THE YORK STREET WALL

A conservation study of an early high rise streetscape in York Street Sydney.

Final Submission

Colin Brady B.Sc. t3.Arch.

Subject ref. 39.llOG Graduate Project M:B:ENV. Nov 1987 ABSTRACT

The high rise building emerged as a key element in the growth of western cities through the period 1870-1940. This report based upon surviving examples in York Street Sydney examines the emergence of the early high rise building type and its formation of a characteristically walled streetscape from which the report takes its title. With a view to establishing the cultural significance of this grouping (streetscape) this report traces the varying forces behind its development. The development of Sydney 1 s streetplan from 1788, the economic boom and recession of the late 19th Century and the continuous importation and adaption of technologies are reviewed in terms of their effects upon the growth of York Street.

As essential as the physical and economic factors in terms of growth was public and professional acceptance of the high rise building. The debate as to the acceptability of this new building form and its correct aesthetic treatment in Sydney is discussed in parallel to the physical growth of York Street. A case is established for an internationally accepted image of the high rise city streetscape based upon North American precedents both real and conceptualised. The adaptation of this imagery to York Street is explained as the basis for the overall cohesiveness of the divergent architectural styles evident in the street. Examination of documentary evidence and the buildings remaining from the period points to a sharp termination of these generative forces at the outreak of World War 2.

Post war urban development ran counter to this previously established order. A measure of the value of the pre-war philosophy can therefore be gained by comparing the effects of these divergent theories on York and other city streets. From this comparison and supporting evidence as to the historic and architectural significance of individual buildings in York Street a statement is made on the significance of the existing fabric as an overall streetscape.

Mindful of the ongoing pressure for change inherent in the urban context of York Street the statement of significance is used as the basis for conservation guidelines aimed at successful retention of the existing fabric and effective integration of new construction. These guidelines are supplemented by a review of problems to be avoided in the successful implementation of this conservation strategy and finally an assessment of the likelihood for success of this proposal. THE YORK STREET WALL

CONTENTS

TOPIC PAGE NUMBER

0 SYNOPSIS 1

1.0 URBAN FORM AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF STREETSCAPE 6 1.1 THE INITIAL IMPACT 7 1.2 A SEMBLANCE OF ORDER 13 1.3 THE TECHNOLOGIES OF BOOM 23 1.4 A QUESTION OF DIRECTION 36 1.5 CONCLUSIONS THE FIRST GENERATION 45

2.0 RECOVERY 47 2.1 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A VERTICAL LANGUAGE 55 2.2 THE WALL IS DEFINED 64 2.3 AN IDEALIZED IMAGE 81

3.0 THE POST-WAR CITY 100 3.1 A CHANGE OF IDEOLOGY - THE BLOCKPLAN FALLS FROM FAVOUR 103 3.2 A CHANGE IN THE RULES AND THE CITY CHANGES DIRECTION 105 3.3 THE PLOT RATIO DEBACLE 107 3.4 TRADING FOR HISTORY 114 3.5 THE NEW URBANISM 119 3.6 THE RESIDENTIAL BOOM - LAYING THE GROUND RULES FOR ADAPTIVE RE-USE 120 3.7 A QUESTION OF DETAIL 124 3.8 FACADE RETENTION 127 TOPIC PAGE NUMBER

4.0 AIMS OF THE GUIDELINES 131 4.1 DEFINITION OF THE STREETSCAPE 132 4.2 DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF THE STREETSCAPE 132 4.3 CONSERVATION GUIDELINES 137 4.4 IMPLEMENTATION OF GUIDELINES 144 4.5 CURRENT CITY DEVELOPMENT CONTROLS 145 4.6 PROBLEMS TO BE AVOIDED 147 4.7 CONCLUSIONS - THE POTENTIAL FOR SUCCESSFUL CONSERVATION 155

5.0 REFERENCES 158

6.0 APPENDICES 165 York Street 1890's can be seen that societies have produced in past eras "The forms 1 as records of distinctive value systems." 1.

0 SYNOPSIS

The emergence of the primate city or metropolis in the years 1880 to 1940 "reflected the spread of industrialisation from

its beginnings in Britain, Belgium, France and Germany 11 • 2 At the heart of metropolis and the ultimate demonstration of industrialisation's ability to concentrate and dominate a regional population stood the high rise building. The high rise form in turn produced a distinctive urban streetscape the image of which remained an intellectual and artistic pre­ occupation until the outbreak of the Second World War.

"Since most Societies today are re-evaluating the basic values that underlie modern life, pre-modern orders can be an invaluable source of comparison and learning 11 .3

Urban Sydney in the 1980s retains few identifiable streetscapes from the time high rise buildings first emerged or from any other period. Macquarie Street, with its Georgean enclave, and Bridge Street with its broken line of sandstone buildings provide definable elements of uniformity in urban growth. Both have been recently recognised in urban redevelopment. Elsewhere former combinations of transport interchange and commercial response have left nodes of distinctive architecture or uniform sized buildings which arose in often brief flurries of economic activity.

The Edwardian piles of Railway Square (1), the retail emporia of Brickfield Hill and the wool stores about Circular Quay emerged as results of this precinct forming combination.

In contrast York Street with its distinctive 'walled' vistas represents a different form of townscape, a response over half a century to a consistently developing image of the urban ideal. 2.

1. Railway Square, Edwardian Sydney - commercial response to transport interchanges produced modes of distinctive arch:tecture. 3.

High rise and multi storey seem misnomers when applied to the late 19th century buildings that lined York Street. By today's standards these 5 and 6 storeyed structures seem puny in the extreme. However, unlimited size was not the only concern of the Victorian age for whilst

"The skyscrapers of the 1880s and 1890s were buildings that fit reasonably if not fully into the existing urban context; the newness of most of them lay in their technology rather than in their size or their style 11 .4

It was the implications of this technology that made these buildings seem larger than life to residents of Sydney during the closing years of the 19th century. In Sydney, as in other emerging cities of the time, the largest most obvious structures .. .. - . .. were not slender high rise offices but the great public institutions emerging as anchor points to the cities fabric. Government buildings, cathedrals, exhibition palaces, grand hotels and theatres were at the vanguard of city growth. To the new cities of America and the antipodes these Victorian piles represented the foundations of urbanism bringing an instant respectability to former frontier settlements. Where time and money did not permit the construction of every city planners dreams, scaled down replicas were produced or erzatz materials employed. Sydney received a third scale Gothic Cathedral and a timber and corrugated iron exhibition palace. Yet set in the isolation of the South Pacific comparison with the worldwide scale of things was difficult. Similarly when buildings rose to 5 and 6 floors along Sydney's narrow, crooked streets the age of high rise had begun. Further, as the street widths remained static

"Variations in the ratio of height to width strongly determine the sense of enclosure that one experiences 11 .5 4.

The beginnings of a new streetscape could be seen to emerge. The height of the new buildings was exaggerated by the high ratio of building vertical to overall street width and the limited lineal perspective created by the irregular streetlines or as in the case of York Street by the presence of major buildings or public places at street junctures.

The outcome of this early high rise development was to be two­ fold for Sydney. On the one hand it consolidated the existing irregular street pattern for the foreseeable future. On the other it generated a social acceptance of an urban image. So strongly was this localised version of the international 'image of metropolis' held that it passed into legislation and so remained the subject of debate for some 50 years.

The process whereby this imagery led to the development o.f an identifiable streetscape in Sydney and specifically to the emergence of a walled street facade in York Street are the subject of the first part of this report. 5.

"The city has fallen prey to an attitude that can be called urban Darwinism - the survival of only the most lucrative use of any given plot of land 11 .6

The links between social expectations and streetscape have often run counter to technological capabilities and economic pressures. As the concept of urbanism changed from an over­ view of the city to a preoccupation with the free standing building in post World War II Sydney, the established streetscape was subjected to pressures that would dissipate any notion of established order within the city. The second part of this report looks at York Street in this atmosphere of urban renewal. The value of the remaining streetscape, the forces of change affecting the integrity of building features and possible guidelines for conservation are examined. Fundamental to this study is the recognition that maintenance of historic street­ scapes requires clear definition of the street's essential features and the establishment of guidelines which direct both conservation and new construction toward a definitive end result. 6.

1.0 URBAN FORM ANO THE DEVELOPMENT OF STREETSCAPE

The effects of urban patterns on the perception of streetscape are widely disputed by contemporary urban theorists. The Dutch born champion of grid planning Rem Koolhaus sees the grid as the universal purveyor of order. In his treatise on the development of urban Manhattan, 1 Koolhaus demonstrates that the grid plan allows total diversity to take place within a con­ trolling underlying ground plan. In contrast the Belgian architect and urban planner Rob Krier argues that the perfection of urban street form demands the very opposite of individual buildings:-

11 A clear geometric urban spatial form calls for architecture of extreme delicacy and high quality. Any architectural error is immediately obvious and damages the overall impression. In the case of irregular forms, variety is the overriding characteristic. Defective architectural detailing is not so glaringly obvious but is effectively buried".2

As the street pattern of urban Sydney falls between the extremes of the pragmatic and the cartesian grid an attempt to assess its effects on the developed streetscape and to observe which of these theories comes closest to describing the existing relationship of buildings and street must first examine the background to Sydney's street pattern. More significant than this is the manner in which the evolution of this pattern has affected York Street. 7.

1.1 THE INITIAL IMPACT

From the first attempts of white settlement to establish a social organisation upon the shores of Port Jackson came the initial impetus for what was to become Sydney's urban street­ form. Had this process of settlement been more orderly and less desperate then a grid pattern would have almost definitely accompanied these efforts, for:

11 The grid was archetypically colonial •.• ideal for impatient settlers on a continental coast; it had been current long before Hippodamos and was used by the Greeks at Smyrna in the seventh century B.C., and at Metapontum and Akragas in the sixth. The English were employing it in ravaged Ireland during precisely the period when their colonisation of America was taking place 11 .3

Similarly 150 years later the same colonial power sought quick settlement on another coastline at the height of the Georgian age. Despite Georgian ideals of regularity and Vitruvian order, planning decisions made within the first desperate months of settlement in New South Wales relate more to the hurried setting out of a military camp about the irregular shores of Sydney Cove than to any contemplation of a new town. The guarding marine corps located itself on the gently rising ground to the south west of Sydney Cove and had within three months of Phillip's first arrival established what would become one of the dominant influences in the development of York Street.4 [diag. 1 J The marine corps was content to maintain order and rank about its own parade ground within easy reach of their convict charges and a respectable distance from the ruling governor. The meanderings of both marine and convict formed the first semblance of streets between these three focal points.

In fairness to Governor Phillip an attempt was made to apply orderly planning principles to the new settlement. As early as 8 •

. BAY

..

Di ag. l Initial planning related more to the hurried setting out of a military camp than to any contemplation of a new town - a sketch of Sydney 3 months after settlement. The location of the military quarters to the south west of Sydney Cove was to be a dominant influence on the development of York Street. 9.

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Diag. 2 The first attempts at order - initial sketch attributed to Augustus AIF and William Dawes proposing the beginnings of grid planning. lo.

July 1788 a sketch had been prepared outlining a grand axis and the beginnings of the ubiquitous grid plan. 5 [diag. 2] In this planning attributed to the First Surveyor General of N.S.W., Augustus Alf and to Lieutenant William Dawes the existing barracks development is treated as nothing more than a temporary hindrance. As such ordered planning required an administration committed to long term development rather than short term expediency and profit, it was, given the political situation of the early colony, bound to fail.

Even before Phillip 1 s departure in 1792 the evolution of Sydney 1 s haphazard street plan had begun in earnest with the aligning of substantial brick buildings about the geographic features of Sydney Cove and the erratic wandering of the main thoroughfare up the valley of the Tank Stream towards the Brickfields. Significant among these new brick buildings were the Marine Barracks still occupying the same 1 temporary 1 location as the canvas and tree fern constructions of 1788. 6 [diag. 3]

The pattern related more to an earlier period of English growth. Vincent Scully 1 s summation of the development of Boston Massachusetts describes a very similar pattern:

11 The old, loose pattern of communal growth, grouping its buildings about the harbour, filling out on the footpaths that climbed the contours of the site and ran along the crests, spreading along the roughly radial system of roads that linked the port with the rest of New England. An irregular tract of land at the edge of the town was reserved as a common. All this was English enough, though reproducing in a few years, ~erhaps some centuries of Saxon and Norman growth 11 •

Whilst Boston developed as a free port and Sydney as a government town, the vested interests of the military and free traders in Sydney ensured that any planning development was both pragmatic and geared towards quick profit. 11.

Diag. 3 11 The old loose pattern of communal growth" - by ..... 1792 Sydneys hapha·zard street p 1an had begun in earnest with the aligning of substantial brick buildings about Sydney Cove.

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BRICKREUIS~ ~ ~ 12.

In response to this environment of disorder, York Street developed as a direct route south from the developing military barracks linking with the main street of Sydney where the two coincided in topographical level and before the latter corrmenced its descent into the Brickfields area. 13.

1.2 A SEMBLANCE OF ORDER

Appropriately York Street first appears on maps of Sydney as Barracks Row. As early as 1807 the street is shown extending south away from the by now well established parade ground. 8 [diag. 4]. Following a relatively level ridge, the road eventually opened out in a broad junction with the main street - later George Street in the vicinity of Brickfield Hill - site of the colonies early brickyards. On its route towards Brickfield Hill, and the town limits Barracks Row originally passed Sydney's first burial ground which had been placed a respectful distance from the settlements harbourside centre and away from the head­ waters of the Tank Stream. 9 [diag. 5] In true military fashion the orderly arrangement of the original barracks had been main­ tained in the parallel rows of soldiers residences spreading across the ridge and down the slope to the west of Barracks Row. This initial parade ground decision set the pattern for the subsequent streets from York Street west to Darling Harbour. The resulting regular arrangement of streets was the closest early (and indeed later) Sydney came to the classical grid plan. True to Sydney's erratic planning however, the cross streets between these long thoroughfares developed neither perpendicular to the main streets nor parallel to each other.

Whilst Krier attempts to explain this movement away from traditional town planning in terms of changed military roles for cities in the old world:

11 post French Revolution military development and new tactical patterns for warfare ushered in an era in which all assumptions and empirical principals about town planning were fundamentally questioned 11 lO

the resultant opening out of towns was equally experienced in the new worlds disassociated from the inherent traditions of Europe. 14.

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emerges 4 Row, York Street Diag. known as Barracks barracks along First from the military as a direct routeBrickfields Area. the ridge to the 15.

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Oiag. 5 The legacy of Macquarie was a clarification of street patterns based upon focal points of urban importance. Whilst York Street appears in this map under its current title the map maker appears to have combined reality with wishful thinking in respect to the relationship of York Street to George Street. 16.

In 1811 the New York City Corrmissioners Plan of Manhattan was released. From this time onward all development of this new city beyond the perimeters of the original Dutch settlement was to be controlled by an enormous orthagonal grid plan - not the tight perimetered grid of the classical colonial settlement but a grid stretching to the horizon. This new form of urban planning with its inherent concept of the endless frontier demonstrated the conviction western man had in the new lands. A year previously Sydney received a new Governor and a visionary well versed in the new ideals of open space.

