 1898.
Due to the congregation's dire financial situation, the dream of a
real church was to remain just that for the time-being. Instead, a suit-
able hall was erected on stands 346 and 347 situated on the corner of
Hol and Plein Streets. This was land that had been given to them by the
Johannesburg congregation as part of the cecession "dowry". The cor-
nerstone was laid by the Mayor, the Hon. JF de Villiers, on Saturday,
7th May 1898 and the hall was named the "Irene" Hall. The report writ-
ten about the inauguration mentions the fact that the 1st organ was due
to be installed a few weeks later.
|
The Irene Zaal |
The ravages of the Anglo-Boer Wars (1899-1903)and World War
I (1914-1918) accompanied by the subsequent suffering caused numer-
ous financial hardships for the parish. However, by the early 1920's
most of these had been overcome. The parish newsletter, Irenenuus,
was published for the first time in January 1923. Irenenuus was written
in Afrikaans, at the time a language that was only just being taught in
schools and rarely heard from the pulpit. Irenenuus would run for a
number of decades before eventually being discontinued in the late
1980's(?).
In August 1924 Rev. William Nicol made history when he
preached the first Afrikaans language sermon to be broadcast in South
Africa from the radio station studios in Johannesburg. Eighteen months
later, at 19h45 on the evening of Sunday 7th June 1924, history was
made again when the first broadcast of an entire Service in Afrikaans
(again led by Rev. Nicol) was transmitted across the Union from the
"Irene" Hall. A month later the first communion service was broadcast
on 4th October.
|
The 1935 Irene Church |
By 1926 the rapid expansion of Johannesburg (and the Northern
suburbs in particular) had shifted the centre of the parish gradually
North and away from the "Irene" Hall. The question of building the
long-anticipated church in line with the northward shift of the congre-
gation arose with some urgency. The matter was compounded by the
rapidly increasing volume of noise generated by the mushrooming city's
ubiquitous trams and motorcycles while the all-invasive dust from the
mine heaps covered everything and everyone.
Eventually opinion
shifted towards building the church in the City centre after all and mat-
ters were put into motion towards achieving this goal.
Driven by (amongst other reasons) the aversion to having the
Dutch Reformed Church forsaking the City centre and the rapid devel-
opment of apartment buildings with the resulting increase in popula-
tion, the Council decided to pursue the construction of a new church
with all its energy.
|
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On 21st November 1929 the parish added its enthusiastic sup-
port to the decision of the Council and a building fund established. By
September the fund stood at £4 370 and the Council proceeded to in-
vite tenders. The cornerstone was laid on the 11th June 1932 and the
new "Irene" church buildings, which cost £13 000 (including the pulpit,
pews, and 2nd organ, built by Estey), were inaugurated between Friday
3rd and Sunday 5th March 1933. |
The 1972 Irene Church |
In 1968 the Church Council gave the firm of OH Oosthuizen &
Partners instructions to submit sketch plans for a new building. These
plans were approved by the middle of that year. The land was also
bought at the beginning of that year for R93 000. In January 1969 the
old "Irene" church was sold, thereby increasing the urgency of com-
pleting the new buildings. In April 1970 building commenced. The cor-
nerstone was laid on 8th August 1970 and the last service in the old
church was held on 31st January 1971.
The 3rd organ, built by Fehrle, was designed by Mr. Walter Sup-
per of Esslingen (DE). Both the "Irene" church and organ, totaling a
cost of approximately R280 000, were inaugurated on the afternoon
and evening of 4th March 1972 respectively.
During the late 1990’s, the congregation started working together
with the DR Churches Johannesburg and Aucklandpark. Eventually
the three congregations became two and then one, and throughout the
process, the name DR Church Johannesburg was retained because of it
being the Mother of and the oldest congregation.
After these mergers, negotiations of collaboration with the Mel-
ville Kruisgemeente started. In 2003 it was decided that the boundaries
of both congregations would be adjusted which resulted in the Auck-
landpark section of the DR Church Johannesburg becoming part of
Melville Kruisgemeente and what remained were the new boundaries of
the DR Church of Johannesburg. The Irene Complex was transferred
to MES while Rev. PES Smith continued to serve the congregation,
first as minister and later as retired minister. Since his unfortunate
death in October 2010, the congregation was operating without a min-
ister. |
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