FLYNN MEMORIAL UNITING CHURCH
50 TODD ST
ALICE SPRINGS NT 0870
PHOTOS: J MARLOW & LIBRABRIES & ARCHIVES NT
50 TODD ST
ALICE SPRINGS NT 0870
PHOTOS: J MARLOW & LIBRABRIES & ARCHIVES NT
The John Flynn Memorial Church at 50 Todd Street in Alice Springs is one of the most historically and architecturally significant buildings in central Australia, and one of the few on the NT Modern catalogue to have been the subject of a national architectural competition.
The church was conceived as a memorial to the Reverend John Flynn, founder of the Australian Inland Mission and the Royal Flying Doctor Service, who had personally chosen the Todd Street site in 1917 for what he called his Inland Cathedral.
After Flynn's death in 1951 his supporters across Australia raised funds to build it. The competition-winning design came from Arthur Philpot of the Adelaide firm Evans and Bruer, Philpot & Partners, and the building was opened by the Governor-General, Field Marshal Sir William Slim, and dedicated by the Moderator General of the Presbyterian Church on 5 May 1956. The foundation stone had been laid by Prime Minister Robert Menzies on 26 June 1954.
The design brief required passive cooling suited to the arid central Australian climate, along with local and national symbolism woven throughout.
The building opens to the north, signifying Australia's front door, and is entered via a forecourt with an outdoor pulpit representing Flynn as a preacher without a church.
The roof form evokes the wings of a flying doctor plane, and the building's plan incorporates the sign of the cross so that visitors physically walk it as they move through the space.
Builder J.J. Richards of Sydney constructed the building, while the Fioriani Brothers of Adelaide hand-made 17,000 marble-faced concrete blocks in eighteen different shapes, some weighing over 50 kilograms.
The interior Mantle of Safety mural was created by Philpot himself with assistance from Adelaide sculptor Max Textor, emblazoned on a red sandstone shield.
The Methodist congregation that had worshipped in Bath Street since 1934 moved here on opening day as foundation members of the Alice Springs Congregation of the United Church in North Australia, which became the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977.
The building remains in active use today and forms part of the Flynn Trail, a self-guided heritage walk through Alice Springs.
Heritage Status: Pending.
The church was conceived as a memorial to the Reverend John Flynn, founder of the Australian Inland Mission and the Royal Flying Doctor Service, who had personally chosen the Todd Street site in 1917 for what he called his Inland Cathedral.
After Flynn's death in 1951 his supporters across Australia raised funds to build it. The competition-winning design came from Arthur Philpot of the Adelaide firm Evans and Bruer, Philpot & Partners, and the building was opened by the Governor-General, Field Marshal Sir William Slim, and dedicated by the Moderator General of the Presbyterian Church on 5 May 1956. The foundation stone had been laid by Prime Minister Robert Menzies on 26 June 1954.
The design brief required passive cooling suited to the arid central Australian climate, along with local and national symbolism woven throughout.
The building opens to the north, signifying Australia's front door, and is entered via a forecourt with an outdoor pulpit representing Flynn as a preacher without a church.
The roof form evokes the wings of a flying doctor plane, and the building's plan incorporates the sign of the cross so that visitors physically walk it as they move through the space.
Builder J.J. Richards of Sydney constructed the building, while the Fioriani Brothers of Adelaide hand-made 17,000 marble-faced concrete blocks in eighteen different shapes, some weighing over 50 kilograms.
The interior Mantle of Safety mural was created by Philpot himself with assistance from Adelaide sculptor Max Textor, emblazoned on a red sandstone shield.
The Methodist congregation that had worshipped in Bath Street since 1934 moved here on opening day as foundation members of the Alice Springs Congregation of the United Church in North Australia, which became the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977.
The building remains in active use today and forms part of the Flynn Trail, a self-guided heritage walk through Alice Springs.
Heritage Status: Pending.