"Macquarie found Sydney a dirty, struggling settlement of crooked streets and irregular buildings 11 .ll

Determined to impart a sense of order to the chaos Macquarie set about introducing major planning reforms that would have long term effects upon Sydney 1 s street planning. Beginning by naming the major streets after the monarch and influential politicians of the time, Macquarie proceeded to straighten and widen the major streets and to create central spaces. In these spaces Macquarie's architect Francis Greenway began to erect the major buildings and facilities considered proper to an established town of the time. Macquarie's grandiose schemes were cut short by the findings of the Bigge Convnission into the costs of what to England was still very much a penal settlement. Macquarie 1 s planning however left an indelible mark on Sydney. By establishing localities for major civic undertakings, Macquarie gave the street pattern of Sydney a new sense of purpose. Streets other than the Parramatta bound George Street now related to specific functions. Using the powers of government to resume, to designate and to legislate Macquarie brought to Sydney the planning function briefly attempted by Phillip and subsequently forsaken for the expediencies of the market place.

From this enlightened period of urban reform the newly named York Street gained several major features that would contribute 17.

substantially to the streets eventual plan. Adjacent to the towns original graveyard, still passed by York Street on its route to the south, Macquarie dedicated the foundations of a cathedral. Whilst this may have seemed ambitious for a town of 12,000 it was in keeping with Macquarie's concept of furnishing Sydney with a full range of the necessary trappings of a capital. In the same manner but catering to more base ideals Macquarie provided on the next block north a site for the city's markets. This site could be readily served by newly developed wharves in Cockle Bay at the western end of what subsequently became Market Street. To these wharves came produce from the more fertile lands upstream at Parramatta. York Street was beginning to exhibit the pattern of many principal streets in Sydney of the time. Macquarie's ordinances and dedications had produced an identifiable pattern of streets forming direct links between focal points of established or perceived order. What occurred between these points would over time be resolved by the reactions of private market forces to restraining legislation and prevailing economic conditions.

The attempts to regularise Sydney's street pattern whilst only partially successful, left a setting that formed a basis for the towns growth to a city through the Victorian age. The first major elements of townscape to arise during the Victorian age were public institutions. Macquarie's foresight in creating major public places whilst based on planning principles of the Georgian age left a framework that was both suited to the nature of Victorian planning and avoided much of the need for vast resumptions deemed necessary in the 19th century development of European cities. These decisions were as significant to the development of Sydney's streetscape as the New York City Commissioners plan of 1811 was to the development of Manhattan. In Sydney demolitions and resumptions would occur but most of the major public institutions would remain within their locations from Macquarie's time. Likewise new public amenities, whether 18.

the result of changed social systems such as the Town Hall or the result of invention and technological process such as the railways, would in the main, locate on existing public sites.

Even before the middle of the century this pattern had profoundly changed the street form of York Street. By 1831 York Street is mapped as proceeding through the military barracks into the Church Hill area. 12 [diag. 6] Even the military, whilst still protecting the colony from its now proportionately decreasing population of convicts, had succumbed to the pressures of urban growth. At its southern end York Street now ends abruptly against the side of the old burial ground itself13 superseded by a new burial ground on the future site of Sydney's Central Railway Station.

The demise of convict transportation in 1849 left the military on what was now valuable town real estate. One of the few reversals of ownership from government to private sector then occurred in York Street. The former military barracks are by 1854 [diag. 7 J no longer in evidence having been replaced by subdivided building blocks. More significant in terms of the street however is the retention of a segment of the former barrack square now titled Wynyard Square. Having been the property of the remote British Government, the Barracks appear to have been simply sold off as surplus real estate in a distant outpost of Empire. The former Barracks Square with York Street passing through it had already been open to the public and identified as public space. Subse­ quently the parade ground has in part resisted the onslaught of subdivision. The title Wynyard Square and the narrow subdivided lots surrounding this wedge shaped park can scarcely conceal the intentions of the planners to replicate the fashionable residential squares of London. 14

By this time Macquarie's long awaited cathedral had begun to appear at the other end of York Street further reinforcing the strong visual and conceptual pattern of the street as a link 19.

Diag. 6 stablished its route York Street by 1831 has e e and at its southe~n through the Barrack~ S~~~rBurial Ground and s1te endof Macquar,estennin~ted P~!n~e: cathedral. 20 •

•

Diag. 7 The post-military development of the Barracks Square as public space completed the axial role of York Street as the link between two urban foca 1 points. 21.

between two major focal points within the town. The cathedral was in effect a large scale model of its English predecessors. The preoccupation with conventions established in the mother country lead to the cathedral being constructed with its 'Westworks' - the traditional entry point being located literally to the west and away from George Street. The process of import­ ation not only of ideas but of materials and technologies from abroad was natural to a small settlement that was still half a century from nationhood. In that half century however the process was to have dramatic effects upon the appearance and function of what had now become Sydney 1 s established streetplan. 22. ·

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2. 1842 illustration of York St., looking toward the newly arising St. Andrews Cathedral with Francis Greenaway's City Markets and George St Police Station on the left. 23.

1.3 THE TECHNOLOGIES OF BOOM

The Victorian Age brought great economic wealth to the Australian colonies. The opening up of the vast agricultural tracts of the interior and the discovery of gold in conmercially attractive quantities first near Bathurst by Edward Hargraves in 1851 and later the same year at Ballarat and Bendigo resulted in greatly increased free inmigration to Australia.

"From 1848 to 1851 nearly 35,000 persons were assisted to Australia and over 10,000 came unassisted. For the whole decade 1840-1850 the population has increased by over 200,000. But between 1850 and 1860 it almost trebled, and the increase of 740,000 brought the total to over a mi 11 ion 11 • 15

The extent and richness of the Victo-rian goldfields was the greatest attraction to this new influx and the town of Melbourne rapidly became the most populous in Australia and a flourishing commercial centre based upon the wealth of gold flowing from its hinterland. Sydney 1 s growth though less spectacular through this period was greatly assisted by the growth of the import export business resulting from the large number of:-

"ships returning to Europe almost empty after bringing out goods and migrants to the gold fields - 1 these ships• would carry wool at a low freight. Wool prices in Europe rose too, the average value of the New South Wales clip was ls ld a pound in 1851, 2s 2d a pound in 1861. Wool exports rose from 30,000,000 pounds weight in 1851 to 35,000,000 in 1861 11 .16

The result of this rapid economic growth on Sydney was not only an increase in the numbers of buildings under construction but in the types of structures now required. As the transhipment point for large quantities of goods both leaving and entering the country, Sydney 1 s waterside became the location of large numbers of warehouses and bond stores. The size of these stores 24.

and the limited land available introduced the necessity for multi storied construction and the builders were inevitably drawn to the emerging technologies from Europe and America in their desire to achieve taller and more efficient buildings.

The growth of manufacturing industries in Australia through this period was relatively slow. Initially

"on the whole it was cheaper for the colonies to produce gold and buy their manufactures rather than manufacture themselves".17

Later, British companies particularly in iron and steel production, acted aggressively to prevent the establishment of autonomous heavy industry in the colonies. As late as the signing of con­ tracts for the construction of Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1924 it was a condition of the loan from British Bankers that all steel used was to be manufactured in the United Kingdom. This artificial shortage of a major element in the technology of multi storied construction produced an indigenous solution in the use of high density hardwood generally grey ironbark in the con­ struction of internal framing to many of the major buildings constructed through the Victorian era and well into the twentieth century.

As early as 1869 Thomas Mort had constructed a wool store of five stores at Circular Quay [3]. Designed by Thomas Blackett this brick and stone structure typified the pattern of large commercial undertaking that would emerge first around the Quay and then, as the wharves reloc~ted to Darling Habour, in Kent and Sussex Streets just west of York Street. Mort•s store featured a 4 horsepower steam operated goods lift and south facing skylights to the top floor where wool auctions and inspections took place. Like all wool stores the determinent of building form was the large, heavy compressed bale of wool. The open internal structures of timber posts and beams in this and 25.

3. Thomas Horts Wool Store of 1869 - construction of multi-storied repositories for wool bales provided the initial developments in both internal framed construction and effective vertical movement systems. 26.

other stores of the time allowed free movement and stacking of the bales. It could also be repeated from floor to floor. As light was only required to manipulate the bales on all but the top floor the grid of columns and beams was continued over a floor plan of considerable depth. This continuity and regularity of structure distinguished warehouses of the time from other large commercial buildings which still adopted the cellular masonry construction favoured by British legislators since the Great Fire of London. 18

Through the 1870's the office building was only just beginning to emerge as a distinctive building form. Banks, insurance companies and the developing bureaucracy of the now self­ governing colonies all required accommodation for the ever increasing numbers employed in controlling their finances. Importers, wholesalers and retailers also required more and more office space as the colonies developed in a manner that continued to focus attention on their capitals now rapidly becoming cities.

This creeping commercialism caught York Street in the middle and through the 1870's the residential nature of Wynyard Square was rapidly eroded. Wholesalers were the predominant new occupants of the street erecting their three and four storey warehouses where previously small two storied shops and residences of Georgian origin had stood [4].

The only serious competition these new merchant palazzos received was from hotels and commercial residences. Where there were people there was a thirst and people visiting the city would always need a bed so some of the earliest hotel sites remained or were progressively re-built as the demand for better facilities grew. Several of these hotels still remain. On the corner of Erskine and York Streets the Occidential formerly Bradfords Hotel still trades. Clearly visible in photographs from 1870 it is thought to have been in existence since 1850. 19 Further south on the corner of King and York 27.

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YORK STREET, SYDNEY, lN 11M.8 Al'iP 197<1.

4. Comparative street elevations illustrate the growth of York St from the 1840's to the 1870's. 28.

Streets the Forbes Hotel dating from the late 1880's continues a business in evidence as early as 1838. 20

To the south the old city markets continued to trade and this end of York Street had by now become firmly established as a commercial precinct. Much of the emphasis for this came from the construction of the Sydney Town Hall in George Street. Construction of the Town Hall was to last from 1866 to 1888 and to involve several architects. The initial phase of construction under J.H. Wilson involved the construction of the George Street end of the building surrounded by its clock tower attributed to T. and E. Bradbridge. The later and larger Centennial Hall (1883-1888) actually provides the bulk of the building, but it was this first section:

"With its ta 11 ornate c 1ock tower, its extreme ornamentality, the lollipop building, the epitome of the sugared town halls of the Victorians 11 21 which provided the definitive focal point to the developing streetscape at the southern end of York Street. By locating the heavily tapered tower well back from George Street the architects for the building managed to align the tower almost central to the axis of York Street. In doing so they provided an element of streetscape possessing both mass and height that would act as a visual anchorpoint for the next fifty years of York Street's development. That this focal point was the Town Hall and identified an acknowledged public zone in the new city reinforced the pattern conceived during Macquarie's brief term of office [diag. 7]

These rumblings of change in the 1870's were only a suggestion of the explosion that was to follow. Like the earlier develop­ ment of street pattern these initial decisions would act as ground rules in the unprecedented economic boom of the 1880s. 29.

of the Town The C1ltlal relatt~d O focus for Hdev_,..al .i..-t tc Y,_,:irk S1fromthe pro l870's to 1940

TOWN HALL 30.

The development of the colonies after 1860 was characterised by much capital investment in industry communications and other capital works. In the first ten years of this enterprise there were few major success stories in the growth of communi­ cations.

"By 1870 there were only a thousand miles of railway in Australia, reaching nowhere more than 180 miles from the sea 11 .22

Through the 1870's government involvement in capital works picked up with spending on public works taking nearly 50% of investment in Australia at this time. 23 By 1883 Melbourne and Sydney would be linked by rail. Submarine telegraph cables had linked Australia with England in 1872 and with New Zealand in 1876 and in the l880's tramway systems were under construction in Melbourne and Sydney. But throughout the period the greatest consumer of investment funds was building.

The development pattern of York Street followed the pattern established during the 1870's but now the scale was to balloon upwards. Encouraged by the availability of speculative funds

"Between 1878 and 1891 the amount of overseas capital invested in Australia trebled - from f90,000,000 to f275,000,000 11 .24 and the availability of new technology the pressure to go upward was unavoidable. The promoters of new technology were not slow to capitalise upon the situation either.

11 W.F. Hall, Vice President of Otis Brothers and Company of New York when in Melbourne in 1885, was struck with the broad streets and the small heights of the buildings - generally three or four storeys. He convinced Mr. Prell to add a hydraulic lift and two additional storeys onto a four storey structure that he was then building without a lift at 15 Queen Street 11 .25 5 . York St . 1892 . The economic boo~ of t he 1880 ' s wou_d not be matched for urban impact until tr.e 1960 ' s . 32.

The situation began to feed upon itself following the financial success of such decisions.

"The tall buildings that were erected in Melbourne in the late 1880's, and the knowledge that tall buildings could be erected, resulted in an increase in the value of property in the commercial centre of the city".26

Photographs from the end of this period illustrate the scale and extent of this speculative boom in York Street [5]. Elaborate facades climbed to six and seven storeys, their height exaggerated by the large floor to ceiling height common to buildings at the time and by the practice of providing the main or ground floor raised above street level with a protruding basement. Raising the ground floor level not only provided natural light and ventilation to the basement level but gave some isolation from the dust and.flies of the street outside to the important public offices located on the ground floor. The storey and a half level also pennitted a tall carriageway into the internal goods yard and light well that developed within these buildings as every effort was made to maximise site usage.

Good examples of these first 'high rise' buildings in York Street survive and illustrate the degree to which often narrow and small sites were optimised using structurally unsophisticated buildings serviced by one or two hydraulically powered screw hoist lifts [6]. These remaining examples highlight another aspect of this first attempt at high rise construction.

"The sombre and almost puritanical code which emanaged from Windsor castle after the death of the Prince Consort and which penneated throughout the whole of the Anglo Saxon world frowned on personal adornment ... The successful man could not adorn his wife, let alone him­ self .•• He found the answer to his frustration by dressing his buildings in a way in which in other times he would have dressed his wife".27 33.

6. Hardware House, York St 1889-90. 34.

Few forms of building escaped this passion for decoration and the wholesale businesses of York Street were no exception. Scattered amongst these wholesalers were buildings with interiors to match these ornate street facades. These were the theatres such as the Imperial Opera House near King and York Street intersection, the banking chambers such as still survive at the corner of York and King Streets and the hotels. Not the small corner pubs such as the Forbes and Occidental (former Bensons) but new constructions a match for the surrounding wholesalers and as elsewhere in the city,

"with .. . bedrooms stacked in tiers above a ground floor of dining rooms, coffee rooms, ballroom and kitchen and the billiard rooms, stores, cellars, newfangled refrigeration cool rooms, lift and hot-water service rooms and electricity generators below ground, they were monuments to the ben·e-f its of techno 1ogy, the affluent materialism of society and the vulgarity of its tastes 11 .28

Of the three such hotels erected in or near York Street only the Gresham at the Town Hall end remains. Petty's Hotel formerly located at the extreme northern end of York Street and the larger Wentworth Hotel fronting nearby Lang Street have since been demolished.

