Surry Hills: Bold Plans for ‘The Kirk’ church on Cleveland Street
A 140-year-old white gothic-style church turned abandoned counterculture den could soon be turned into Surry Hills’ newest entertainment space. Find out what it would include.
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A 140-year-old Protestant church turned abandoned burlesque entertainment palace could become Surry Hills newest art space and cafe.
The $5.6 million plans for ‘The Kirk’ white gothic-style church also include a back-end six-storey, 30-room boarding house and cafe.
The site has had many previous lifes.
In 1977, ACDC’s ‘Let There Be Rock’ was filmed inside the church at 422-424 Cleveland St, with Bon Scott standing in the pulpit.
In the 1980s, dominatrix Gretel Pinniger aka Madame Lash brought her sex parties and debauchery to the church halls when she purchased the site.
The reconsecrated church turned iconic counterculture space would now be fitted out “as a cultural, creative, performance and gallery space”, according to the Ethos Urban plans.
The plans picture a stage towards the back of the church hall and an audience of up to 149 people seated in front of it.
The long-term owners, Pyrafount No. 6, plan to restore the intact church facade, based on the plans, while demolishing the “dilapidated timber frame” at the rear of the former church hall to make way for the boarding house.
This includes 24 double-bed boarding house rooms, two “artist in residence double bed rooms with attached common artists’ studio”, and some accesible rooms, a basement level co-working space, and a ground-level cafe with access from High Holborn St.
The development inlcude sthe “reactivation of the venue as a centre for artistic endeavour and thus reinstate its place in the cultural landscape of the Surry Hills area,” the development application reads.
The deconsecrated Wesleyan Church was built around 1880.
In the early 1970s, artist Peter Day founded The Kirk Gallery and the site was frequently used as a concert space.
In 1986, The Kirk was purchased by dominatrix icon Gretel Pinniger, through current owners Pyrafount No. 6, and was used for themed parties, burlesque shows and later infamous sex and bondage parties.
Throughout her ownership, Pinniger added a “distinctly pagan flavour to the building” with “obviously non-Christian” artworks including a new rose-coloured window and a massive cast bronze front door with erotic imagery.
The building is no longer in use due to fire hazards.
The development application in on public exhibition until November 4.