"NEW ERA"

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 150, 21 December 1929, Page 8

"NEW ERA"

FOR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

GREAT SYDNEY BUILDING

(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, sth December.

The foundation-stone was laid by the Governor-General, Lord Stonehaven, last Saturday of a magnificent edifice which the Presbyterian Church of Australia is about to have erected in Sydney at a cost of £.208,041. It will be one of the greatest of Sydney's great buildings, unique in architectural style and" thoroughly inspiring in its beauty.

The building,,it is intended, shall constitute a monument "appropriate to the universal character and inherent nobility of Presbyterianism, a material consummation of the church's pioneer efforts in this new world of Australia, and appreciation of the substance and vitality which actuate the Church towards the problems of the future." It is intended, in short, to have a building which will be a landmark in the city and of which Presbyterianism in Australia will be proud. I It is proposed that this giant structure will, be the headquarters of the Church in Australia. The whole scheme is a most embitious one, and provides for a building of twelve stories, but for the present five stories will be sufficient for the scheme. There will be an assembly hall that will seat 1500 people, which will be reached from an imposing main' entrance—probably the most imposing entrance, if the plans are adhered to—of any building in Sydney. There will be two minor halls with extensive seating accommodation, and the building will house all the offices of the clnireh.. The activities of Presbyterianism in Australia are now so extensive that considerable office' accommodation is necessary, and the need for a new home was forced upon the church when its city property was resumed by the Government to make way for the, approaches to the new Harbour Bridge, which is now, making such rapid progress. Towards the cost of the new building the church has on hand £67,----000, which is available from the resumption claims, and the rest of the money has been obtained on satisfactory terms.

{The. new structure will be in the city proper, on the spot where John Dunmore Lang, the father of Presbyterianism in Australia, built the Scots Kirk a little more than a hundred years ago. He little dreamt that there would arise a building which, it is anticipated, will usher in a new era for the. Church in Australia. It is of interest to note, also, that the Presbyterians are building in Canberra a great cathedral which will be the headquarters of Presbyterian worship.