The boom conditions that had given so much of the emphasis for this dramatic growth began to falter in 1888. In that year the land boom ended in New South Wales and from 1889 total private investment began to fall. As was to happen in future city building slumps, raised expectations in a time of rapid economic expansion had inflated land values to such an extent that even sixty years after, the adjusted value of land in the city was only half of what it was in 1888. 29 Market reaction to the gross-overestimating of this land resulted in a decline in the value of new bu i1 ding from f22 ,000 ,000 in 1888 to f9 ,000 ,000 in 1891. 30 As debtors gradually discovered their investments were 35.

unable to be recovered there began a protracted series of bankruptcies resulting in a run on Australia's poorly con­ trolled banking system in 1893. 36.

1.4 A QUESTION OF DIRECTION

At the cessation of building in 1893 York Street had developed much of the 1 walled 1 effect that gives this study its name. At this stage it is worth considering once more the extremes of urban theory with which this chapter began. For the purposes of our study it is reasonable to assume that York Streets development to the 188O 1 s gave the street the basic character­ istics of a grid planned town at least from Wynyard Square to the Town Hall. With this in mind we refer to a photograph of York Street taken in 1892 [7]. Looking from the King Street intersection towards the Town Hall. The growth during the boom period is irrmediately obvious when compared to the earlier 187O 1 s illustrations.

The continued predominance of the Town Hall tower is the next most apparent thing. The jumble of the buildings forming the street facade also adds to the feeling of general business. The projecting cornices, pediments, pinnacles, spirettes and other paraphernalia adorning the buildings make us very aware of the top of the wall. Further examination reveals a series of disjointed lines running along the street facade. These lines generated by the multiple arcading of each facade highlight the dilemma of architects in the 188O 1 s.

One of the early objections to multi-storied buildings of this nature was that they exceeded the limit imposed by the accepted Five Roman Orders necessitating the repetition of facade details from floor to floor. 31 Whilst paying homage to the advanced technology of the Romans, this attitude suggests many architects of the 188O 1 s were still not thinking of their buildings as a total entity but as a progression skywards of individually conceived elements or floors. In York Street as in the other Victorian city streets this resulted in a series of arcaded floors with dividing string courses and cornices. That this tended to reinforce the movement of the street towards focal points of recognised significance may be merely coincidence. The 37. •

FocGI l)(*lf of Bllboarda to blank Pr ._ Town Hal ... aide Wall o,..ct1n1 cornlcu.

Buldlnll oddr eu corner

-'. ---

------.,,,------

, . ---· II i.sl i 111 f e,1t11res• _ of y _ --- 7. ,IIIRhiug ork Str eet aft er the· 188Os boom. 38.

arcading itself was strongly advocated by many leading architects of the period. John Sulman saw this as,

"a way in which the qualities of good architecture, as he saw it, could take cognisance of local conditions and thereby mold the two into a native style 11 .32

Sulman went as far as to propose legislation aimed at introducing both regularisation and continuity in the arcading along city streets. But in the convnercial reality of Victorian Sydney, with few notable exceptions, the arcading was applied either as a blind arcade set into the building facade or as

"small lengths of three or five arches, repeated in tiers if possible .•• and the round headed arch, even as a single element unit in a cumbrous portico, became the visible symbol of permanence and respectability".33

Returning to the 1892 photograph of York Street it is evident that the practise of arcading was pursued even when the raised ground floor of many buildings made somewhat of a sham of any direct reference of arcade to foopath. Whilst much of the tiered arcading surmounting the facades of these buildings can be traced back to vague notions of Roman and Rennaissance Italy, one major reference point should not be overlooked.

In the 1840 1 s John Ruskin a major force in the English Romantic Move­ ment wrote "The Stones of Venice". With this masterpiece of Victorian observation Ruskin brought about

"a decisive moment in the storey of Citorian architecture. The people of England never again looked upon architecture with quite the same eyes". 34

For what Ruskin achieved through his acute observation of the ornamentation of this city in the Adriatic was a moral 39.

justification for the virtues of decoration and style in architecture.

"It was all a sacrifice and a duty in the high, moral Victorian manner. Architecture, there after ceased to be a matter of taste, it became a matter of morality 11 .35

At a time when architects still looked to England for direction and few if any could have avoided Ruskin's writings in their formal studies or office training his influence on the street­ scape of Sydney in the 1880 1 s cannot be overlooked. Ruskin 1 s greatest influence in architecture lay in the Gothic Revival (in particular Venetian Gothic). His championing of a city where townscape albeit canal orientated was of such an advanced nature would affect the output of his adherents despite their oblivious­ ness to this function of the decorative elements, particularly the arcading that they considered both morally and aesthetically correct.

It is inconclusive therefore whether the high Victorian architecture of York Street made a conscious effort to enhance the established streetscape elements of axis, and predominant major public identification points represented by Wynyard Square and the Town Hall. What is established by observation both of remaining fabric and documentary evidence is that a form of high rise building evolved through the 1880 1 s that consisted of a (sometimes broken) wall running between the focal points of the street. Further the manner of facade treatment in this wall by virtue of seried layers of varying orders produced a visual movement that emphasised the progress of the street towards its major destinations.

Accepting that York Street possesses a clear geometric urban spatial form (Krier 1 s terminology) derived from the Macquarie inspired townscape how does Krier's relationship between regular form and need for high quality architecture measure up in this 40.

street. If we limit our judgement of 'quality architecture' to assessment of facade detailing it does not. High Victorian or Boom Style commercial buildings like those constructed along York Street have been aptly described as:

"that endless series of expensive buildings possessed of an uncanny genius for combining a maximum of ornament with a maximum of dullness".36

A broader consideration of the architectural merits of these buildings reveals as we have already seen in the effect of arcading some adherence to basis tenents of architectural sensitivity. The recognition in the street plan of the importance of the Town Hall and the emphasis placed upon elaborate detailing of corner sites (such as the Gresham Hotel and the National Bank at the corner of King and York Streets) show a certain understanding of the role architecture must play if Krier's definition of what makes a streetscape is to be applied to York Street as it existed by the 189O's. These elements of supporting evidence should not be over emphasised for:

"it must be noted, as a characteristic of the age that there is an entire absence of town planning everywhere. Whether as a manifestation of eighteenth century order or of twentiety-century welfare, planning was a contradiction of Victorian individualism".37

The government and private enterprise proposals for a city rail system in this period testify to the pragmatism of the Victorian mind. These schemes unquestioningly placed major rail terminals in Hyde Park or levelled entire city blocks for the same purpose. One scheme even turned the intimate confines of Wynyard Square into. an open cut ra,· 1ways t a t.,on. 38

One additional major construction occurred at the end of this period reinforcing earlier observations on the steadying and 41.

reinforcing role of the public sector in the development of urban form. Throughout the boom of the 1880's Macquarie's by now drastically undersized city markets had continued to function between Market and Druitt Streets. This collection of single storey sheds together with the adjacent City Police Station standing on unratable land and sheltered from the speculative intrigues of private ownership were by 1890 an anachronism amidst the towering facades of both York and George Street. This phenomenon was not unique to this site. Elsewhere small buildings had survived on valuable city sites not because of any publicly accepted significance but simply as the establishment of institutions whose functions had changed little since the buildings construction. The Phillip Street traffic courts [8] are a surviving example of this process. Inner city corner pubs were until the 1970 1 s another example.fixed in time by small sites generating a high return under the control of 19th Century licensing laws.

By 1890 the functions housed in the old city markets had outgrown their acconmodation. The decision by the City Council to re­ construct the market on the same site would prove to be one of the more spectacular blunders made by local government in Sydney. The form taken by the new markets building in some degree balanced the economic loss it incurred.

Designed by city Architect George McRae and constructed between 1893 and 1898 this fantasy of domes and Romanesque embellishments epitomised high Victorian architecture. But whilst the opposing facades of York Street epitomised the efforts of boom developers to ruthlessly optimise their sites an examination of the floor plan of this oversized arcade would have made these same developers wince. For Queen Victoria building is literally a wall to an entire city block. Behind the wall nestles a single row of shop spaces all opening onto a central gallery. 42.

8. Forbes Hotel, York St - small buildings survive on valuable city sites as venues for established public activities. Highly protective licensing laws were not amended in New South Wales until the 1970's. 43.

Though not even in the Victorian sense a high rise building, the boldness of the Queen Victoria Building makes it a worthy match for the taller buildings across York Street and a major con­ tributor to the now established streetscape. McRae's external treatment of the building suggests a keen awareness of this streetscape. At the exposed corners of the building McRae formed raised pavilions elevating an essentially three storey facade to a more appropriate vertical scale where it would count most. The heavy projecting cornice and running moulding together with the subtle thrust and recession of alternate rises along the facades echo the irregular but established pattern of the opposing buildings. Finally the fantasy domes and tiny cupolas of the rooftop recreate in one single construction the efforts of a decade that punctuate the skyline along the street. The overall effect is one; to reinforce the York Street wall moving inexorably toward its focal spire L9].

The commencement of the Queen Victoria Building during an un­ precedented depression emphasises a further aspect of government influence on the development of urban fabric. Government intervention in urban matters is based upon the attainment of long term goals and as such is not as readily influenced by short term economic upsets. In this respect government projects are better placed to promote significant urban trends than their more pragmatic private sector equivalents. Theoretically the government sector is in a position of influence far beyond its role as legislator and controller of wayward growth. The public aspects of a city whether buildings or open spaces set a standard by which all surrounding developments tend to be measured.

Unfortunately this aspect of the public sector has through Sydney's history been utilized more as a restorative than as a base for private sector response. So the Queen Victoria Building with all its purposeful exuberance occurs at the end of an era of frenzied building activity unified only by individual responses 44.

to abstract notions of architectural correctness. It can be argued that Macquarie's underlying notion of focal urban points held the streetscape together in the intervening 70 years.

9. Queen Victoria Building, typical section - as a commercial undertoking the open golleried building stood little chance of success.

., ~1

9. Queen Victoria Building, James M~Crae 1893. The overall effect is one, to reinforce the York St wall's inexorable movement toward its focal spire. 45.

CONCLUSIONS - THE FIRST GENERATION

By the time of the 1893 Bank Crash in New South Wales the initial development of multi storied buildings in York Street had produced a distinctive 'walled' streetscape. This street­ scape was enhanced by earlier planning decisions characteristic of the Georgian age. The preceding Georgian planning established a framework of focal points the identification of which was clarified by urban development during the Victorian era. The axis forming role of the Town Hall Tower and the retention of the former parade ground as Wynyard Square gained importance because of this underlying Georgian ideal. The Town Hall Tower aligned closely to the central axis of York Street provided an element of visual scale to the street whilst reinforcing the geometrical regularity inherent in the cartesian grid. The classical grid was both a favourite tool of Georgian planning and by virtue of its military associations a contributing factor in the regular alignment of York Street.

The presence of the offset Wynyard Square at the opposite end of York Street provided a second point of focus in the street. The square formed a 'res publica' beyond which the character of the street became obscured by junctions with the irregular street pattern about Circular Quay and acomplete change in the size and type of buildings.

Within this set piece streetplan the wall of building facades running between the two focal points featured a plethora of decorative embellishments. This chaotic ornamentation represented the initial attempts by architects and owners to come to terms with the multi storey building. Singularly these building facades failed to match the achievements of the Town Hall Tower and Wynyard Square in determining a cohesive townscape. Collect­ ively, by virtue of the inherited architectural traditions incorporated into their designs and the unifying effect of a common construction period, these initial attempts at high rise construction formed a significant and definable streetscape. 46 .

."i1Jj -· d" ··\··_ · 1--0. •• · , ·- - ·- ··~ ·~--

.._; 47.

2.0 RECOVERY

For New South Wales, recovery from the 1893 Bank Crash was a

slow and cautious process. By the late 1890 1 s cormnercial activity had sufficiently revived to warrant extension of existing buildings and some new construction. The advent of Federation and a new century soon confirmed this business confidence. A new century also brought with it a consolidation both of new technologies and style within the high rise building the later in particular having remained an unresolved dileRJTia throughout the first generation of tall buildings.

Technology would prove to be the initial growth area as the city absorbed the new inventions now being mass produced in Europe and America. Despite economic downturn there was always a market for machinery that would make life easier, attract more customers or squeeze greater returns out of existing buildings. Chart No. 1 outlines significant dates in the introduction of new tecnnology into Australian buildings. The chart testifies to the continuous introduction of new technology throughout the 1890 1 s in spite of drastically reduced building activity. The increased efficiency of lifts through this period complemented by the availability of mains supplied hydraulic power is an obvious example of the new justification for renewed high rise construction.

By 1908 York Street clearly exhibited renewed upward growth [10].

Two processes are in evidence. Firstly the upward extension of existing multi storey buildings. These extensions, facilitated by the improved nature of lifts, had risen two and three floors above the previous rooflines of such buildings. The builders of these super attics attempted to repeat the arcaded patterning of lower floors but generally the effort was half hearted and detailing was minimal (11]. 48.

11. York House ( 50-54 York St). The upward extension of existing buildings, spurred by improved lift technology, resulted in 'super attics' with minimal detailing. 49.

Development charts of technology associated with early high rise buildings.

Table la-Rail transport. Table lb-Vertical movement. Table le-Lighting Table Id-Ventilation. 50. l(a) DEVELOPMENT OF RAIL TRANSPORT

1855 First rail link in NSW Sydney to Parramatta

1869 Rail link extends to Goulburn

1870's Railways still terminate at Redfern relying on tramway links to city.

1881 Proposal to run city railway near York Street with station at Wynyard Square.

1889 First Royal Commission to consider schemes for a city railway.

1897 Rail terminal proposed for Hyde Park.

1901 City rail scheme proposed with overhead/ underground sections based upon European/ American experience.

Central railway Station under construction.

1914 NSW Govt sends J.J.C. Bradfield overseas to investigate underground systems.

1915 City and Suburban Electric Railways Act passed.

1916 Bradfield report includes plans for underground city railway.

1930-32 City underground railway constructed (first stage). l(b) VERT!CAI, MOVEMENT 51. International Precedence Australian Developments

1830's 1830's Manual Cargo "Winches

1840' s 1840's Hydraulic 'Whips' in warehouses 18S0's Otis Lift (USA)

1860's Gas turbine power services for 1870 First Passenger Lift cargo hoists Equltable Building New York (6 Floors)

1878 C. Ua I dwi n USA Invents Hydraulic Suspension 1879 Improved wonndrlve hoist at Elevator Sydney Exhibition

1881 First passenger lift (Otis/ Baldwin) Farmers Store Sydney

1888 Olrect Ram Lift at Melbourne Centennial Exhibition

1889 Melbourne hydraulic power 1889 First Electric Llf~ by company commences Otis at Dumoresque Co New York 1890 E. Raht's Equitable Life Building, Sydney, establishes pattern of central weir with twin .lifts and stairway

1890 Tai lest Travel I Ing - 127 ft Direct Acting Lift In world installed In Melbourne 12 Storey Property & investment Bui I ding

1891 Sydney & Suburban Hydraulic Power· Company established

1891 planning of Prell's building Melbourne places stairs and lifts about lightwell between blockplan floors providing fire isolation

1894 - 194 Ii fts using central hydraulic power in Sydney

1900 First Electric Cargo Lift at Sydney G.P.O.

1901 First electric passenger lift at David Jones Store, Sydney

1902 Lifts and scaffolds Act, NSW

1903 drum type electric lifts replaced by sheave type - greater travel end speed

1908 /\nmended Lifts and Scaffolds /\et, NSW - greeter safety

1920's steel grilles replaced by fire proofed/glazed door I I ft s

19J0's Stolrs and I 1ft wel Is fire Isolated In buildings l(c) Lighting 52. LIQUID FUELS GAS ELECTRIC LIGHTING

1830 Tallow candles

Whale oil lanterns

1840 Gas main laid in Sydney

Gas jet burners

1850

1860 Kerosene lanterns (Kerosene introduced) 1863 First demonstration of electric lighting in Sydney 1870 1879 Thomas Edison & Joseph Swann invented incandescent lamps.

