Developers say a little prayer the aging Uniting Church congregation in Reid will fade away, leaving behind crumbling buildings, tennis courts and prime land.
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Most of the congregation moved on decades ago. Elsewhere in Reid, Anglicans have turned surplus real estate into a $30 million apartment block at St John's Church, and Catholics have a $35 million redevelopment in the pipeline at Manuka.
But the National Trust (ACT) has endorsed a heritage appeal, launched on Sunday, for the Canberra Korean Uniting Church to continue work on restoring leadlighting, waterproofing the roof and maintaining the landscape.
National Trust ACT spokesman and Reid Residents Association member John Tucker says the Uniting Church's large block on Coranderrk Street includes a hall and other buildings from the 1950s, as well as tennis courts.
"We have heard informally some of the property development interests in Canberra are saying a prayer each night for the congregation to fail because it would be a nice spot for redevelopment in some shape or form," Mr Tucker said.
Promoting the heritage appeal for the 88-year-old Norman-style church, the first built after Canberra was announced as the new federal capital, Mr Tucker said steps were taken 30 years ago to preserve a part of the territory's early history.
The Reverend Ian Pearson realised his congregation was diminishing and put out word for interested parties, which was picked up by a small Korean community looking for a place to worship, who made contact with him.
"He encouraged them to go to the church and use it on Sunday afternoons. That was 31 years ago. From that base it has built up and built up progressively," Mr Tucker said. Over the decades the Korean church community picked up on concern any work on the church was done sensitively.
Built in 1927 for £5000 the church was described as being of Gothic decorative period with a type frequently seen in English villages. Surmounting the tower was a removable cap, to be removed when funds and opportunity allowed the construction of a steeple.
More recently the Korean Uniting congregation has taken full occupation of the church, as elderly members of the original congregation have joined Yarralumla and other Uniting Church groups.
A Fijian congregation also worships at the church, which sits in the Reid Urban Conservation Area and, following a National Trust submission, was classified and later entered on the ACT Heritage register.
The heritage appeal aims to raise about $150,000, half of which has already been spent on the substantial leadlight window at the front of the church.
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