All Souls Anglican Church, Leichhardt

All Souls is an Anglican Church in the Diocese of Sydney, Australia. The church is located on the corner of Norton & Marion Streets, Leichhardt, New South Wales. Leichhardt is a suburb of Sydney, in the State of New South Wales.

First building

The church building to house All Soul’s was opened for public worship on Saturday, January 7th, 1882. The building and the land together cost £800 [Home page, http://www.allsouls.net.au/About%20Us%20History1.htm] .

Current church building

Soon after the first building was opened, the first Rector of the parish Thomas Holme encouraged the parish to build a new and bigger church to house the congregation. The new church was designed by Blacket Bros [NSW Heritage Office, http://www.heritage.nsw.gov.au/07_subnav_01_2.cfm?itemid=1940284] . This is the architectural firm founded by Edmund Blacket who was a prominent Anglican Church architect of the eighteenth century [Home page, http://www.allsouls.net.au/About%20Us%20History1.htm] .. The church is designed in the early English gothic style. It has a simple brick façade with a tile roof and is finished with sandstone details. There is also a box shaped tower with a slender style spire which was built at a later time. The building is heritage listed as be notable for its landmark tower [NSW Heritage Office, http://www.heritage.nsw.gov.au/07_subnav_01_2.cfm?itemid=1940284] . The church’s website describes the building is being “distinctively evangelical with its short sanctuary and lack of cruciform design”.The first service in the new building was conducted on 2 February 1884.

In the news

The church came to notice in the media with its introduction of a “café” style church service in 2004. This was to accommodate the changing nature of the Leichhardt area since the post-war immigration of Europeans to Australia. Since World War II, the area has become known as the “Little Italy” of Sydney. The café service was there a natural extension of the café streetscape of the Norton Street [ [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/25/1095961911822.html?from=storylhs Church spruiks cafe society to spread the word - National - www.smh.com.au ] ] .

Later during the soccer world cup, the church posted a sign outside its building that read "Jesus saves better than Kalak" [ "Dream is Over", The Glebe, 27 JUNe 2006, http://www.theglebe.com.au/article/2006/06/27/534_news.html] [ [http://www.insidesport.com.au/is/index?pg=verbatim&spg=verbatim9.htm Inside Sport ] ] . Later, another sign read "We're putting the mental back into fundamentalism." [ [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/14/1087065083081.html?from=storylhs Mental as anything - Spike - www.smh.com.au ] ] and then later "We're putting the fun back into fundamentalism" [” Fun in old time religion”, The Glebe, 24 JUNE 2004 ] .

Prominent members of Ministry

The current Rector is Rev. Tim Foster.

Notable parishioners

*Thomas Chaplin Breillat, merchant and founder of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce [ [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030207b.htm Breillat, Thomas Chaplin (1804 - 1873) Biographical Entry - Australian Dictionary of Biography Online ] ] .

References

External links

*Church website, http:// http://www.allsouls.net.au
*Anglican Diocese of Sydney website http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/
*New South Heritage Office, http://www.heritage.nsw.gov.au/07_subnav_01_2.cfm?itemid=1940284