Garden Palace erected under electric light (arc lamps)

1880's Regenerative/receperative burners give bright light for public spaces. Arc lamps used in large shops and public spaces.

1882 Incandescent lighting demonstrated at Acrons Exchange Hotel, Sydney

1883 Incandescent lighting installed in NSW Legislative Assembly.

1889 Sydney Centennial Hall uses incandescent arc lighting.

1891 Arc lamps light Sydney's Imperial Arcade 1893 Incandescent gas Australia Hotel installs its own mantle introduced. lighting plant. Incandescent lighting widely adopted

1897 Inverted arc lamp for lighting ceilings.

1900

1909 Inverted gas mantle introduced 1910 1910 Incandescent lighting in all major buildings where electricity is available.

1920 Neon lighting introduced.

1930 1937 Florescent lighting introduced 53. l(d) VENTILATION

International Developments Australian Developments

Punkah's in use - would remain so until 1900's when powered by electric motors.

1860's Ducted ventilation in Europe and America run by town gas.

1886 American battery powered room fans introduced to Melbourne.

1892 Small electric mantle piece fans available.

1894 Electrical ventilation fans installed " in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane offices 1897 Ducted ventilation in South Australian Assembly Chamber.

1899 Ducted ventilation to Melbourne office building includes heated air.

1900 Various types of fans used for summer ventilation of offices and public buildin

1904 Use of water sprays and ammonia coils for cooling of ducted air. 1905 Willis Carrier installed first humidity control system in Brooklyn, N.Y., lithography plant. 1909 N.S.W. legislation specifies quantities of fresh/recycled air to theatres and halls. Rooftop air handling equipment becomes a standard feature of large public buildings.

1910 Electric centrifuge fans control! rate of air exchange/electric ceiling fans move air in rooms. 1911 Mechanical ventilation systems installed at the Y.enzies Hotel, Melbourne and Sydney G.P.O.

1913 Mechanical ventilation and exhaust system in Wentworth Hotel, Churc~ Hill, Sydney.

1920's Mechanical ventilation begins to appear in public areas of insurance and commercii office buildings. Feb.1923 t'irst air conditioning system in Australi, installed in Collingwood telephone exchange. 1932 Port Authority Building Melbourne - plenv system for mechanical ventilation. Manchester Unity Building, Melbourne - basement plant room vith 2.7 m ceilings to corridors housing overhead ducting to all offices. 1933 Automatic Film Laboraties, Sydney building built around air conditioning plant, 54.

The second process was the replacement of economically vulnerable buildings a process almost universally indicative of increased economic activity. Buildings such as the rebuilt Forbes Hotel and the new Henry Bull & Co. Warehouse [15] represented new investment by established concerns rather than speculative boom period developments. More significant was the style of these new buildings as it heralded a change in attitudes to the visual ~- perception of high rise buildings. The Bull Warehouse erected in 1904 to replace the company's previous seven storey building opposite Wynyard Square reflected the increased consideration of the high rise building as a specific building form. The treat­ ment of this form in the Edwardian era was by no means fully convincing but some powerful influences were now directing Sydney's architects in how to handle tall buildings. 55.

2.1 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A VERTICAL LANGUAGE

Whilst Sydney's architects of the 189O's continued to be influenced principally by their English teachers they relied increasingly upon technologies marketed from the United States. Periodically new American directions in architecture would also come to the attention of the local fraternity. Foremost among these was the stylistic evolution of the large commercial building as a cohesive multi storied entity. When visiting American architect Edward Raht completed his George Street offices for the Life Assurance Society of the United States Sydney was presented with a first hand example of the new form [12]. Soon after in 1893 Arthur Blackett completed an exercise in the Romanesque inspired style of the great American architect H.H. Richardson. The John Taylor Warehouse at Pyrmont on Darling Harbour Ls western s 1opes represented an uncompromisingly mono 1ithi c approach to the now familiar form of the multi storied timber and iron framed warehouse with its protective external brick cladding [13]. In this same decade whilst building virtually ceased in urban Sydney, the Chicago school of architects were taking the concept of a monolithic high rise form into a new phase of aesthetic resolution for:

"Chicago •.. (unlike Sydney) ••• did not seek to confirm its cultural status largely through what it might import from elsewhere 11 .l

Fundamental to this approach was the philosophy of the greatest of the Chicago School architects, Louis Sullivan, that the sky­ scraper

"must be tall, every inch of it tall. The force and power of altitude must be in it, the glory and pride of exhaltation must be in it. It must be every inch a proud and soaring thing, rising in sheer exhaltation that from bottom to top is a 11 unit without a single dissenting line • 2 56.

Heavy projectlnQ cornice

Romanesque detallnQ

GICl\t order column screen

12. Edward Rahts 1890 Life Assurance Society of This George St office the United States. building provided Sydney with example of the new American a first hand approach to multi-storied buildings. 57.

13. Arthur Blackett's 1893.John Taylor Warehouse at Pyrmont adapted the monolithic style of American high rise to the familiar wool store form. 58.

14. Adaption of the American prototype to a York Street facade 59.

The works produced by Sullivan and partner Dankmar Adler along with those of rival firms Burnham and Root and Holabird and Roche were seminal to all developments in the appearance of high rise buildings over the next half century. The translation of the messages contained within these ten to fifteen storey buildings of the 1890 1 s into Sydney 1 s streetscapes was a circuitous affair taking in many other influences. As the twentieth century progressed the prime source of influence would move from Chicago to the great skyscrapers of New York and then to European modernism.

For the first quarter of the century, the lessons of Chicago would find their greatest exponents among the designers of Sydney 1 s multi storied warehouses. Other forms of high rise building would accept in principle Sullivan 1 s classical treatment· of the building as base, shaft and capital. Few could resist the temptation for embellishment where the budget allowed for more than the most modest of structures.

Being on the wholesale fringe of Sydney 1 s commercial district, York Street began to receive both warehouses featuring

"straight clean cornices with brick walls and giant semi-circular brick arches fused into one unit ••• "3 such as that remaining at 83-87 York Street and more ornate office and wholesale buildings in which

"the style became heavy, ponderous and debased ..• within classical mouldings, garlands and medallions". 4

The later were typified by the Henry Bull Tower. Both competed for the few underdeveloped sites while the process of upward extension continued on the more substantial boom period buildings well into the 1930's. It is worth considering the effect both new forms had upon the established streetscape of York Street. 60.

The sheer warehouse type building [14] was capable of rising seven or eight floors without a break in the giant attached pillasters with their crowning arches of stone or brick. Applied with equal vigour to single and multi storied con­ structions these giant arches enclosing banks of rectangular windows could have gone a long way towards removing all sense of scale from the street had not the other classically inspired lessons of their American counterparts been incorporated into these street facades. For like Sullivan's archetypal facades these warehouse fronts act as a screen containing the inner structural grid within a row of cloistered arches. This sense of containment is reinforced by the heavy surmounting cornice. The effect is one of vertical emphasis held within the con­ trolling forces of the street which are signalled by the repetitive arches and the strong horizontal cornice line. If there is any lingering doubt as to whether these blank facades belong to the busy street it is dispelled by the heavy articulated base of these buildings. Here recessed within the bulging cyclopean masonry are all the trappings of display and entry - small arched windows and doorways, wrought iron grilles and decorated frieze lines inset with coloured glass panes.

In the competition for suitable sites for economic redevelopment these clean efficient facades invariably lost out to their more decorative offspring. Corner sites offering greater availability of light and ventilation plus a more prominent aspect were a prized commodity invariably attracting the more decorative 'prestige' developments. Returning to the Henry Bull building as it stood in 1908 [15] we see a dramatic example of this process in operation. When efforts are made to categorize such embellished buildings of the period the word 'freestyle' is invariably applied. The era was one of stylistic ferment; the flowing Art Nouveau, Sullivan's rebated organic surface treatments, the projecting oriole window (introduced into commercial high rise by Norman Shaw in his influential New Zealand Chambers, London 1872) and finally the legacy of the 61.-

15. Henry Bull Tower, York St 1904-08

9ctCIQOIICII cornet towet .

auiclnt comer ocldr ..... stree1 lntetaectlon

ProJectlnCJ cornice repecrta --+:;!~ lne of atreet 9cwapet

Giant order attatdled columM

0rlel window form

Natlonallatlc motlffs 62.

Queen Anne a collection of Dutch gables, scrolls, scoops and crows step gables, all were added to the architects repertoire. Capping all these influences were the nationalistic motifs of Australiana applied at will to house and city building in this period of federation. Subjected to all these sources and with the mainstream of the Chicago style bearing upon the architect it is interesting to examine the resultant relation­ ship of the Bull Building to the street as it then stood.

When first completed in 1904 the Henry Bull Building at eight storeys and surmounting tower was after the Town Hall Tower the tallest building in York Street. The later addition of two extra floors consolidated the pre-eminence of this structure. The Henry Bull Tower's principal concern is with height. Adorned with all the trimmings of freestyle, the buildings movement upward was emphasised by projecting hexagonal turrets and an alternate pattern of projecting and receding bays. The corner bay splayed to face the York and Market Street intersection provided a face which both designated entry and exaggerated the buildings slenderness. A surmounting octagonal tower and dome further enhanced this impression of verticallity. Despite this dedication to skyward movement, the building did not ignore the street. At the previously established 'top' of the street wall a heavy cornice projected from the facade. Beneath this cornice were the by now familiar giant arches framing projecting window bays. Above a series of attic floors were similarly linked by the continuous vertical brick turrets. In creating virtually a building on a building the designers of this prominent Edwardian tower harked both back to the tired arcading of the 1880's and forward to the new generation of American skyscrapers prompted by the New York 'set back' regulations of 1916. The attention afforded the building on its corner site highlights the importance of such sites in a regular linear streetscape. 63.

16. York St, 1912. 64.

THE WALL IS DEFINED

In the years leading to the outbreak of World War I the develop­ ment of York Street, as with much of Sydney, stabilised. A gradual pattern of infill and upgrading of the high Victorian buildings continued. The Henry Bull Tower remained the pre­ dominant new addition to the streetscape [16] with other new buildings concentrating at the Town Hall end. Elsewhere in the city, major new buildings were not as well mannered in their approach to the street. Reaction to these brash new erections was to have a major effect on future development of the entire city skyline.

Disasters whether real such as the great Fires of London (1666) and of Chicago (1871) or perceived such as the visual impact of Ernest Graham 1 s 1915 Equitable Building on New York 1 s streets have been the progenitors of most building regulations in western cities. Table No. 2 outlines the major developments in building regulations that affected Sydney up until 1940. Of these regulations those which affected the construction of high rise buildings divide into rules determining the physical construction of such buildings and regulations seeking to limit the actual extent of construction. The two forms of control proved singularly effective in limiting the height of buildings. Up until the amendment of the 1879 Sydney Improvement Act in 1916, tall buildings remained bound to a cumulative thickness of load bearing masonry for support of external fire resistant walls. As early as 1891 this system of construction had in Chicago produced the 16 storey Monadnock Building. This aside, the Improvement Act remained an effective barrier to any major utilization of the advantages of the steel frame in erecting •very tall buildings•. Prior to the amendment of this antiquated legislation a more direct ordinance had been introduced in Sydney effectively shutting the door to upward progress. 65.

CHRONOLOGY OF BUILDING REGULATIONS AFFECTING DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH RISE BUILDING

1667 Fire of London Ordinances o Regulated height to 4 stories o Dictated fire resistant construction 1788 White settlement - above nominally applied

1810 Macquarie Edict First Govt statement of building control - Essentially planning and location

1837 Sydney Building Act Fire regulations set out - no limits to height/set construction standards

1845 Sydney Building Act Specific to City of Sydney i

i 1879 Sydney Improvement Act o For fire protection reasons limit~dl I Height and no of storeys I o Restricted masonary support to external walls/only went to 100 ft

1916 Heights of Building Act o Establishes absolute building height of 150 feet (45m) o Recognises structural performance of steel frame/core

1947 Statutory Planning Scheme begins for the City of Sydney

1951 County of Cumberland Plan o Defines County Centre of Sydney as an area exceeding 800 hectaces o Allows buildings to 150 ft (45m) throughout this area

1971 City Statutory Planning Scheme o Maintained an area of 540 hectacre: • for unrestricted development including high rise.

1971 City of Sydney Strategic Plan o Concentrated high density development on central North-South , spine of City. o Introduced floor space ratio code related to urban precints.

TABLE N"2. 66.

The impetus for this restrictive ordinance was the construction in 1912 of the 170 foot tall (52 m) Culwalla Chambers on an L shaped site joining King and Castlereagh Streets [17]. By contemporary American standards this was not an exceptionally tall building. In 1912 Ernest Flaggs 600 foot tall (182.4 m) Singer Building had stood for 6 years in New York and Cass Gilbert's 792 foot (241 m) Woolworth building wa~ only one year from completion. These were true towers emerging from much bulkier bases [18] to rise to unprecedented heights. Conceivably given the tendency for Australian buildings of the period to trail American developments by some 10 years this form of high rise building would have emerged rapidly in Sydney and like its American antecedents been treated with public awe. Public reaction to architects Spain Cosh and Minnett 1 s Culwalla Chambers tended more to outrage. The results of this public antipathy parallel those stemming from the previously mentioned Equitable Building by Ernest Graham completed in New York during 1915.

What both buildings represented was a complete optimisation of all the income earning aspects of a restricted site restrained only by the limits of structural and service technology. Regard for any aspects of urban design was non existent. At three times the height of its Australian counterpart and 1.2 million square feet (110,900 m2 ) in floor space the Equitable Building dis­ played the obvious benefits to the developer of a steel frame and a larger site. Culwalla Chambers a composite structure of internal steel frame and external load bearing masonry represented the limits of this fonn of construction in Australia. To the public both erections represented the often suspected dangers of uncontrolled high rise development. As early as 1898 the prominent Sydney architect G.A. Mansfield had been advocating a revision of the Sydney Improvement Act in favour of ongoing high rise development. 5 The completion of Culwalla Chambers dashed such hopes for the next 40 years. - . -. · - 67. · ·

Culwalla Chambers - typical floorplan.

KING STREET.

17. Culwalla Chambers, Spain & Cosh 1912 68.

r--" ----/~:~#-··. , '· • ~ --I

~-- 18. Woolworth Building, New York; Cass Gilbert 1913 69.

20 . The Trust Building, King and Castlereagh Streets, Sydney. Completed in 1913 this tower displays the importance of siting ignored in the nearby Culwalla Chambers . 70.

