St Philip's Church, Sydney, Anglican church building in central Sydney, Australia
St Philip's Church is an Anglican church on York Street, built of tan and brown stone in Victorian Gothic style with English Perpendicular detail. Its square tower rises in stages to paired pointed-arch openings and a small round clock face, above a pointed-arch window with vertical tracery and a recessed pointed-arch doorway with dark wooden double doors. A lower section extends to the left, and trees stand in front.
The building was completed in 1856 and replaced two earlier churches that once stood on this site. The first church, built by convict labor in 1793, was destroyed by fire in 1798.
The parish name honoured Arthur Phillip, the colony's first governor; the spelling "St Philip's" was fixed in 1848. Since 1 November 2013 the parish has been joined with Holy Trinity Garrison Church at Millers Point, and the two are known together as Church Hill Anglican. The rector is Justin Moffatt, formerly of Christ Church in New York City.
The church stands on Church Hill between York, Clarence and Jamison Streets, a short walk from Wynyard station. The main entrance is the recessed pointed-arch doorway with dark wooden double doors at the base of the tower. The tower clock face is small and set high, so check the time before climbing the hill.
The tower's eight bells were cast in 1858 by Charles and George Mears at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in East London, the same workshop later associated with Big Ben. The tower itself was modelled on Magdalen Tower at Oxford. The church is one of two in the Anglican Parish of Church Hill, alongside Holy Trinity, Miller's Point.
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