Christ Church St Laurence

About

Christ Church St Laurence is an Anglican church located at 814 George Street, near Central railway station and Haymarket, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is the principal centre of Anglo-Catholic worship in the city and Diocese of Sydney, where the Anglicanism is predominantly Evangelical in character. Anglo-Catholicism is manifested at Christ Church St Laurence by an emphasis on the sacraments, ritual, music and social action, all of which have been prominent features of Anglo-Catholicism since the 19th century.

The parish dates from 1838 and the church building from 1845. It was the first Anglican church in the city to be consecrated by a bishop and is the second-oldest of the city's Anglican church buildings still in use. The first architect was Henry Robertson, who was soon succeeded by Edmund Blacket, a major figure in Australian architectural history and a parishioner of Christ Church St Laurence, to whom the church owes many of its notable features. The church was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.