Public reaction may not have been so rapid and so finite had Culwalla Chambers not been so disasterously sited [19] & (20). Rising above two narrow street facades and isolating a humble corner hotel, most of what was seen from the few possible vantage points at street level was the unmitigated rise of bare brick party walls. On the L shaped site these formed the major portion of external surface. That these same walls were so frequently in shade did even less to enhance the buildings image. Curiously no attempt appears to have been made to decorate these walls with painted signs as was the practice on so many blank walls of the time. Public and politicians could see only gloomy canyons resulting from further such developments. Even property owners still relying on good natural light and ventilation to their buildings perceived a threat in this building. Fire fighting authorities were equally pessimistic,

"Neither the eighty foot ladders, the largest available, nor the steam pumped water pressure could cope. Unless a halt were called the city would be a potential incinerator 11 .6

The passing of the Heights of Buildings Act in Sydney within the year must still rate as one of the more hastily executed examples of peace time legislation in Australian history. The most significant effect of this act was to limit the height of all future developments in Sydney to 190 feet (45.6 m). In Victoria the Melbourne City Council had already responded to similar pressures in 1910 by limiting the height of buildings to one and one third times the street width. Whilst this slightly more reasoned legislation - in townscape terms set a ceiling height of 132 feet (40 m) for new buildings, as with the Sydney Act, unoccupied towers and masts were permitted to go higher. 7

New York's Equitable Building likewise prompted planning legislation in this the home of the skyscraper. Earlier American efforts at control had included a briefly imposed 10 storey limit 71.

on new buildings in Chicago and proposed height and site coverage limits put forward by the designer of the Singer Building, Ernest Flagg. Flagg's proposals made during a 1908 review of the New York City building codes favoured slender towers emerging from a lower 100 foot high zone of maximum site coverage. 8 That American businesses

"were increasingly coming to regard them (skyscrapers) as symbolic of their own potency 11 9 was a major factor in the failure of American cities to provide controlling legislation prior to the excesses of the Equitable Building. So when in 1916 New York City introduced the first high rise zoning ordinance in America it was inevitable that this legislation would be more accommodating to ongoing develop­ ment than its Australian equivalents. Expressed basically as a maximum plot development ratio of 12:1 (the Equitable Building had been in excess of 30:1) the ordinance with its incorporated set-back requirements sought to reduce the apparent bulk of new developments. No attempt was made to inhibit the attainment of greater height.

It would be giving undue credit to attribute to the 1916 New York Zoning Ordinance sole responsibility for the emergence of the stepped tower as the dominant form of high rise built between the two world wars. Cass Gilbert's 1913 Woolworth Building had firmly established the type prior to the ordinance. Within the limitations of the Ordinance the stepped tower represented both a highly marketable response and an effective utilization of building technology of the period. It remained however an aesthetic response and not a dictate of the ordinance. The emergence of the stepped tower once again presented designers of Sydney's new buildings with a dile11111a.

By the time of the First World War the predominance of the United States as progenitor of new developments in high rise 72.

building had been recognised world wide. Even prior to the onset of war and international indebtedness~ the established cities of Europe had provided few responses to the provocations of Chicago and New York. In the 1920 1 s new urban growth was concentrated in America and remained predominantly high rise in nature. Australian cities also experienced considerable growth in this period but having imposed much stricter height limitations upon themselves the cities were placed in a difficult position when seeking to emulate the new upward growth in America.

Ironically this combination of restriction and rapidly absorbed American influence did much to reinforce the by now established walled streetscapeof York Street. The height limitation artificially boosted the value of the existing building stock in Sydney. In York Street with much of the Victorian high rise construction having already been extended vertically before the war there remained a reduced incentive to reconstruct existing buildings up to the new maximum height. New buildings continued to seek the least developed sites and these were inevitably the few surviving elements of the pre 1880 1 s streetscape. For these sites Sydney's architects designed copies in miniature of the great towers now rising all across the United States but parti­ cularly in New York city. The time gap from American prototype to Australian replica had been decreased from the 15-20 years between first instance and Australian reproduction to less than a decade. Other aspects of the new 1 metropolis 1 were also emerging in the thinking of Sydney's urban builders. The twenty one years between the world wars would see these concepts of urbanism combine with the rapid development of styles in high rise buildings. By the close of the 1930 1 s York Street would stand as a mature example of the high rise urban streetscape. The elements of this streetscape exhibited a clear progression from bloated palazzo to aspiring tower incorporating the influences of both European modernism and the true American skyscraper. 73.

21. National Cash Register Building, York St Sydney. 74.

The first phase of this final sequence was almost a step back­ wards. As America entered the 'roarring 20 1 s 1 and New York continued its ever skyward thrust, the 'Ecole de Beau Artes' training of many of the foremost architects of the period came to the fore. To these architects

"history was like a vast smorgasbord - everything was there for the taking, with visual pleasure the only cirterion for choice 11 .lO

Australian architects were soon caught up in this passion for history. One of the earliest examples to arise in York Street was the National Cash Register (NCR) Building [21]. Unashamedly classicist in style this building did not forget the lessons of Sullivan. The confident treatment of height is incorporated into the display of classical elements skilfully detailed in brick and sandstone. Historic allusion was at its best when executed three dimensionally. The great projecting entablatures of N.C.R. House and the nearby Commercial Bank and Bank of New South Wales facing George Street gained added strength in their sweep around their much favoured corner sites. By exposing a maximum of external surface to the street, these buildings not only gained advantage in the still necessary area of natural ventilation but also created an illusion of size and strength incommensurate with the sites they occupied. Standing on the corner of York and Barrack Streets, N.C.R. House rises eight floors on a typically small York Street site. When constructed, N.C.R. House and the recently demolished seven storey building on the opposing corner represented the beginnings of the eastern street facade to York Street. The scale of the projecting entablature and the calculated timing of the corner by N.C.R. House maintained the visual continuity established by the western street wall as it moved past Wynyard Park towards the distant Town Hall tower and reinforced by the adjacent corner building. This neighbouring mass of Romanesque arches in brick and rusticated stonework with the ubiquitous stone cornice presented a blank brick facade to Wynyard Park. This 75.

blank wall viewed 'at the head of a que' beyond which nothing taller stood closer than the Henry Bull Tower briefly reminded any theorist that an urban feature such as York Street always relied on strict commercial viability. For this same reason this wall soon sported an enormous billboard.

Despite their pre-occupation with history, architects in the 1920 1 s were designing in an environment more and more influenced by contemporary technologies. Just as high rise buildings represented the economic concentration of population, so too the changes to city infrastructure reflected the efforts to assemble increasing numbers at this point of concentration. Like their vertical counterparts these changes to horizontal movement systems were essentially 19th century inventions. Their fruition in Sydney only came with the construction through the late 1920 1 s of the long awaited harbour crossing and city rail ~ervice. Both would have major effects on the physical form of York Street and the manner in which ongoing development reacted to this change.

The signing of a contract in March 1924 for construction of a Sydney Harbour Bridge gave York Street a new role as gateway to the city. From Wynyard Square northward major remodelling was undertaken to gain access to this gargantuan structure.

"The roadway approaches on the southern or City side conmence at Wynyard Street. York Street has been widened to 81 feet northward from Wynyard Street, ••. York, Clarence and Kent Streets will be connected near Grosvenor Street by a crescent to the Bridge Highway 11 .ll

Not since Macquarie's time had such drastic change to the street plan occurred. Nothing stood in the way:

"To widen York Street between Wynyard and Grosvenor Streets, necessitated the demolition of Scots Church, that old landmark on Church Hill erected in 1826 11 • 12 76.

The upheaval in Wynyard Square did not stop at street level. Construction of the harbour crossing provided the final impetus for development of an underground rail system including the often vaunted Wynyard Square Station. Completion of the dual level underground station required excavation of all of Wynyard Square (22]. When the station opened in February 1932 a new park stood where the vestiges of the original square had been scraped away. Another station was constructed beneath George Street in front of the Town Hall.

American urban theorists of the 1920 1 s revelled in this phenomenon of the layered city. In New York its greatest advocate Harvey Wiley Corbett once again revived images of Venice. In his proposals for Manhattan Corbett visioned,

11 a city of arcades, plazas and bridges, with canals for streets, only the canals will not be filled with real water but with freely flowing motor traffic 11 .13

This romanticist view of the automobile disguised a very real concern with the growth in volume of city traffic. The separ­ ation of vehicle and pedestrian inherent in all of Corbett's schemes is itself an early advocacy of the urban expressway. Where this proposal differs from the expressways realised in the 1950 1 s is in Corbett's expectation that this mass movement of vehicles should be a participating part of the actual streetscape. To Koolhaus, Corbett is proposing

11 a completely new condition, where congestion becomes mysteriously positive" .14

So in the early 1930 1 s when Grace Brothers, a Sydney Department Store located on Broadway outside the central city advertised a speculative office development in York Street it was this ambiguous attitude to traffic congestion that prompted their advertising:- 77.

"Why not have your business address here In the best building On the Main Street From the Harbour Bridge To the Sydney Town Hall 11 • 15

Here we have the urban form being named. Buildings on a con­ necting street ("the Main Street") between identifiable focal points. What signals change is that one of these focal points is so big and so remote as to only be attainable by leaving the setting altogether. The new transport systems at and below street level provide the connection. Construction of the Harbour Bridge and its approaches represented a major inflation of urban scale in York Street. No longer did the confines of Wynyard Square and the low profile residential terraces of Cumberland Street beyond form a subtle conclusion to this urban relationship. Now an enonnous cleft led York Street northwards to the colossus of the bridge itself [27]. Due to the low incidence of private vehicle ownership in Sydney prior to World War II this new order of scale remained in conflict with the established street. The continued reliance of the greater population of Sydney on public transport meant that pedestrian accessibility remained a major detenninant of change in the status of inner city precincts. Thus the underground railway stations at Town Hall and Wynyard Square and the new suburban bus terminus at the latter reinforced the existing street usage pattern far more than the Harbour Bridge served to change them. The net result was an increase in both vehicular and pedestrian traffic within the street with a con­ tinued focusing of activity on the walled limits of the street between Wynyard Square and the Town Hall. Increased congestion in turn provoked a response in the form of new and greater buildings within the set piece streetscape.

The 1930's witnessed a new phase of high rise building in Sydney. The era would be abruptly halted by the outbreak of war and the number of buildings completed would be few but by 1939 Sydney had acquired examples of the most contemporary thinking in high rise architecture. 78.

~l " . I

22. Wynard Park excavated for the city underground railway. 79.

In June 1930 the prominent Sydney architect K.H. Mcconnel in addressing the Royal Australian Institute of Architects on 'The Trend of Present Day Architecture' stated,

"It is impossible for many of us to think and design as men do who have been trained in countries where the new movement has been an accepted thing for nearly a generation ••• we must not be ashamed at first to crib their ideas and then perhaps alter and improve them 11 .l6

To the English trained Mcconnel this 'new movement' was not the 'modern style' that was being produced by men "such as Corbusier ••• who carry their ideas to the point of absurdity1117 but rather the more tradition related architecture emanating from America and typified by the new handling of the skyscraper that was replacing the historicist approach of the 1920 1 s. This new movement in skyscraper architecture had through the late 1920 1 s been directed by a series of identifiable influences until it reached a point where a single distinctive form together with an established style existed. 80.

23. Idealised city streetscape by Hugh Ferris 1928. Both Ferris and Wiley Corbet gave visual form to the interaction between technology, zoning and the romance of the high rise building. 81.

AN IDEALISED IMAGE

The emergent form of 1930's American skyscraper owed much to the New York Zoning Laws of 1916. In establishing America's first effective code of plot coverage ratios and set back requirements, the zoning laws provoked a radical response from the city's architects.

During the design of Cass Gilbert's Woolworth Building of 1913 there emerged in Gilbert's office an architectural delineator Hugh Ferris whose idealised images of the new skyscraper would clarify for all architects the base form to which all consider­ ations of style and decoration could be applied or removed. By the 1920 1 s the St. Louis, Missouri educated Ferris had established his own architectural rendering studio. Here the true break with ecleticism began.

11 By using the one medium capable of depicting the eclectic surface trivia that pre-occupy Manhattan 1 s architects, Ferriss• drawings strip as much as render. With each representation he liberates an 18 1 honest 1 building from under the surface excess".

Ferris went further than this however. Spurred on by his growing popularity as the accepted illustrator of the new Manhattan, Ferris undertook studies of the 1916 Zoning Laws, producing conceptualized optimum block developments (23]. Like Corbett, Ferris gave basic visual form to popular concepts of what the new city was about. This imagery was publicised world wide. In Sydney Ferris 1 s influence appeared both in the style of present­ ation and the realised forms of new high rise construction of the 1930 IS•

The introduction to Sydney of the new style associated with Ferris's imagery relied in large part upon the construction of a small number of key works. Nor was the break from the ecleticism of the 1920 1 s a clean one, some of the new buildings 82.

choosing to adopt the form of the new American prototypes but wavering in the question of decoration.

"Here there appears to be a divergence of op1n1on between those who wish to make bits of the old ornament do the job and those who wish to go right ahead and think out new shapes for them­ selves, though byth agree in the omission of non-essentials". 9

The Grace Building completed in 1930 to the design of D.T. Morrow and Gordon illustrates the speed with which American ideas were being emulated in Australia. This thirteen storey building faced with glazed terracotta was a studied imitation of the much publicised winning entry in the 1922 Chicago Tribune Tower Competition by New York architects Hood and Howells [24]. Further evidence of the significance of this competition came with the com~letion of the British Medical Association building (1934) in Macquarie Street, Sydney. Designed by local architects Fawell and Mcconnel this building exhibits many of the features of Eliel Saarinens second placed entry in the Chicago competition. Saarinens' entry along with the 1927 Barclay Vessey Building, New York by Voorhaus and Walker mark the earliest attempts at realising Ferris's concept of the stepped, monolithic mountain 1i ke bu i 1ding.

The rapid translation of ideas from North America to Sydney and Melbourne during the 1930's did not spell an end to the city's established streetscapes. Restrictive height legislation encouraged optimum use of existing sites much in keeping with the Victorian Boom style. The acceptance of the existing streetscape and the continuity of its relation to the building was however a far greater factor in this urban consolidation.

Morrow and Gordon's Grace Building clearly indicated this tendency in York Street. In terms of the 1920's streetscape the Grace building represented a new order. The buildings height, colour and extreme verticality were as dramatic as the 83.

changes of the 1880 1 s. Yet the expression of a distinct vertical element in juxtaposition to the large rectangular mass, the repetitive vertical bays further emphasised by the additional articulation of every third vertical and the echoing of existing street spires by the corner buttress all contributed to the continuity of the walled streetscape despite the obvious difference in size [25]. The simplified Gothic detailing of the Grace Building employs a further technique to ensure its empathy with the older more articulated buildings of the street. As the by now 1 Sir 1 John Sulman recommended in his continuing advocacy of uniformity within Sydney's urban streets;

"Where the surfaces are plain with but few architectural trimmings, colour contrasts in bands friezes or panels might be attempted with advantage •.• to the street 11 .20

The coloured architectural terracotta facades of the Grace Building effectively bridge the gap between 1930 1 s lightweight facade technology and the carved stone and rendered brickwork of the 1880 1 s.

Glazed architectural terracotta orfaience was a relatively new material to Australia in the 1930 1 s. Its advantages over traditional masonry in terms of durability, mass production and reduced weight had made it a major cladding element in the development of the American skyscraper.

