Stylisticly, a bit of a dogs' breakfast

The design of the outside of the church, and the maintenance of its outlyer buildings and vehicular access, as well as gardens, are just terrific. But walk inside ...

I am afraid i was a bit under-whelmed. There are too many stylistic influences. The roof line has lovely wood panelling, but not in keeping with a church. Not MY sort of a church. This is neither modern, nor traditional. The alter was minimalist. The organ and choir stalls were a bit tacked on, and the amplification stuck out a bit like the proverbial. And the 1896 relics were off in one area and simply did not 'fit'. To me, the knick-knacks were tacky and inferior. It was so good to go outside again. Sorry parishioners, I understand you do not attend to provide a critique of interior decor.

Digging the dirt on the church

Once again, St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, corner of Ridge and Miller Streets, North Sydney. From the rear. From the front. And the northern elevation. Yesterday's shot was the southern elevation, meaning I had to open the aperture to shoo away the shade on the south side, meaning that the brilliance of the sky was blown out. Today the sky in all its grandeur.

For a history geek such as moi, the grounds of this church are a godsend [oops], with all its signs and photographs. The grounds are in an immaculate condition, the gardens to die for. This plot of land, the signs tell me, was first granted by the powers that was in 1867, and a church established in a tent. Then a slab timber structure was erected, before a 'freestone church with gothic detailing' was commenced in 1867. This church was enlarged, with more adoration in 1896 enabling a congregation of 600 to be seated. In 1937, a total rebuild was commenced enabling the congregation to swell to 900 parked bodies. The good thing about this new building [ hah ... 'new' ... ], which I very much like the shape and feel of, is that it reused some of the stone, slate, marble, and glass from both the 1896 AND the 1868 churches. And nick-nacks ... I will take you inside tomorrow.

Sight is physical, vision is mental

Whereas sight might indeed be physical, and yes, vision be mental, they are both controlled by the brain. This blog started life as 'Sydney Eye', indeed its URL is still that. But I moved from the inner-city out to the suburbs, and my life circumstances changed accordingly. So I changed the title of this blog to 'Nestling into the Castlecrag landscape', which is what I was doing, and no longer need to do. I am nestled. But being merely human, I wanted the best of both worlds, cakes and eating. I had crossed the Rubicon, gone from one side of the city, across the harbour, to the other side of the city, even though I only journeyed seven kilometres, it may as well have been to the moon and back. Quickly, I knew that the nestling was occurring in fertile soil, but loam that was all of the same consistency. What I needed, and wanted to share with you, was a soil that was full of organic waste, that had colour, and texture, and diversity. Hence, the title of this blog changed, again, to 'Sydney's North Shore'. Let's see how long this one lasts. Let's start with St Mary's Catholic Church on the corner of Miller Street and Ridge Street, North Sydney. A church was first constructed on this site in 1868, with the current church having been constructed in 1937.