Tryon Road Uniting Church

About

Tryon Road Uniting Church is a heritage-listed Uniting church located at 33 Tryon Road in the Sydney suburb of Lindfield in the Ku-ring-gai Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by William Slade and built in 1914 by W. 'Ossie' Knowles. It is also known as Lindfield Wesleyan Methodist Church. The property is owned by the Uniting Church in Australia. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 19 September 2003.

A comprehensive history of the Methodists in the area and the chapels they built is given in A Cloud of Witnesses at Tryon Road Uniting Church by Geoffrey Stacey, 1996, published by the Lindfield Tryon Road Uniting Church Centenary Committee.

Lindfield became the name of the area after it was adopted for the name for the station on the new railway line linking St Leonards and Hornsby in 1890. The name was taken from a cottage of that name built by Francis John List who came from Lindfield, West Sussex in southern England. Tryon Road may have been named after Rear Admiral Sir George Tryon, commander in the Australian Navy in the 1880s. It is suggested that he was a friend or relative of List.

In the early 1890s, as the expansion of the North Shore got under way following the building of the railway in 1890, the decision to build a church in the Willoughby /Lindfield Methodist circuit was made. Land was purchased from Thomas Todd Forsyth (who held part of an original Crown Grant of 1819 to Daniel Dering Mathew) by seven members of the congregation. This plot was just south of the Gordon Road (now Pacific Highway ) entry to the Lindfield railway station. No drawings or plans of this church exist but a photograph and description is given in the book mentioned above. The church was formally opened on 19 April 1896. After a disappointing start where numbers attending services were not as hoped by the Trustees, numbers climbed to a point where the congregation began discussing the need for a new church.

After long debate it was decided to purchase land on the corner of Tryon and Nelson Roads. After further debate it was decided to build both church and halls at the same time. The architect, Mr Slade, is noted as being persuasive of building a complete set of facilities rather than wait until funds became available. Reported in The Methodist of 1914:

Eventually a bold policy was determined upon viz: to make provision for all needs by erecting church, school hall, Kindergarten, and class rooms in one effort, and to face a correspondingly heavy debt as a result of having a good equipment for church work all round.

The church was formally opened on 19 September 1914 at a Special Public Meeting and Service. The architect of these new buildings was William Slade and the builder was W. O. J. Knowles. Slade (1847-1935) was the half brother of church trustee Percy Newman Slade. He was born in Surry Hills but trained as an architect in England. On his return it seems he worked for Harry Kent. Slade designed the Roseville Methodist Church in Cardigan Street, Camperdown (now the Camperdown Stanmore Community Church of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations).

The Slades were a prominent family of Methodists and they had particular interests in Tryon Road: Percy Newman Slade (1972-1944) had settled in the Lindfield area at the commencement of his professional career as an accountant and real estate agent. Percy was prominent in the Methodist Church, being an original trustee of the local church and financial adviser to the Central Methodist Mission. In 1895 he married Claudia Brown, the daughter of Dr George Brown, a former Methodist missionary in the South Pacific. Percy settled at Malila at No. 13-15 Tryon Road in 1906. Percy's elder sister, Kate Watkin (1864-1944), developed the properties at No. 23-25 Tryon Road around the same time. No. 17 Tryon Road was owned and developed around 1906 by Louisa Slade, Percy's widowed mother.

William Slade's architectural drawings do not seem to have survived, but good written descriptions of the fabric of the church as completed are available. At the time of the opening in 1914, the correspondent for The Methodist described the church as follows:

- "The combined church and school hall buildings occupy a corner site, having a length of 107 ft to Tryon Road and 180 ft to Nelson Road with a lane at the rear. A certain freedom of treatment is observable throughout: while based on the British Gothic, is made to suit the climatic conditions of Australia; the overhanging eaves and gables, porches, and covered way, at main entrance, suggesting coolness and shade. Breadth of treatment and repose has been gained and although the buildings are considerably spread out, form a pleasing grouping as a whole.

