Three of the best among Glebe’s treasured heritage

By Helena Klijn, Bulletin 3/2025, May 

A special event honouring the Glebe Society’s former President, Ian Stephenson, was held on Sunday 30 March, and included visits to, and talks about, St James Catholic Church Forest Lodge and St John’s Anglican Church. The strong attendance confirmed the local appreciation of Glebe’s ecclesiastical and architectural heritage that Ian so enthusiastically supported, and of Ian himself and his personal legacy.

Anne Wark kindly gave us a history of the excellent stained glass of St James Catholic Church, designed by Australian born John Kirkpatrick (at one time articled to Edmund Blacket). St James was opened in September 1878 and extended in 1912 to accommodate a growing congregation. Of the extant stained glass windows, it is likely that only the triple lancet windows in the apse were installed for the opening. These were made in Sydney by John Falconer and Frederick Ashwin, from Scotland and England respectively, but both London-trained. Falconer was the first professional stained-glass artist to work in Sydney.

The remaining windows are assumed to have been of clear glass (probably leaded), replaced over the years as people commissioned the beautiful but costly works often to memorialise deceased loved ones. They include a window dedicated by St James’s first parish priest to his parents in Ireland; a window commemorating the loss of a 10-year-old daughter; and memorials to residents of the Rocks who had moved to Glebe and who died in a bubonic plague outbreak in the early 1900s. Explanatory plaques note the generous supporters of more recent restoration work. The beautiful rose window facing Woolley Street was funded by the widow (Catherine) and family of John Williamson, variously a blacksmith/ wheelwright/ publican and property-owner, and was installed as part of the 1912 building extension. Details of this and all other windows are beautifully captured in high-quality images in Anne Wark’s book, Armour of Light, available at St James.

We then made our way to St John’s Anglican Church where Brianna Jessup of Hector Abrahams Architects outlined the church’s architectural significance, and the influence of the architects involved in its construction – Colonial Architect Edmund Blacket and John Horbury Hunt, the latter credited with inspiring the character of St John’s.

St John’s was commissioned in 1860, built of Pyrmont sandstone in the Romanesque style, and consecrated in December 1870. Blacket was reportedly very happy with this more adventurous commission in his home parish, allowing a departure from the popular Gothic Revival style that he had been producing so successfully since the 1840s.

Notable features are the clerestory windows, and the integrated nature of the interior design including the font (at the main entrance), the pulpit, and furniture such as the consecration table in the chancel. The tower and lych gates were added in 1911, designed by his son, Cyril Blacket.

Hector Abrahams Architects drafted, some 10 years ago, a Conservation Management Plan of adaptation work addressing problems of accessibility and creating a more flexible use of space, within the limitations of the heritage requirements in the City of Sydney’s Local Environmental Plan 2012 which specifically lists the interiors of St John’s as a ‘heritage item’.

The accessibility issue created by raised platforms beneath the pews has been creatively resolved by raising the other floor levels to a uniform height throughout, and the rear of the church has been carefully modified to allow smaller gatherings to be accommodated when needed. This space was put to good use in the less formal part of the day’s program.

The program included a recital of music by Elgar and Bach, played on the church’s pipe organ by Sean Weatherly, a university student and talented young organist. The organ was built by Forster & Andrews of Hull (England) and has been in use since 1885. Ian particularly appreciated its tonal quality.

The afternoon concluded with a number of Ian’s friends and colleagues sharing their memories of his friendship and his years of heritage advocacy, including at the National Trust and also his presidency of, and tireless work with, the Glebe Society. Fond anecdotes with a glass or two, remembering a life well lived. Vale Ian Stephenson.