Forewarned

All the places that I go must constitute a space uniquely defined. This is some of it.

This is my favourite church in Marrickville; St Brigid's; it's angular, rendered, demanding attention against a blue sky. The light poles belong to Henson Park, where I used to run, and now cycle, every morning. The trees are in Jarvie Park, behind the high school.

Henson Park is a former quarry, now an amphitheatre for, most famously, the Newtown Jets, but also Australian Rules on alternate weekends. I'm sure the residents around it are content as things are, but it's a tragedy we can't find a use for it as a performance venue. Largest crowd recorded was around 40,000, during the 1938 Empire Games, which is what Henson Park was built for. The hill opposite is huge, not far off the Myer Music Bowl. It's also the site of several model plane accidents (mine); it's too windy.

I'm sure the man himself never got to see his memorial grandstand, but I hope he would have been pleased with it. It's elegant; the curved tin roof and the curved rear windows are unusual touches on a suburban grandstand, and the clarity and scale are interesting. It seems simultaneously larger than you'd expect and perfectly fitted into what is really not a particularly large oval. In fact, the fence lane of the oval is 480 meters. The cycle track behind the seats is 190 meters more at 570 meters. It isn't really a cycle track by design, but since the original velodrome track has been replaced (post the 1938 Empire Games), the maintenance vehicle access path serves a double function. It's also popular with the walkers who occupy the early mornings. It's a pity not to recognise the architect for a good, if undemonstrative, job.

The other church on the skyline is St Clements. I like the camouflaged steeple, but I haven't heard of any accidents with low flying planes yet.

It's two blocks south of St Brigid's, and about 10 minutes walk from Henson Park. It's a red brick church, with a massive slate roof that lifts the ambience from the suburban to the, well, let's say gestural. It doesn't have much street presence but as part of a landscape it manages some impact.