Sydneytecture

The photographer Cazneaux shot this Margaret Street view in 1908. I think he must have done some post-production to his images, as they have a lovely artistic effect to them which isn't present in some of his raw images. And the same spot now -  Not quite the same magic, though life is a hell of a lot easier.

This post ended up turning into a neat little circle. Behold a potted mini history of right turns. 1890, a horse-drawn bus turning right from a narrow William into Boomerang Street. 1900, and the tram tracks have been put through. This congests the street, so to widen it the entire southern side will be resumed and demolished by 1918 . The resulting smaller land parcels are sold at public auction. 1930, William's been widened, but the public complain that the tram tracks still haven't been shifted to the centre of the new width, even after a decade, which causes congestion on the outbound side. In this photo we can see the tracks have begun to be shifted. 1961, still turning right from William, but trams have been removed from service in Sydney, though the tracks here remain, yet to be dug up. 2017, and William has been narrowed again to restrict traffic flow, due to the Cross-City Tunnel that now runs beneath. Alas, there's no more right turn into Boomera...

This is the most extraordinary photo of Sydney I've ever seen. Though there are many contemporary watercolours of it, this is the only actual photo of the Tank Stream itself I've been able to find over many years. I assumed that none existed as it must have been built over before photography came to Sydney. But here is 1856, and the Tank Stream appears to be being prepared for eventual infilling and covering over. Pitt Street has been realigned to its present width, and the steep bank is made of fill.  The stream still runs in a subterranean brick tunnel.

Two ladies, Circular Quay, 1962 Hey, it's ten years later and I'm overhauling and updating the blog. In the time away, I've researched loads about old Sydney so now I'll put it to use. There's lots to come.  Also, I'm currently fixing all the broken images caused by Photobucket's new scorched-earth business model. And, I've improved the website so now you can access all the existing fifty-seven posts, instead of just the thirteen that previously only showed. Cheers. See you soon. 😊👍

The original of this photo was in the national archives, so faded in detail that it seemed to be just an ornate Victorian pile. As I pass the spot every day, I'd wondered why such a large building in a prominent location had been replaced by something much smaller and plainer. Then the penny dropped. It hadn't been replaced, but demolished to widen the street. The simpler building is actually its neighbour. But the horror set in once I'd cleaned up the image. It turned out not to be an overdone ornamental Victorian, but an extremely rare, brick and sandstone, Federation Beaux-Artes, and, due to similarity in style, perhaps by the same architect who designed Newtown Post Office (below). In the top photo, it's 1968 and the highrise Koala Inn, which replaced the burned-down 1920s Buckingham's department store, is nearing completion. Pelican Street became the main access for the hotel, hence the widening. The Koala was converted into apartments a few years ago usi...

The intersection of Victoria Street and Darlinghurst Road, early 60s. In the centre is the old Kings Cross Theatre, demolished for the highrise Carlton Crest Hotel a few years after this photo. A little to the left is the Kings Cross Hotel (the taller one), now a nightclub complex. The rows of buildings along the left made way for the King Cross tunnel, and those on the right went down at the same time, making way for the highrise Kingsgate Hotel. The Philips sign (top right) is sitting atop the Mayfair Hotel , and the Coke sign later, famously, got on steroids - (all photos enlarge) Below, a closer shot, early 50s, though the 'after' version is taken a couple of floors lower given that the building from which the original was taken (the white one in the first photo above) no longer exists. The tram has swung out of Bayswater Road on the right and is making the dogleg into William Street (Look, no lane markers). This route was the main arterial for city access from the nort...

Oxford St at Taylor Square, 1928. The place is jumping with commerce and merchants. It even had three department stores, long since gone. To do this gorgeous picture justice you really, really have to click on it. There's a couple of strong lads unloading Schweppes soft drinks at left, and ladies in cloche hats waiting at the precarious tram stop in the middle of the road, as vintage cars, trucks and horse drawn carts trundle by. All the buildings above are still there, bar the one on the furthest left, McIlwains, which burnt down in the fifties. Although both the cupolas, on the Oxford Hotel, left, and the far building in the centre of the picture, were replaced by billboard hoardings mid century. Maybe I should have waited till winter to take this pic, when the deciduous trees don't obscure how relatively intact is the scene architecturally. But it's like most modern views these days, devoid of its former unique character. Now it's just a thoroughfare through a n...