Walk Darlinghurst Road toward the Cross and the spire is the thing that tells you you’ve arrived — sandstone Gothic punching up through the pubs and apartment blocks. St John’s Anglican Church (Church of St John the Evangelist) stands at 120 Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst, with grounds running through to Victoria Street. The foundation stone went down in December 1856 and the church opened in 1858. Stage one — nave, aisles and north porch — was Goold and Hilling in decorated Gothic, for a prosperous inner-suburban congregation that wanted something they recognised from home.
From 1871 Edmund Blacket transformed what you see from the street. He added the ornate tower and spire and the transepts (done by about 1875); the chancel followed later (Heritage NSW notes completion by about 1885). That tower and spire now dominate Darlinghurst Road. With its rectory, grounds and fence, St John’s is regarded as one of the most intact nineteenth-century church groups in Sydney and is listed on the NSW State Heritage Register (listed 1999).
The photographs document sandstone Gothic detail, stained glass, and the church’s place in the Darlinghurst / Kings Cross streetscape.
St John’s Church in Darlinghurst is one of Sydney’s historic Anglican churches. Its location on Darlinghurst Road reflects the suburb’s long religious and civic history.
St John’s Church, Darlinghurst
