Church finally lights the see

by Matt Carr
St John’s Anglican Church in Glebe will change from a ‘dark hole’ to a light-filled feature of Glebe Point Road, after approval for around $76,000 worth of decorative lighting funded by City of Sydney.
James DeVries, a St John’s Parish Council member who has been involved in the project, said that illuminating the NSW Heritage-listed structure could add to the community feel of Glebe.
‘One of the things I’ve been wanting to do with the church was to make it look more like it’s a part of Glebe rather than a dark hole in the middle,’ he said.
‘The church grounds are pretty much used as a thoroughfare at the moment.’
‘I think…there’s a bit of a sense of foreboding with that big stone wall with the battlements on top of it,’ Mr. DeVries said.
‘The whole idea was to make it inviting and more open to the community. And, I would hope, to help stitch together Glebe’s community a little more, to help it act more like a village,’ he said.
Chair of the Glebe Chamber of Commerce Paul Angell believes the project is also good for businesses in the suburb.
‘For us, it’s not just about Glebe being somewhere you come and maybe stay at a youth hostel or have a coffee ‘ there’s stuff to see, and this church is an essential link in it,’ he said.
‘It’s on the highest point in Glebe. It’s one of our famous buildings, so putting some light on it and illuminating it is just showing off how great we think the building really is, and that we think other people are going to love it as well.’
The project received council approval on January 30, with a start date for works yet to be confirmed.
The word ‘Glebe’ itself means land granted to a clergyman, in this case a grant of 400 acres for farming purposes made to Rev Richard Johnson in 1790. The Chaplain was later to describe the grant as ‘400 acres for which I would not give 400 pence’.
The present church was designed by Edmund Blacket and construction began in 1868.