‘In Sydney this is a rarity’: The hidden music haven caught in a bitter council spat

From the outside the Red House is an unassuming, orange-bricked former Korean Christian church.

But take one step inside the structure in Sydney’s south-west suburb of Earlwood and you’ll be immersed in an art space fitted with soft Persian rugs, walls adorned with art – including numerous Arthur Boyd works – and a $30,000 black vintage Yamaha grand piano.

The former church, bought by Nick Shimmin and Matthew McGuigan in 2021, cost the pair more than $1 million to renovate and soundproof so they could host private, free and intimate gigs for a community of music fans. The space also includes a recording studio and, in the back half, McGuigan’s residence – where in a week he and his wife will welcome twins.

The gigs began in 2024 but now there’s a problem – Canterbury-Bankstown Council.

Following a neighbour’s “spurious” complaint about parking and noise in January, council officers visited Shimmin and McGuigan’s property. They decided the venue was an “entertainment facility” and could not operate under a residential development application.

The decision has sparked a bitter nine-month dispute between council and the property owners, who reject that categorisation because their space hosts free, unticketed, intimate, invitation-only events, with BYO-booze and voluntary donations going directly to the artists.

“It’s basically a house party,” Shimmin explains. “Except we are infinitely less noisy. We always stop by 9.30 pm … and we probably do maybe 15 [gigs] a year.”

Shimmin began hosting the intimate gigs in 2009 inside his Camperdown living room. During the pandemic he and McGuigan decided to find a space to expand. “Most of what we do has ended up being music … if people want to do book launches, we’ve had fundraisers, we’ve shown films,” Shimmin said.

In August, Canterbury-Bankstown Council sent Shimmin a letter explaining that an “entertainment facility means a theatre, cinema, music hall, concert hall, dance hall and the like”. It would operate under a DA that factors in “fire safety, hygiene, use, numbers of people attending, parking, noise, alcohol consumption, impacts on the surrounding built-up area”.

Council told the Herald that when staff met with Shimmin and clarified “why the premises could not be used as an entertainment facility” he was “reluctant to accept our explanation”.

“They have no approval to operate, yet continue to make a noise and unjustifiably attack council at every turn,” a spokesperson said.

Inside the structure each window is frosted and soundproofed. McGuigan, a sound engineer and record label owner, said the space’s electrical outlets jut out of the wall so they don’t create holes through which sound can escape. Shimmin noted the soundproofed studio doors cost $20,000 each.

“Surely councils understand now that there is this crisis with art spaces in Sydney, and if you have an opportunity to try and allow something like us to continue, you find a way to do it,” Shimmin said.

The building’s direct neighbours have sent letters supporting the Red House, as have many of the musicians and community members who have performed there or visited.