Sydneytecture

Like all Sydneysiders I'd always thought Macquarie Lighthouse near the entrance to Sydney Harbour was built by Governor Macquarie around 1820 something. Turns out the original was poorly built during the early convict days and had to be demolished. So in the 1870s they built the present replica three feet to the west as a replacement. Who knew?

From a Max Dupain photo taken around 1946 on the steps of the NSW Treasury Building in Macquarie St, opposite the Botanical Gardens. Sixty years later from the steps of what's now the Intercontinental Hotel. That lamp's got its glass cover back, like most downtown streets now the parking spaces have been removed and the pavement widened - the original kerb's visible -, those date palms are still there just taller, and colour has been invented. Though without that foreground shadow and silhouette the composition's not so picturesque.

Anyway that kind of stuff in the post above just gets you exasperated, because there's nothing to be done but watch incompetents badly manage everything once beautiful down the proverbial gurgler. So here's some of that once beautiful history. Sydney's Margaret Street at Wynyard, taken in 1870 something. It enlarges almost full screen. It would have been one dark town here after sunset. No power, no lamps. In fact life would have had to have been pretty hard all round then, like dirt streets, no sewering, or refrigeration, and everything shut on Sundays. Though I expect it was a step up from what many had left behind. In even earlier days than this, the park on the right was the parade ground of the original army barracks, when Sydney was a penal colony and the military guarded the convicts. Same spot, just a few feet to the right and a century or so later. 1961 and an FJ taxi sweeps up the hill. That old Victorian building on the left is the same hotel with the same name a...

Every city has its dwindling shreds of the past, largely unnoticed, ghosts of what was. These scenes stuck out against a uniform backdrop of contemporary steel, concrete and glass. They reminded me of the old Sydney that was still common in my childhood; where everything had been either put down or up by hand, pre prefab, rudimentary mechanisation had meant time had to be taken; and before gentrification had renovated it beyond resemblance. Above, at Camperdown the silhouette of what looks like a typical sandstone terrace. Below, all that's left of an art deco building is its steps. These cobblestones, herringbone bricks, and sandstone kerbing in Alexandria will soon be cemented over, as the factory they used to front is now apartments under construction.

I'd looked at this photo many times and had just thought it another of Max Dupain's view shots, perhaps of a lunch rush in town. The only info I could find said it was taken from his studio around 1946 showing the corner of Bond and Pitt Streets, and I left it at that. By chance recently I took a closer look and realised there's more to it. Something's happened with the car on an angle on the centre. Two police, in old-style white pith helmets, are talking to the driver through his window, and there are groups of onlookers on both corners. An accident? An 'incident'? Perhaps forever a mystery. If you click on the top pic it'll take you to how the street looks today. It ain't pretty. The area would become the financial district and not one of those ornate, human scale, sandstone buildings remains.

We know it as the Academy Twin in Oxford St, one of the first art-house cinemas in Sydney. Gutted in 1970 to make two smaller theatrettes and a Greek community hall, it used to look like this when it was West's

Martin Place, circa 1905 The same place, 2005

Zink's tailors in Oxford St is a generations-old institution. The building is Federation-Art Nouveau, but they must have done a renovation at some point as the street-level facade is classic art deco. Beautifully classic. The facade panels are a type of black gloss acrylic, though not bakelite, with chrome detailing and signage. It's a magic bit of style to visit.

St Stephens Church, Newtown, built in 1845. This photo must have been taken after 1870, as that's the first date on the grave at right, below. The one at left is 1850. and spooky today.