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Sydney · Venue

St Stephen's Uniting Church

A 700-capacity Macquarie Street church where Friday lunchtime recitals, organ music and jazz share an Interwar Gothic auditorium.

Upcoming shows
45
Capacity
700
Address
197 Macquarie Street, 2000 Sydney
Phone
(02) 9221 1688
Next show
Fri, 2 Oct 2026
Official siteDirections
St Stephen's Uniting Church in Sydney

About St Stephen's Uniting Church

St Stephen’s Uniting Church is a 700-capacity concert setting in Sydney’s CBD, with a 1935 Interwar Gothic worship space at its core. Its distinction lies in the scale and texture of the room: fixed seating under high ceilings, sandstone walls, timber panelling and stained glass, alongside a restored pipe organ and Yamaha C7 grand piano. The setting suits recital-scale listening while also accommodating large classical, opera and contemporary presentations.

A church moved for Martin Place

The congregation began in 1842, when 22 people left Scots Church and met in Macquarie Place. It moved through several city homes, including an imported prefabricated “Iron Church” erected beside Parliament House in 1855; that building seated 800 and supplied the St Stephen’s name. By 1875, the congregation had joined another church in Phillip Street, where the NSW Presbyterian General Assembly first met in 1901.

The defining break came with the Martin Place extension. Sydney City Council resumed the Phillip Street church, and demolition followed in 1935. A new Macquarie Street church had been dedicated on 23 March 1935, only a year after its foundation stone was laid, under pressure to clear the earlier site. In 1977, the Presbyterian congregation entered the newly formed Uniting Church in Australia, giving the room its present identity.

The room in use

The dependable core is classical: Friday Music runs from 1:10pm to 1:50pm, with an organ recital on each month’s final Friday and entry by note donation. Jazz also has a regular foothold through Jazz Vespers and Jazz Behind the Green Door, while occasional electronic and exploratory bills broaden the program. Recital artists can approach the Director of Music for consideration. Expect fixed seating and a formal auditorium layout, with updated AV and livestream capability available for larger productions.

Sources

  1. St Stephen's Uniting Church – Worship Centre (Auditorium) — Vennu
  2. Our Building — St Stephen's Uniting in the City
  3. Our History — St Stephen's Uniting in the City
  4. St Stephen's Presbyterian church Macquarie Street — Dictionary of Sydney
  5. St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Phillip Street Sydney, no date — City of Sydney Archives
  6. Friday Music — Sydney Organ / St Stephen's Uniting Church
  7. Visit Us — St Stephen's Uniting in the City

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