Low rise Sydney – Scots Church in 1931

This image shows Scots Presbyterian Church in about 1931, shortly after it had been completed. The church is located on the corner of Margaret and York streets and in this shot the church dominates its surroundings. Originally it had been intended to be 12 stories but due to the Great Depression it was built to only five stories. The building proved to be expensive to manage as it did not contain sufficient commercial space. Due to inadequate maintenance the building was closed in 1998.

The heritage listed church was set for redevelopment and after a number of false starts a contemporary residential tower was built on top of the church. The development included restoration of the church.

The image is one of more than 26 produced for the publication: The Presbyterian Assembly Hall Jamieson, York and Margaret Streets, Sydney, New South Wales: Historical and descriptive account with notices of the work and activities of the church conducted from the building. Sydney: [The Church] 1931.

A number of images of Scots Church have previously appeared on Photo of the Day.

Photography unattributed studio, Sydney, Australia, c. 1931
No known copyright restrictions
Post by Lynne McNairn

Tags: 1930s, architecture, Australia, Scots Church, Sydney

The Powerhouse Museum's Photo of the Day blog features a new image each day, chosen from the Powerhouse Photo Library.

The majority of these images have been taken by Museum photographers for a variety of purposes such as for exhibitions, of objects in our collection, events, behind-the-scenes and location shots. We also feature many images taken by our Flickr community and from our visitors. We hope you enjoy the photographs and stories.

The licensing of each image varies however we are trying to release as many as possible under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.1 license.