St John’s Bishopthorpe (1870)

St John’s Church was opened in December 1870. Designed by Edmund Blacket (a Glebe resident for 19 years) and John Horbury Hunt, it is of Romanesque design. The design is uncharacteristic for Blacket and appears to owe more to Horbury Hunt, his prolific and competent associate. Blacket also designed the church furniture and pulpit. The choir, vestry and porch of the church were added in 1909, by Edmund Blacket’s son Cyril, who also added the tower and bells in 1909. Note that the brothers Cyril and Arthur Blacket designed the Hunter Baillie Church whose elegant sandstone spire dominates Johnston Street in nearby Annandale.

LOOKING AROUND: Near St Johns Church

St John’s Parish Hall, on the corner of Derwent Street, is also called Record Reign Hall as it was built in 1897 to commemorate the diamond jubilee of the accession of Queen Victoria to the throne. Designed by Edward Halloran, its elegant wrought iron balcony and the Queen Victoria plaque suggest art nouveau influence, rare in Glebe. Of similar period is the Glebe Fire Station opposite, built in 1906 to the design of Government Architect Walter Liberty Vernon (who also designed the Art Gallery of NSW).

Also notice the horse trough near the corner of Glebe Point Road. It is a reminder of the time when horses were a common sight in Glebe, with stables in various parts of the suburb.