The main material used in the building is brick, relieved by stone-dressings introduced at openings, and with a high stone base course throughout. The brickwork is tuck-pointed, such parts usually plastered inside are tuck-pointed also. The elevation to Tryon Rd shows a fine gable with large triplet windows of leaded coloured glass in original designs, on the south side is the turret, containing a fine toned bell, and on the north side a large porch, each giving access to the main building. The interior of the church which is 1.8 metres (6 ft) by 10.8 metres (35.5 ft) is lit from the sides by eight windows, each of to lancets and circle grouped and filled with leaded coloured glass, similar to the front. The ceiling of the interior is formed by the line of collar ties in the centre and lower portions of principals at the sides - furring pieces being introduced to form a continuous clear line from end to end, relieved by moulded ribs and panelling. Delicate tie rods span the whole. The average height of the ceiling of the church is 7.6 metres (25 ft). That of the school hall is 18 ft; being treated somewhat in the manner as described of the church. A sloping floor is provided for the church - the average height of the interior walls from the floor being 5.0 metres (16.5 ft). Accommodation is provided for 350 persons with an additional 25 persons in the choir; which is semi-circular and raised in steps on a platform extending across the end of the church, one side of which is occupied by an ornamental rostrum. The seats throughout are of Queensland kauri, having ornamental stall ends, slightly stained and varnished. A sliding door leading from the end of the church opens into the school block attached, which comprises a hall 13 metres (42 ft) by 10.2 metres (33.5 ft), with a raised platform, six class rooms, 1 square metre (10 sq ft); grouped about the same. The infant's room also being 6.9 metres (22.5 ft) by 6.2 metres (20.5 ft), and a sewing room 1 square metre (10 sq ft).

The library and principal porch of the school are grouped, being a small semi-octagonal wing forming a pleasing feature on the Nelson Road frontage. Minister and choir vestries, with separate external entrances are provided, and appurtances throughout for the complete carrying out of all functions of a public and social nature.

The roofs externally are covered with slates except the turret, which is one of Muntz metal, finished with a finial. The porches are tiled and the entrance steps are of marble, with wing walls of stone. The alignment of the Tryon and Nelson Roads is formed by ornamental open fencing and brick dwarf walling." The outlay of A£ 5,600 included the cost of installing an organ that had originated in Ireland, having been imported into the colony for use in the original St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney.

The major alteration to the church Slade designed occurred in 1935 following a resolution of 1934 to change the altar area and relocate the organ from the front in the sanctuary to a new purpose designed organ chamber within a transept. In the remodelling of the sanctuary a new wood panelled reredos was fitted and the communion rails extended forward at the sides. The pulpit was retained in its original position, but the babtismal font was reset. The choir was enlarged to accommodate 42. The architect was N. S. W. McPherson.

Eight chimes were installed in the tower in 1936 as a memorial to Walter J Cryer. Another five were added in 1940 as a memorial to Mrs Agnes Cryer.

Following amalgamation of the Methodist Church with the Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches as the Uniting Church of Australia in 1977, the church has continued to be used by the local congregation.

The organ began life in Ireland and was imported for use in St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney. Purchased by the Wesleyan Methodists for the Macquarie Street Chapel in 1839 and later removed to the York Street Chapel. It was rebuilt by C. J. Jackson in 1868 and further enlarged by William Davidson in 1888. When the York Street Chapel was replaced by the Centenary Hall the organ was rebuilt therein in 1903 by George Fincham & Son of Melbourne. It became one of the largest organs in New South Wales (the only larger ones at that time were in Sydney Town Hall, St Andrew's Cathedral and St Saviours Cathedral, Goulburn ). In 1908 it was moved to the "Conference Hall" in Castlereagh Street and remained there until it was purchased by the Tryon Road Methodist Church in Lindfield. It was moved from the front of the church in the Sanctuary to the purpose built organ transept in 1935. The organ was rebuilt and restored in 2001 and now occupies a slightly larger area than previously. The facing organ pipes are now polychromatic as they were when the organ was erected in the Centenary Hall in York Street.

A comprehensive history of the Methodists in the area and the chapels they built is given in A Cloud of Witnesses at Tryon Road Uniting Church by Geoffrey Stacey, 1996, published by the Lindfield Tryon Road Uniting Church Centenary Committee.

Lindfield became the name of the area after it was adopted for the name for the station on the new railway line linking St Leonards and Hornsby in 1890. The name was taken from a cottage of that name built by Francis John List who came from Lindfield, West Sussex in southern England. Tryon Road may have been named after Rear Admiral Sir George Tryon, commander in the Australian Navy in the 1880s. It is suggested that he was a friend or relative of List.

In the early 1890s, as the expansion of the North Shore got under way following the building of the railway in 1890, the decision to build a church in the Willoughby /Lindfield Methodist circuit was made. Land was purchased from Thomas Todd Forsyth (who held part of an original Crown Grant of 1819 to Daniel Dering Mathew) by seven members of the congregation. This plot was just south of the Gordon Road (now Pacific Highway ) entry to the Lindfield railway station. No drawings or plans of this church exist but a photograph and description is given in the book mentioned above. The church was formally opened on 19 April 1896. After a disappointing start where numbers attending services were not as hoped by the Trustees, numbers climbed to a point where the congregation began discussing the need for a new church.