1934 - present

The heritage-listed St Anne's Shrine (also known as St Anne's Church) at Bondi won architecture’s coveted Sir John Sulman Award for excellence in public buildings in 1935. It was the first church building to receive the medal presented by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.

Commentators have described it as ‘perhaps the highlight of ecclesiastical architecture in Inter-War Sydney' and 'a tour de force of brickwork construction with highlights of sandstone trim'. St Anne's significance was also recognised with its listing on the State Heritage Register in 2006.

It is described as a fine example of the Inter-War Romanesque architecture, a style from a period when architects moved ‘cautiously towards the uncluttered simplicity of mass and detail favoured by the Modernists’. Sandstone for the church foundations was quarried at Clyde Street, North Bondi.

The church was built in the 1930s but not completed to the competition-winning design of architects Joseph Fowell (1891-1970) and Kenneth McConnel until the 1960s. The National Trust described the church as 'absolutely, vitally important … An incredibly fine example [of Inter-War architecture], with a lot of international influence. The interior is reasonably austere … but with very beautiful Australiana in its detailing'.

Fowell was born in Australia but educated in England. He arrived back in Australia in 1919 and began teaching under Leslie Wilkinson at Sydney University's architecture school. Fowell’s architecture practice went on to design a number of Catholic churches in Sydney and rural NSW.

The St Anne’s Church land, bordered by Blair and Mitchell streets, and Oakley Road, was purchased in 1926 and the construction of a new church school was followed by a presbytery on Mitchell Road in 1932, and the first section of St Anne's Shrine fronting Blair Street in 1934.

The church was built in two stages because only half of the proposed budget of £20,000 had been raised. In 1934 only the back, southern section, including nave and aisles, was completed. In 1957 a parish building fund raised money for the northern section including the sanctuary, sacristies and altar.

In 1964 the completed church was blessed by the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Gilroy. St Anne’s significance includes its innovative ventilation system and its landmark status.

Images courtesy St Anne’s Church.