11 by 1914 the National Terra Cotta Society (U.S.A.) was claiming that almost half the Manhattan sky­ line visible at the time was architectural terra­ cotta11.21

Although some earlier examples of imported terracotta existed, general use of the material began with the co1T1Tiencement of local production at Rosehill by the Wunderlich Company in 1924. 22 By the 1930 1 s this material was threatening both brick and stone as the major cladding material for new city buildings. Its 84.

24. Ch icago Tribune Tower, Hood & Howells 1922.

25. Grace Building, York St. Morrow & Gordon, 1930 85.

multiple hues had made it a first choice for American architects delving into the simplified forms advocated by Ferris or adorning these same forms with a new style of decoration - the Jazz Style or Zig Zag Moderne. This adornment later termed Art Deco after the 1925 Paris Exhibition of Artes Decoratifs led many to think that the new stepped towers were simply a manifestation of this decoration on a giant scale. In reality the decoration provided an alternative to previous use of Gothic and classifical motiffs. Its distinction was in being born in the skyscraper age and subsequently becoming inseparable from the image of the Manhattan spire. The piqued reply by architect J.F. Munnings at the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Sydney during a 1930 debate on "Modern verus Traditional" gives some indication where contemporary architects were prepared to attribute the new forms.

"Why should an architect who uses forms of a Renaissance period be called Traditional and one who uses Mayan or Hindu forms be called Modern?.11 23

Here unacknowledged reference to the 1920 1 s works of Frank Lloyd Wright and Bertram Goodhue indicate one more source of influence on designers of the new city towers. Ferris 1 s sketches, Saarinen's competition entry, pre-Columbian America and the Paris Exposition, as diverse as these sources were their first amalgamation in Sydney occurred in two structures that were not city buildings at all. Both would signify the final chapter in the development of early high rise buildings in Sydney and their successful incorporation into the city streetscape.

In June 1930 C. Bruce Dellit 1 s scheme for the Sydney Anzac Memorial Building [26] was selected over second and third place­ getters - both classical drums. Dellit 1 s scheme owed much to Goodhue's Nebraska State Capitol Building and to the Ferrisian concept of the building made mountain. Even the window tracery in this Twentieth Century cathedral to the fallen employed the 86.

I

1930 Br"ce De11;, Sydney. War Memor;al, 26. Anzac Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylons 1932 87 •

•

I : f 88.

stepped skyscraper as a decorative motiff. Whilst this memorial was being erected in Hyde Park, at the other end of the city four huge similarly stepped towers were rising. As tall as the General Post Office tower these granite faced, tapered and stepped monoliths formed decorative pylons to the massive steel arch of the new Harbour Bridge. Office towers in this new style would soon follow in the time honored tradition of architectural response to innovation. Forced to conform with the 150 foot (45 m) ruling architects continued to reproduce American proto­ types in miniature. Sydney's architects as late as 1936 appear to have accepted this restriction on vertical construction. That year a talk delivered to the Institute of Architects by Charles Lloyd Jones on the virtues of the new American towers provoked the old responses of increased traffic congestion and general unpopularity suggesting little change in attitude since the erection of Culwalla Chambers. 24

Despite these concerns about Manhattan style congestion, during the remaining years leading to the outbreak of World War II, the stylistic influence of American skyscrapers persisted in Sydney. The later buildings also displayed a new influence as the issues raised by European modernism made increasing inroads into the concerns of architects. The 60 year old pre-occupation with the delineation of height wassuccumbing to a new concern with the building as an overall functioning machine.

Four buildings erected in York Street during this period illustrate the contrast in directions. Two buildings, the South British United (S.B.U.) building and the Amalgamated Wireless of Australia (A.W.A.) building remain unashamedly American in their influences. The second pair, Asbestos House and Transport House are transitional and hint at philosophies that would dominate the next generation of high rise construction. 89.

28. The South British United Building , York & King Sts - a stepped tower in miniature 90.

The S.B.U. Building is a stepped tower in miniature. The first building in Sydney to be clad in reconstituted stone25 and with its main entry in King Street, the 'South British' appears on first impressions to be more concerned with stylistic detail than with either street. Ironically within the context of the '150 foot rule' this pre-occupation makes the South British a significant contributor to the street wall. The vibrant pink hue of the cladding, the stepping of the buildings mass and the overscaled public entries to both streets reinforce the buildings association with the street. Furthermore in its occupation of a corner site the building confirms the distinctive pattern within the York Street wall of addressing cross streets by location of principal buildings at these junctions the surmounting towers to such structures further stressing the signature characteristic of this phenomenon.

One corner north and on the opposite side of the street rose another building during this period that suggested new directions were calling architects of the period. Asbestos House completed in 1935 by Morrow and Gordon presents a curious junction between the ideas dominating high rise construction since Sullivans time and the emerging modernism of central Europe. Whilst none of the European architects at the forefront of modernism had to that date actually constructed a true high rise building, the 'International Style' as it had been termed by Henry Russell Hitchcock and the astute New York curator Phillip Johnson had been widely publicised. Lack of confidence and few distinctive proto­ types led to some strange hybrids in Australia

"the general ideology that gained acceptance, at first in the profession and then by the public, was a compound of bits and pieces from the main contending schools in Europe and America. It was partly Duclock, partly Wright and partly Le Corbusier ... Because its adherents so little 91.

29. Asbestos Ho u se , York St. Morrow & Go rdon 1935 . 92.

understood in any depth the tenents of what were mutually exclusive philosophies it succeeded only in being crassly superficial - more so than any other style had ever been 11 .26

This rather harsh condemnation of a brief transitional period further emphasises the imported nature of ideas expressed in Australian high rise buildings. The lack of continuity in construction and the strength of direction previously given by American skyscrapers had done little to foster any indigenous ideas save in the area of construction techniques. So Asbestos House at twelve floors a tall building for York Street arose as one of the unhappy results of this uncertain period. Unwilling to shed the vertical exaggeration so dominant in buildings of the preceeding years the buildings architects combined this with an aggressively simple expression of streamlined mass folded around the street corner. The buildings skyline is distinctly flat and only the enforced height restriction ties this building to the street. Asbestos House hints at the fascination with the free standing building mass which as Rob Krier argues became under the auspices of architectural writer Sigfried Gideon

11 the sine qua non of modern architecture and town planning 11 27

For all the clumsiness of Asbestos House, there arose two blocks further north a building based upon the same influences which succeeded where Asbestos House had failed both as an individual building and as a contributing element to the established streetscape. In 1936 the Sir John Sulman medal for architecture was awarded to the New South Wales Railways Administrative Building facing Wynyard Square. This somewhat awkwardly named building by H.E. Budden and Mackay rising 12 stories above York Street would have been 93.

notable if for no other reason than its vibrant use of green glazed terra-cotta to clad the entire street facade. But Budden and Mackay had more than just copied the colour finish of Raymond Hoods 1931 McGraw Hill Building, New York. Hoods building with its use of dark metal cladding to columns and window frames and its striking blue-green horizontal spandrels had taken a major step towards melding the structurally deterministic preachings of European modernism with the urban tower philosophies of Manhattan. In repeating Hoods exercise in 1 150 foot' Sydney, Budden and Mackay added their own details in recognition of the location.

The long slab like facade of the Railways Offices [30] offered little opportunity for the stepped tower treatment of Hoods prototype. Not wishing to dismiss the buildings height altogether, Budden and Mackay placed a high rise tower in miniature within the facade of the building. At the base of the applied tower was the entry to the cities underground railway - the lifeblood of high rise. Through the tower rose the buildings lifts and above a plantroom formed the basis of the stepped crown to the building. The stunted nature of this tower was originally boosted by a large flagpole although this in itself was negated by an even taller neon sign perched precariously above the buildings blank northern facade. To the south of the lift tower the floors of offices swept away in unrelieved horizontal bands. The length of these floors providing a vanishing perspective image drawing the observer into the movement of the streetwall to the distant Town Hall spire.

Like the earlier Grace Building, the Railways Offices represented an attempt to adapt a specific prototype to a more restricted location. Budden and Mackays success lay both in their recognition of the principles underlying Hoods 94.

30a. The N.S.W. Railways Building of 1936. The established stepped tower form emerges from an otherwise linear building - appropriately designating the entry to Wynyard underground station. 95.

30 . N.S.W. Railways Building, York St. E. H. Budden & McKay 1936 . 96.

design and in their acknowledgement that York Street consisted of a wall punctuated by signature points indicating the intersection of cross streets or the presence of major buildings along the axis between Town Hall and open square. Budden and Mackays 'tower' signifies not only a major building - in its time the beginning of the street wall, it also designates the arrival point not from parallel streets but from the layer of urban activity below the street.

The Railways Offices provided the nexus between changing style and established urban form. The Amalgamated Wireless Australia (A.W.A.) Tower of 1938 completed the chronological development of the early high rise streetscape in York Street. Long deprived of a true skyscraper, Sydney warmed to this combination of office building and short wave radio rising 112.5 metres ( 370 ft.) above the street. The old concept of a spire rising freely above the encumberances of the city had finally found a champion:

11 the A.W.A. beacon flashes a red signal of H million candlepower, visible to the lookout aboard vessels as far as 80 miles to sea. The view to the west reaches as far as the Blue Mountains with Katoomba visible on a clear day whilst the Gib at Bowral can be seen to the south 11 .28

The brick faced tower rising on a small site opposite the southern end of Wynyard Square featured little decoration, the architects Morrow and Gordon obtaining impact from the stepped tower form with its surmounting lattice tower. Decorative elements were limited to the company logo and to floodlighting of the landmark tower. This tower further celebrated its noteworthiness by incorporating a viewing platform at the 98 metre ( 322 ft.) level. The technicalities of the Height of Building Act still required special permission for the erection of such a tall structure in the city. 97.

31. AWA Tower, York St. Morrow & Gordon 1938 98.

Despite its location next to the l850's Forbes Hotel, the A.W.A. Tower failed to raise the kind of reaction Culwalla Chambers had some 26 years previously. A combination of factors - the stepped tower form with its lack of threatening overhangs, an open site opposite the now greening Wynyard Park, the precedent of a series of towers rising from a walled street facade and the presence of the Wynyard transport interchange - all served to mollify public op1n1on. 1938 also saw the sesquicentennial celebrations held in Sydney and despite continued public opinion that American skyscrapers were not appropriate to Sydney, a tower erected by an Australian company with direct association with public entertainment and progress could not be entirely dismissed as undesirable.

Within eighteen months of the A.W.A. Towers completion Australia was again at war, bringing both construction and Sydneys growth to a halt.once more. If terminal points can be identified in urban growth than this represented such for York Street. The ideas inherent in the generation of the by now mature streetscape of early high rise buildings would likewise end at this time. Not in Sydney however but in the United States where the experimental laboratories for high rise construction experienced only a brief lull between the completion of the last great stepped tower Raymond Hoods R.C.A. tower in 1942 and the construction of Mies Van der Rhoes radically modern Lake Shore Drive Apartments in 1949. 99.

J ______,. ______

·------

1958. 32. York Street Looking South 100.

3.0 THE POST-WAR CITY

Major changes in value systems and economic expectations in post World War 2 Australia would see some 25 years elapse before any recognition of the pre-war cityscape emerged. As with previous urban development foreign influences predominated. Despite improvements in travel, communications and construction methods the by now established lag of some 10 years persisted between development of ideas particularly in the United States and their incorporation in Australian cities. Improvements in construction technology served more to hasten the demise of existingbuildings than to increase local experimentation with new architectural forms. Consequently the notion of conserving whole urban streetscapes did not become a reality until most had been substantially modified or eroded by unsympathetic new development. Often this erosion was so extreme that conservation movements were left with only single elements of past streetscapes. Devoid of any context these urban remnants were seriously reduced in value from the outset [33] of any conservation efforts.

Where by virtue of economic neglect or through overwhelming dominance of the original form, streetscapes retained significant aspects of their original character there remained an opportunity for ongoing conservation. Recognition of these streetscapes has been slow. Planning ordinances acknowledging these urban features have to date failed to produce controls that provide for a satisfactory end result. Such a result would be both sympathetic to the existing built environment and accommodating of necessary urban growth.

The contemporary streetscape of York Street possesses substantial remains of the former early high rise 'walled' streetscape. A consideration of the factors responsible for post World War 2 reduction and modification of this 101.

33. Former NSW Club. Bligh St Sydney. An absence of context seriously reduces th~ value of such urban remnants. 102.

environment reveals areas where improvements to both planning legislation and architectural design would have assisted in conservation of this streetscape. The need to define the essential characteristics of the streetscape and to provide for an ultimate developed form of the street remains fundamental to the success of an ongoing conservation plan. 103.

3.1 A CHANGE OF IDEOLOGY - THE BLOCKPLAN FALLS FROM FAVOUR

With the outbreak of war in 1939 urban development slowed worldwide. In this period of conflict and subsequent austerity pre-war ideals of an urban metropolis also waned. The concept of the urban city did not so much as fall from favour as suffer from an extended lull in design and construction of buildings which reinforced its essential tenets. By the time cities did begin to build again the proponents of mainstream modernism had at last found a home in the technology base of the United States. The acceptance of this essentially European movement in architecture brought with it a new concept of urbanism.

At the heart of this movement remained the high rise building. The tower, now conceived as a free standing form was championed by influential writers such as Sigfried Gideon 2 as the 'sine qua non' of architecture. Ironically the ideal of the free standing tower surrounded by open space and connected by fast moving motor and rail routes stemmed from the same concern for light and amenity that produced the height and set-back regulations of the early 20th century. In Europe the need to impose new free standing towers on the existing urban fabric was at first not an issue. The devastation of aerial bombardment during the 1940's had provided an ideal laboratory for the new urbanism.

Since Sydney like its North American counterparts emerged unscathed from the 1940's. When economic conditions again favoured urban growth in the mid 1950's the question arose of how best to accommodate new developments in the city. Unfortunately as in pre-war Sydney a general lack of self direction pervaded the Australian scene forcing Australians once more into the time honoured tradition of simply 104.

reproducing overseas prototypes. A major factor this time was the extended time factor since Sydney last ventured upwards:

11 Practically none of the architects who were riding high in their profession had any experience with the size of one type of building - the city office building - that was thrown into their laps after 1955 11 3

Whilst this absence of experience in part accounted for the unashamed copying of the new high rise form, the issue of adopting ideas was no longer a consideration. The international image of the curtain walled office tower was so uncompromising as was the technology upon which it relied for its proper functioning that initially there was no recognition of either Sydney's climate or the buildings surrounds. And yet with planning controls unchanged the initial onslaught of new office towers had little effect on Sydney's central streets. Hemmed in by height restrictions and small sites new developments sought the traditional weak spots of underdeveloped land in city streets or located on peripheral sites where low land values and obsolescent warehouses allowed larger developments. Within the context of city streets some of the best urban buildings of the period were produced because of the persistence of pre-war planning regulations. Within the context of these restrictions even the most poorly resolved glass curtain walls acted as a neutral infill to the surrounding buildings in established city streets. As the scale and volume of new growth increased however, the city block fell entirely from favour with developers and architects pushing the issues of height and open settings for the new towers. 105.

