Friedenskirche (Hillbrow)

The congregation was formed in 1888 after a memorial service had been held on 20 March by the local missionary, Hermann Kuschke, for Kaiser Wilhelm I who had died on 9 March. Two years later the congregation had built a small church on a stand given to them by the South African Republic government. That building served them for twenty-two years.

The 'Friedenskirche' which is also known as the Church of Peace of the Evangelical Lutheran Congregation was designed by the Swiss-born architect Theophile Schaerer[3] in a Neo-Romanesque manner and includes elements of other classical styles. It was built in 1912 on grounds lent to the German community by the executive of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek in 1895 free of charge.[4] This land was acquired by the church in 1906 from the government of the Transvaal Colony.

The church originally had been designed to be built entirely in sandstone coursed rubble masonry. Cost factors resulted in large plain areas to be brick-built, rendered in Tyrolean plaster.

The church was inaugurated on 22 September 1912. At that time its position on a rocky prominence, high above Twist Street,[5] surrounded by single and double storey dwellings, made it a striking landmark. A distinction it hasn't quite lost yet in spite of high-rise buildings towering over it.[2]

In 1958 the building underwent a mayor overhaul entailing repairs and minor alterations. In the process thereof the original oak-carved altar was replaced by a concrete and sandstone one; the former being relegated to the vestry.

The ten stained glass windows along the side aisles, telling bible stories, were designed by Elly Holm in 1962 (the two stained glass windows to the apse date from 1932). She also created the larger than life sgraffito on the transept wall, depicting St. John the Baptist, and the ceiling fresco in the vestibule

The building is in excellent repair and still serves its purpose.