King Street at York 1865-1959

The same spot on King Street across 150 years.

In 1865, a quiet colonial outpost, just like a big country town. But prosperity and commerce are growing, real estate increasingly in demand.

1885. Post gold-rush, and mass immigration from the poorer parts of the UK has jumped over the preceding decades. The wealthy of the colony keep consolidating, and the main streets are full of substantial sandstone buildings. This is when Sydney starts to get its large Victorian edifices that we know today.

1959. The city has had a 10-storey height limit imposed since 1910. This restriction has just been lifted, and the charming-scale streets will soon be largely decimated and replaced by modernist and post-modernist goliaths.

Google Street View (clickable)

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Welcome, this site is all about Sydney 'then and now'..

The pics: Do click to enlarge the old photos as I've restored most of them from their faded small originals, and the details you'll often see in them can give an awesome insight into how ordinary people, your and my ancestors, actually lived.

Then: Where nothing today remains of a 'Then' scene, the Google Street Views of the 'Now' location have been verified through old maps and the NSW government's SIXMaps.

Sources: Most of the old photos have been collected over many years through the now-defunct Picture Australia and the original sources lost, but almost all are now found through Trove; variously from the National Library, the State Libraries of NSW and Vic, and the National Archives. Some are also via Flickr, so if you know the source of any, do let me know and I will add the credit.

Me: I'm Ross, a major oldsydneyphile (that's a word, really - well, now it is anyway). I grew up here from the 60s. Originally, I made the site in 2006-2008, and restarted it in 2018 using the 'now' scenes supplied by Google Street View.

King Street at York 1865-1959

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