3.2 A CHANGE IN THE RULES AND THE CITY CHANGES DIRECTION

From the outset, acceptance of the glass walled skyscraper swept away the old arguments upon which the 1912 Heights of Buildings Act was founded. The demonstrated ability of the technology which formed the basis of new high rise development and the corporate appeal of the free standing tower set in open, accessible surrounds were powerful weapons in the hands of those who sought to free up city planning regulations. Whilst all pre-war inventions [ref.chart no. 1 ] it was not until the boom of the mid 1950 1 s that air conditioning, light­ weight curtain walling and fluorescent strip lighting were combined with the by now established frame construction and high speed elevators. Towers that probed the 150 ft. ( 45 m) limit were planned for sites where the question of control was not clear. The Caltex Building (1956) erected on land under the jurisdiction of the Maritime Services Board in Kent Street, Sydney and the M.L.C. Building at North Sydney taunted the government legislators. The old regulations were finally repealed in 1957 the year the M.L.C. was completed. A state government committee was established for the Control of Heights of Buildings. Its establishment was to have dramatic effects upon the overall townscape of Sydney:

11 In special circumstances and under the Control of Heights of Buildings Committee, buildings were allowed to pierce the old ceiling. With ~hat a truly twentieth scale came to the cities"

Two major determinants of change now existed to potentially erode the York Street Wall; - economic impetus and changes to the planning regulations under which the wall evolved. However before these could be applied, to the detriment of the street­ scape, changes in the application of planning controls would have to take place. Once again the generating factor would be precedents established abroad. To the dismay of town 106.

planners adaptation of these new planning techniques did not always produce the envisaged end results either in terms of new construction or the effects of this construction on existing streetscapes. 107.

3.3 THE PLOT RATIO DEBACLE

Within the overall constraints of the 150 ft. (45 m) rule the pre-war growth of high-rise buildings in Sydney had proceeded with few other constraints. The property owner had virtually been able to reproduce the site over and over up to the 150 ft. (45 m) limit. Only the need to provide ventilation and lightwells limited the economics of a site. Even these were minimised by sharing with adjacent sites. The Heights of Buildings Advisory Corrmittee (HOBAC) went some of the way towards establishing a rational approach to high rise buildings. However it was not until adoption of the City of Sydney Strategic Plan in August 1971 that plot ratios related to the nature of surrounding buildings were introduced.

This finally was the outcome of a 24 year period of procrastin­ ation beginning in 1947 when the City Council had first conmenced a Statutory Planning Scheme for the City of Sydney. In the intervening years the state government had in 1951 through its County of Cumberland Plan defined a County centre of over 800 hectares including Sydney 1 s Central Business District and the surrounding inner city residential areas. This zoning effect­ ively allowed buildings up to the old height limit to be built anywhere over an enormous area of central Sydney. By 1964 the State Planning Authority had been instructed to complete the City Statutory Planning Scheme, a task it did not finish until 1971.

Faced with a reduced but still enormous County Centre of 219 hectarespotentially available for unlimited high rise con­ struction with the advent of HOBAC the then City Council decided to intervene. In 1970 the Council began formulating its Strategic Plan which when adopted eleven months later incor­ porated a Floor Space Ratio Code specific to each defined area or precinct of the city. Plot ratios or floor space ratios 108.

(FSR 1 s) were finally beginning to be used as a means of achieving defined urban strategies. The first of its kind in Australia the Councils 1971 Floor Space Ratio Code incorporated within each precinct:

"a series of bonuses in return for the financing and/ or construction by developers of subways, bridges, arcades, malls and plazas approved by Council as part of the pedestrian system".5

The Code also provided for:

"the transfer of development rights, to other places in the City, from places which should be preserved".6

The basis for revised plot ratios remained the control of new con­ struction .rather than any conscious attempt to conserve existing city buildings. The process whereby these new plot ratios resulted in the conservation of existing fabric was a side effect of the application of zonings to a whole city block. Where a block contained existing buildings possessing a greater plot ratio than that allowed by the new zonings these buildings were afforded some degree of economic protection. The Grace Building for instance as it stands in York Street has a plot ratio of 13:l in an area designated as 6:1 by the new planning code. In York Street the combination of small sites and restricted plot ratios inflated the value of existing building stock. Even with the removal of the 150 ft. (45 m) ceiling new development continued to reflect the conservational aspect albeit unintended of planning controls. The pattern of selective infill continued whilst key buildings in the street remained by virtue of sheer size. More important they remained the dominant elements in the street facade. Major high rise developments in Sydney through the late 1950 1 s and well into the 1960 1 s continued to be located on peripheral sites offering generous plot ratios and occupied by existing buildings well under such 109.

ratios. The AMP Tower at Circular Quay completed in 1963 was the largest and tallest of these. As with contemporary developments along Circular Quay East, architects Peddle Thorpe and Walker took maximum advantage of the generous site formerly occupied by Edmund Blacket's Morts Wool Store. Initially only government bodies had sufficient land holdings or powers of resumption allowing them to take advantage of the new planning regulations closer to the core of the city. Hence it was government undertakings such as the State Office Block in Phillip Street (1967), the Reserve Bank in Martin Place (1967} and the Commonwealth Centre, Chifley Square (1965) that first gave physical form to the intent of the new planning laws. Private enterprise soon caught up and ·with completion of architect Harry Seidler's Australia Square development in 1969 had demonstrated to the applaud of critics:

"the necessity of redeeming obsolete parts of cities by amalgamating a number of titles into one large tract and erecting on it not the site covering block that had been the standard approach since the 1830 1 s, but tall sprawling spires containing the same total floor area but which left half ~r more of the ground area open and uncluttered."

Ironically at the same time in America, Vincent Scully Jnr. was noting in reference to the urban changes in Manhattan through the 1950 1 s:

"The original buildings along the [Park] Avenue ..• defined its f1 ow. The solid places formed the street with facades designed for that purpose and so in scale with the width of the Avenue. The whole was one shape flowing southward, an urbanistic achievement of a kind of design which still valued the street as, later, the urban theory and practise of the 1950 1 s were not do do. 118

Sydney was not yet ready for such questioning of the proto­ types it so eagerly sought to emulate. The highly successful 110.

prestige developments that resulted from the initial property amalgamations of the late 1960 1 s were soon reproduced in more debased forms by developments which payed little attention to either the shape or location of open space about them. Whole street facades would in time become disjointed assemblages of towers and open spaces that appeared the antipathy of urban planning.

Much of the blame for this state of urban disorder can be attributed to the adaptation of an approach to urban planning first established in Manhattan. In 1961 following the success of Mies Van der Rhee's Seagram Building in Manhattan, New York City had changed its planning laws to encourage further examples of this 'tower in a square concept.' Wishing to accelerate this process the 1961 ordinance was amended.

"to emphasise what became known as 'incentive zoning' - granting bonuses of extra floor space on top of buildings in exchange for plazas, theatres, arcades and other amenities at their bottoms. 11 9

What began as a government inspired planning approach soon became a one sided boom to urban developers.

"Buildings were winning the right to make enormous profits in perpetuity from this extra space in return for the one time cost of an amenity. 11 10

When adapted by the City of Sydney Council in 1970 the process of incentive zoning clearly illustrated the failings of planning regulations which lacked a clearly defined end goal. The resultant open ~pace gains were often of little value to the public. Similarly with some new buildings public amenities agreed to as second stages of development approvals failed to eventuate or after a suitable period of runnin9 at a loss would be converted to office usage. 111.

The impact of incentive zoning on York Street was dramatic. At the intersection of York and Market Streets two enormous towers were erected during the 1970 1 s. Towers at street intersections were not new to York Street. In many ways they represented a continuation of the pre-war pattern of develop­ ment in the street. What caused these towers to become the single most devastating factor working against retention of the streetscape was the manner in which incentive zoning was manipulated by the realised designs. Both the St. Martins Tower and the taller National Mutual Building [architects Kahn Finch 1978] have been erected on sites amalgamating former street frontages to York, Market and Clarence Streets. Both are over 20 stories in height and both have used the technique of creating a central tower set back on all three street fronts. [34]

The residential site area remains by virtue of its shape and aspect unused and possibly unusable public space. The earlier of these buildings - the St. Martins Tower - replaced the former Henry Bull Building of 1905. At the time of its demolition little attention was paid to the removal either by the City Council 11 or conservation bodies. The lack of interest at that time reflected the then pre-occupation with urban renewal and a rather myopic view by conservation bodies that commercial buildings were generally not worthy of conservation. Picture palaces, department stores and city arcades suffered a similar fate during this era. Repetition of this form of tower nearly a decade later with all its adverse effects on the street highlighted the entrenched attitudes to street planning of architects whose careers developed in the 1950 1 s and 60's. The presentation of an architectural merit award to this building in the 1980's highlights the problem these attitudes present for urban conservation on a broader scale. Some years before the 112.

granting of this award the international art critic Robert Hughes had observed that:

11 the lesson of modernism can now be treated as one aesthetic choice among others, and not as a binding historical legacy 11 .l2 113.

- ( '

· 34. The intersection of Market & York Streets. Creation of unused urban spac~became a hallmark of incentive zoning policies of the 1970's. 114.

3.4 TRADING FOR HISTORY

Acceptance of city street facades as uniform entities had still not found support amongst legislators in the early 1900 1 s. Lacking any such effective co-ercion Sydney's architects and builders were slow to accept the concept of 'best fit' hinted at by Robert Hughes. Where buildings were accepted as being demonstrably historic by legislators or the colTlllunity at large they were all too often treated in the same light as their potential replacements, that is as singular entities. From this attitude, emerged the most sophisticated form of incentive zoning in the form of transferal of 'air rights' or zoning allowances. The concept of transferring 'air rights' from the site. of a notable building or other civic amenity to another site once again stemmed from the 1961 New York Planning Ordinances. In an established street such as York Street where many existing buildings already exceed the current plot ratio allowances the idea of selling air rights to save historic buildings is generally not an issue. 1O The potential of this technique is an adverse one in York Street with the possible arrival of 'rogue' air space in the street from adjacent streets. When combined with current zoning allowances this increases the likelihood that existing build­ ings otherwise protected by the restrictive zoning will be under threat.

This phenomenon has already been utilised in York Street. Removal in the early 198O 1 s of the N.S.W. Lotteries Office building, a Romanesque styled building from the corner of York and Barrack Streets resulted in the amalgamation of this site with the adjacent 193O 1 s C.B.C. bank building facing Martin Place. In deference to the George Street facade of this building the architects Peddle Thorpe and Walker initially proposed a tower on the York Street site which combined the zone allowances of both sites. Only after 115.

protracted discussions with theHeights of Buildings Advisory Committee (HOBAC) was this tower reduced to a more sympathetic scale. The reduction whilst beneficial to York Street was based upon relationship of new and existing build­ ings and concern for the western aspect from nearby Martin Place. [35]

This Pandora's box of urban woes released by attempts to legislate for post war city growth stressed the need for more clearly defined end goals in planning rather than broadly stated philosophies. Examining the City Council's application of planning regulations to York Street provides further support for such clarification of intent. In reference to conservation the Council has stated:

"In the City it [the Council] is mainly concerned with· townscapes which exhibit such qualities as historic character and uniform building styles. Urban conservation seeks to embrace such areas by ensuring th_a t any new deve 1opment complements the existing" L:5

Unfortunately reference to the city zoning plan shows the length of York Street passing through three separate zones. [appendix A]. And some blocks of these zones parallel each other on opposite sides of the street. The obvious surmise is that despite the preceding policy statement these planning zones were arrived at by some means other than a street orientated master plan. Within its Strategic Plan of 1980 the City Council zoned extensive areas for conservation. These areas were predominantly residental precincts. In the Central Business District the Council retained the practice of designating specific buildings on the basis of historic or architectural significance. The buildings listed in York Street represent a cross section of those similarly listed by conservation organisations [ref diag. No. 8 ]. Having identified 116. I

- , w ASSEMBLY BUILDING PUBLIC TRANSPORT COMMISSION Butl.OING: 1936 '--- -sl-ELL HOUSE 1935

ASBESTOS HOUSE 1935 , __ .:._ - - - NCR HOUSE 19I0-15 OiAS PARSONS m l CO 1880~• - - - ' - JOHN SOLOMON BUI.DING 1876 - HARDWARE HOUSE 1890 - .::.- - - - - " ' ·DAVll JONES FURNITURE STORE 1880'1 NA T10NAL HOUSE 1890-92, _ -==-_: - = - - - - SBU BLALOING 1936

- - - - FORBES HOTEL 1890'$ GRACE BULDING 1930 - - - -

lj•BH890'a ______t---.------1 - - - - - CARL TON HOUSE Cl905 ARUNTA HOUSE 1913 - - - - CHOWN HOUSE C. 1888

YORK HOUSE C. 1888

STOOARTS HOUSE 1900 ' - ' ,_ ------QUEEN VICTORIA BUILOlNG 1893-98

D!~L GRESHAM HOTEL 1890 .....---~ ______

- a ------SYDNEY TOWN HALL 1876-90

BLHLOINGS HAVING OTHER BUILDINGS OF NATIONAL TRUST SIGNIFICANCE TO CLASSIFlCA TION n£ STREETSCAPE D AS AT NO V: 1987 D

DIAGRAM 8 BUILDINGS OF HISTORIC OR STREETSCAPE SIGNIFICANCE IN YORK STREET 117.

35. Redevelopment of the former Lotteries Office site in York St . 118.

these individual structures, the Council provided a series of mechanism within its own planning controls to assist in the retention of the listed structures. Central to these was the seeking of demolition control (still not directly available to Council) and the previously discussed transfer of air rights. Also included in these 'Action Priorities' was an open ended clause allowing the Council to pursue:

"practical and equ1\able measures of preserving places so listed"

This allowed the Council to experiment with a variety of conservation techniques as the building boom of the early 1970 1 s slowed and economics once again changed the direction of city growth. However the failure of city or state government to recognise urban precincts as historical entities continued up until the mid 1980 1 s. The recognition of individual buildings promoted a form of urban development in which designated buildings remained as museum pieces with their surrounds progressively changing to the point at which the greater significance of many such buildings was substantially reduced. Running counter to this in the late 1970 1 s was a new urban movement which was to have substantial influence on the remain­ ing historical fabric and to alter the planning principles controlling new development. 119.

3.5 THE NEW URBANISM

As early as 1961 the influential work"The Death and Life of Great American Cities 11 by Jane Jacobs 15 had proposed a different way of looking at the 20th Century City. Central to this new approach was the concept of congestion ·being an essential catalyst to an active city. Whilst harking back to the 1920's theories of W.H. Corbett the new urbanism also sought to take the open squares of Le Corbusier and Mies Van der Rhoe and to fill them with life. Where the new urbanism differed from the inter­ national movement was in finding solutions that accepted the existing fabric of the city. To accommodate incompatible pedestrian and vehicular movement the concept of urban layering was revived. Overhead bridges, pedestrian tunnels, arcades, sunken plazas and atriums all returned as desirable elements in this new urbanism.

The by now obligatory decade would pass before this approach was generally accepted in Australia. Revitalising the city became a basic aim of the 1970 City of Sydney Strategic Plan. 16 This plan paid recognition to the life force within the city and concentrated on the development of separated pedestrian/ vehicular movement systems. A boom in office development was underway at the time and the plan concentrated its recommenda­ tions for urban revitalisationupon new construction. As with most booms this one ended abruptly and much of the proposed cross town pedestrian system remained a planner's dream. By 1980 the Strategic Plan had been revised and a new awareness of the greater responsibility of planning authorities to preserve desirable aspects of the city emerged:

11 It [the boom] required Council to adopt a new and more comprehensive approach ... to ensure the City remained not only a commercial focus but also a place of beauty, excitement and enjoyment for a 11 its users. 11 17 120.

