Marrickville Heritage Society fights plan to turn church into boarding house
The Marrickville Heritage Society has come out in opposition to plans to turn a historic church into a boarding house. The Marrickville Church of Christ has stood for more than 120 years.
Inner West
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- Developer speak out on demolition of 120-year-old church
- Plans to demolish 120-year-old Marrickville church
The Marrickville Heritage Society has said it will fight plans to demolish a 120-year-old church and turn it into a boarding house.
The NSW arm of the Church of Christ, marketed as Fresh Hope, gave the building to developers for free.
As part of the agreement Fresh Hope will remain the landowner once the six-storey boarding house is complete.
The Heritage Society’s objection is firm, even though the Church of Christ Property Trust argued against the church being named a heritage item in 2015.
As such, the church was not listed as a heritage item, against the wish of Inner West Council.
Developers plan to demolish the church and build a $9.5 million ‘new age’ affordable housing block, with 55 boarding rooms.
A letter penned by president Scott MacArthur to council, on behalf of the Marrickville Heritage Society, read: “The Church should remain as a community resource.
“If any development of the site is proposed, then community access should be maintained, and the significant elements of the buildings should be retained and incorporated into any new buildings.”
The Marrickville Church of Christ site is used by the Marrickville congregation as a meeting place for biblical studies on a weekly basis, according to the development application.
To build the boarding house, registered charity and social housing provider Fresh Hope has partnered with ‘zero-profit’ housing developer Nightingale Housing.
When Nightingale Housing founder Jeremy McLeod spoke with the Inner West Courier last month, he asked locals to consider the needs of the area.
“It’s a question of heritage versus humanity. Recent history against sustainability. To us, it seem abundantly clear,” Mr McLeod said.
“The question we have to ask ourselves is, what is more valuable? A vacant church without a listing on the building or a sustainable place to house people in a housing crisis?”
Nightingale’s project lead Jennifer Kulas previously told the Inner West Courier the church site is currently only used once a week for bible study by about four to five people and that the church itself is “not habitable”.
The Inner West Courier has approached Fresh Hope for comment.
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