Please help fund repairs including guttering and roofing work, salt damp in the organ room, which houses the significant organ built by Fincham and Hobday in 1888 and new protection for all the lower stained glass windows.
St Peter’s Church Glenelg
Sitting in the middle of Torrens Square, Augusta Street, St Peter’s Anglican Church has a unique place in the heart of Glenelg and South Australia. A new conservation appeal will support the ongoing preservation of this important church for future generations.
Torrens Square was set aside for a church at Glenelg by Colonel William Light in 1839. The first church, built in 1852, was reported by the SA Register (29 March 1852) to be “on the very spot where some sixteen years ago the glad tidings of the Gospel truth were first proclaimed in the colony” referring to the first service in the colony led by Rev. C.B. Howard on 1st January 1837. This first church soon proved too small and a new church, designed by Edmund W. Wright, was founded in 1881 and opened in 1882.
Every week visitors to St Peter’s are astounded by its beautiful collection of stained glass windows. When the Advertiser reported on the dedication of the final window to be installed in 1923 they wrote: “no other building in the State can compare with this fine church in this respect, and doubtless few South Australians have any idea that so much beauty can be found in any sacred edifice in or around Adelaide” – surely a statement which is just as true today.
In 2017, following a very successful appeal through the National Trust of South Australia, the Great West Window, depicting themes of resurrection, was fully restored at a cost of some $100,000.
As custodians of this important part of South Australian heritage, the Anglican Parish of Glenelg has entered into a new appeal through the National Trust. This appeal will focus on the considerable restoration work required to keep the heritage listed Church, Memorial garden and Rectory in good repair.
Historic properties need constant care and there is a growing list of necessary repairs including guttering and roofing work, salt damp in the organ room, which houses the significant organ built by Fincham and Hobday in 1888 and new protection for all the lower stained glass windows.
This long-term appeal through the National Trust of South Australia will target specific heritage projects to be undertaken each year.
Feel free to visit the church Sunday mornings or Tuesday-Friday 9am-3pm or take the 360 degree tour on the St Peter’s Anglican Church website.