3.6 THE RESIDENTIAL BOOM - LAYING THE GROUND FOR ADAPTIVE RE-USE

The 1980 revisions to the City Council's Strategic Plan represented a more comprehensive assessment of urban Sydney strongly influenced by new thinking now emanating from Europe as well as America. Comparison with foreign cities had highlighted the non-residential nature of urban Sydney. The Council's decision to modify this situation by providing generous floor space bonuses for residential and hotel buildings was to have a dramatic effect on the city west of George Street. Assisted by active promotion of inner city living through government and private marketing bodies, this former warehouse/low rent commercial area experienced a small boom in residential apartment development during the early 1980 1 s.

Residential demand was satisfied both by the construction of new apartment towers and the adaptive re-use of existing buildings. New developments with their generous floor space concessions tended to replace the remaining low rise buildings in the area. Such sites with their low plot ratios and distance from the commerical centre of the city had offered little incentive to developers during the preceding office boom. A combination of high construction costs and the speculative nature of these new residential buildings often resulted in poor quality finishes and architectural detailing that was unsympathetic to the street surroundings.

At the same time, based upon successful developments in the Soho district of Manhattan and the Thameside Docks of London the residential developments converted existing warehouse buildings into apartments. 121.

36 . Broughton House, Sydney. Adaptive reuse of inner city buildings as residential apartments in the early 1980's provided few successes in Sydney. 122.

Initial ventures into this form of development such as 'The Vintage' in Sussex Street and Broughton House in Clarence Street [ 36 ] showed great promise in terms of attention to architectural detail and the precedents established with the Board of Fire Commissioners and other regulatory bodies. Subsequent redevelopments were less astute particularly in the attention payed to external details. Prospects of a quick financial return combined with a generally poor under­ standing and historical architecture on the part of many developers to produce end results of no merit at all. (37)

Mercifully for many remaining buildings in the area the market for inner city residential apartments slumped almost as quickly as it had blossomed. 18 The realisation by buyers that better apartments could be obtained for similar costs in harbourside suburbs within a kilometre or two of the city centre combined with a general real estate slump to spell the end for many proposed conversions. Whilst living apartments in a few new well located buildings continued to provide high returns, owners of many older city buildings began to look for other ways of improving their investment. What the short lived apartment boom had illustrated to the advantage of existing buildings was the speed and economy which adaptive re-use provided over new construction of similar size. The public acceptance of revitalised older buildings had also been demonstrated by these developments. 123.

37. The Lantern - York St residential conversion of 1900's warehouse. 124.

3.7 A QUESTION OF DETAIL

As office space once more became scarce in the 198O 1 s and rentals rose in new prestige towers to the east, owners of pre-war buildings along York Street soon realised that conversion to open office space was both cheaper than residential adaption had been and more lucrative given the new market situation.

The process of building gentrification along York Street through the 198O 1 s continued the pattern of adaptive re-use began with the previous residential concessions. Where it differed was in the selection of a more suitable alternative usage for the narrow fronted buildings with their limited window areas and absence of carparking space.

The success of this office redevelopment had from its outset caught the city council somewhat unprepared:

"Some older buildings are being revamped as 'character office space' to a much greater extent than anticipated" 19

For this reason although many of the buildings being re-used were listed by the National Trust of Australia or were in other ways recognised as having heritage or streetscape significance no specific guidelines were introduced. This left the council without an effective means of assessing the merits of each proposed redevelopment and failed to provide a very necessary information source to a profession where many of the practitioners had little or no expertise in historical building conservation. In the absence of any consensus on acceptable methods of approaching recycling, much of the essential detailing within and without these buildings was totally eliminated or modified more in accordance with contemporary architectural fashion than on the basis of 125.

38. Solomon House, York St - adapted to contemporary office accommodation in 1984. 126.

supportive historical evidence. Economy played a certain role in this but in general decisions were formulated on the basis of what had become a builder established 'routine' for the 'restoration' of these buildings. [38] 127.

3.8 FACADE RETENTION

By the 1980 1 s an unstated consensus of conservation listings (by Conunonwealth, State and National Trust Groups), public acceptance of the adaptive re-use of existing buildings and the City Council's own stated objective of townscape conservation had firmly identified the street facade as the essential concern of urban conservation. As the revived office rental market set every developer and building owner considering the worth of existing buildings a new form of construction emerged from the combined effects of site amalgamation and transferal of air rights. Existing street facades in some cases protected by legislation in others favoured by City Council were literally gutted of their contents and amalgamated as decorative frontpieces to new buildings which then extended above and beyond the previous parapet line. Whilst the layering of building elements was a process as old as cities themselves this new movement in many instances left urban relics that were neither convincing as a building entity nor retained any relationship to the street. [39]

As with previous urban planning controls the mechanisms which promoted facade retention were interpreted in an extreme and inevitably profit optimising manner by building owners. The idea of retaining building elements was as unpopular with architects schooled in the modern movement as it was with the building owners. Inevitably this showed in the resultant developments.

Whilst the extremes of facade retention have not to date affected any building in York Street the implications of this form of building development are significant to ongoing conservation of the York Street Wall. At the northern end of Wynyard Square stands the Assembly Building. [40] A curious combination of religious assembly rooms and small offices 128.

39. _South British Hotel facade - incorporated into the elevation of a new office building this former Circular Quay hotel remains liitle more than urban wallpaper. 129.

contained within a five storey building near the site of the original 1826 Scots Kirk. The Assembly Building stands as a somewhat innocuous sentinel to the more prominent southward progress of York Street. Despite its rhythmic massing and tall end towers this building fails to repeat the exercise of the Queen Victoria Building at the street's opposite end. The Assembly remains more an illusory cathedral than the base of any major vertical element in the streetscape. Recent proposals to redevelop the site, retaining elements of the existing Gothic facade· above a series of glass towers signify not only the arrival of incongruous facade retention in York Street but also the need for a greater understanding of the reasons for facade retention. With this understanding, should also emerge some definition of successful criteria in assessing the worth of the facade retained. As this represents the most recent factor affecting conservation of the York Street wall it presents an opportunity to formulate a basis for overall conservation guide­ lines. 130.

40. Assembly Building , Wynard . 131.

4.0 AIMS OF THE GUIDELINES

The following conservation guidelines have as their principal aim the preservation of the distinctive walled streetscape existing in York Street due to the successive development of early high rise buildings. The manner of conservation proposed by the guidelines will allow the ongoing economic development of this city street that is recognised as an inherent aspect of the urban process. The guidelines allow for continued growth without the introduction of elements that detract from the significance of this streetscape. Concurrently these guidelines seek to prevent modifications of the existing fabric that are detrimental either to individually significant elements or to their relationship to the street as a whole. 132.

4.1 DEFINITION OF THE STREETSCAPE

The streetscape referred to as the 'York Street Wall' is a group of buildings organized along a notional axis between two identifiable public institutions - at one end the Town Hall Spire at the other the offset Wynyard Park. The defining quality of this streetscape is the manner in which successive generations of architects and builders sought to manipulate the developing technology of multi-storey (by Sydney's standards, high-rise) construction within an established urban context. Despite the length of time (60 years) and variety of stylistic influences through which development occurred, a uniformity was achieved due to the ongoing acceptance of an expanding but consistent theory of urbanism.

4.2 DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF THE STREETSCAPE

Distinguishing features of the York Street Wall combining to produce a significant streetscape are:-

The axial relationship of park and public building a combined legacy of Macquarie's Georgian town planning principles and a remnant of colonial grid planning rare to Sydney. 133.

The variety of devices used in building facades to reinforce the visual pattern of longitudinal movement in predominantly vertical buildings.

The incidence of towers/cupolas used to designate major buildings and cross streets within the strong longitudinal movement of the street. 134.

The treatment of building facades as elements in a streetscape always viewed as a vanishing perspective.

The chronological record of urban building types from Georgian remnants to contemporary high rise present in one definable streetscape. In this content, the few 1 missing teeth 1 of earlier development remaining in the street are as important as the buildings that adhere strictly to the predominant building types. 135.

The existence of 'sophisticated' urban views. The axial view towards the Town Hall, the 'walled' facades seen across Wynyward Square and the cross-axial views to the west and east all provide examples of a mature urban environment as envisaged by early high rise philosophers.

The presence of significant 'historic' buildings. A substantial number of buildings in the street are recognised as having historic significance in their execution of early high rise architectural styles. These buildings both contribute to the streetscape and achieve greater individual significance through mutual association. 136.

The uniformity of facade alignment to the street, which when combined with the skillful use of

'signature• towers serves to create an illusion of greater consistency in the height of these facades than is actually the case. 137.

4.3 CONSERVATION GUIDELINES

The following guidelines are proposed as a basis for the ongoing conservation of the existing streetscape referred to in this report as the York Street Wall and being particular to York Street Sydney between its intersections with Margaret and Druitt Streets. The guidelines are:-

New development shall recognise the distinctive relationship of existing buildings to the axial link between Sydney Town Hall and Wynyard Square.

No building listed as important to this relationship or significant to the chronological development of multi-storied construction in this street shall be altered in a manner detrimental to these characteristics.

A defined envelope of permissible development having regard to the specific streetscape of York Street shall be produced.

All previous floor space allowances should be removed where they fall outside the provisions of this ~ defined development envelope.

Infill of eroded urban form should be encouraged by the granting of once only increases in allowable plot ratios for these sites. This concession is particularly applicable during the refurbishment of contemporary high rise buildings.

The predominant existing parapet line shall act as a determining control for new development. Development above this line shall be set back according to defined sight lines. 138.

Where buildings exceed the established parapet line side walls (fire walls) shall be treated in a manner sympathetic to the existing streetscape. Unrelieved blank boundary walls should not be permitted.

Back to back development with buildings in adjacent streets should be encouraged to optimise usage of narrow sites and to provide viable economic building volumes that do not dominate the existing facade line.

New street facades must provide an acceptable use of colour and texture together with a scale and proportions sympathetic to the existing streetscape.

Development of corner sites shall emphasise both the axial nature of the streetscape and the corner position. Specific relationship must be provided between corner towers and the predominant street parapet line.

All new buildings should be built out to existing street alignments up to the level of predominant parapet height.

Redevelopment of existing structure involving facade retention should comply with the following six po1n. t s l l. The retained portion of a facade or building should be an item of architectural distinction in its own right. 2. New building work should have a measured visual impact on the old from key viewpoints. 3. The retained portion should have a 3-dimensional quality - that is structural integrity and robust appearance. 4. Colours should be harmonious between old and new. 139.

5. There should be cross referencing between the quality of the old and the architecture of the new. Blandness and token application of historical elements are unsatisfactory solutions to this relationship. 6. A skillful application of design ability should be inherent in the resultant solution.

Where the installation of street awnings has a deleterious effect upon existing buildings or substantially interferes with significant street views the use of internal arcades, lightweight footpath mounted canopies or through links to the more continuously canopied George Street Footpath should be encouraged.

Existing street furniture and road markings should be reviewed and where possible removed, amalgated or replaced with more discreet devices.

Street planting should be low and massed rather than in forms likely to block views of the street and its facades.

Further street closures should be discouraged, whilst road narrowing with widened footpaths should be encouraged. Such extended pedestrian areas should introduce minimal visual interference to the main street axis. 140.

SUMMARY OF BUILDINGS OF SIGNIFICANCE TO THE YORK STREET WALL SUMMARY OF BUILDINGS OF SIGNIFICANCE 141. TO THE YORK STREET WALL

1. WEST SIDE NORTH TO SOUTH NO. OF BiJILDING PERIOD FLOORS . STREET FACADE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS

No, 29-31 1936 12 Glazed architectural • Strong lineal form generated by strip 1; Transport House terracotta/bronze windows window frames • Signature tower over subway entry 'Moderne' styled detailing • Dramatic use of green colour in facade

No, 45-47 1938 13 + tower Face brickwork with • New York style stepped tower to 112 m. aluminium glazed • Decoration restricted to inset brick- windows work, polished stone entry portal and near company logos • Tapered lattice radio mast floodlit at night

' No, 63 1880's/ 6 Ashlar stonework with • 'Orchered' stone building with arched 1930 rendered brick to 2 windows and arcading to principal storey attic floors; square windows to attic and dentilled brackets to cornice • Simple 1930's 'super attic' repeats proportions and facade divisions of l880's base • Good example of upward growth generated by improved services and increased property values

No. 65-69 1935 12 Rendered brickwork • Example of European modernism on Asbestos House with architectural 1930's high rise l terracotta detailing • Building form acknowledges the corner and reconstructed site stone base • Division of the buildings bulk is sympathetic to the street

No. 71 1880's 5 Painted stucco on • Boom style ornamentation Charles Parsons brickwork • Projecting sill lines at each floor House Large timber frame level produce feeling of 'lineal' windows movement Articulated detailing at street and parapet levels are contiguous with .. adjacent buildings of similar age No. 73 l880's 5 Stucco/face brick • As above Hardware House + projecting bay emphasises individual · ·-address 'W·ittrin the continuous- street wall No. 75 1890-92 6 Stucco/stone • As for Nos. 71 and 73 National House + building clearly indicates street intersection with arched pediment, curved projecting corner base and continuity of projecting cornices around this bay • No. 77-79 1930 13 · Glazed architectural • Skyscraper gothic decoration and Grace Building terracotta with buttressed corner tower accentuage metal framed windows buildings vertical aspect whilst establishing a repetitive rhythm which reinforces the linear movement of the street No. 81 l890's 5 Stucco on brick • Boom style ornamentation Repealed sill lines to each floor emphasise lineal movement. t

• NO. OF 142. !lliLDING PERIOD FLOORS STREET FACADE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS

IIO, 85-87 1913 8 Ashlar stone/brick Extreme projecting cornices bring this ArUnta House timber frame building into proportional relationship windows with its Victorian predecessors Division into base/shaft and capital balances height and lineal movement - further emphasised by repetitive bays set between giant order columns • An excellent example of the influence of the 'Chicago' school of high rise design

Ii), 117 1900-05 7 Brick/stucco Building divided into base/shaft/capital roga House Stone stringer courses Stuccoed top floor maintains street parapet line • Attached brick pilasters give giant order effect exaggerating the buildings height

llo, 125 1900-05 7 Stone/brick • American 'Romanesque' style building ltoddarts highly sympathetic to Victorian 'Boom f lbUSe Style' predecessors • As with 'Arunta House' vertical· and lateral mvoement are balanced by the use of giant pilasters and horizontal stone elements Cyclopean masonary base with arched entries from the street

No. 127 19'!0-20 7 Face brick/stucco Edwardian freestyle - combination of Watson House American 'Romanesque' revival and classical detailing Vertical emphasis again offset by horizontal stuccoed elements

No. 129 1910 6 Brick/stone • Simple single bay facade to narrow site l,U. House • Two giant order pilasters with metal framed windows.between

No. 143/145 1905-10 7 Brick/stone • Repetitive bays of stone arched brick Globe & Preston pilasters • Top floor set back to maintain scale with adjacent parapet line Gresham Ho te 1 1890 5 Stone/brick Repeats pattern of arcading a continuous projecting cornices between floors conman to 'boom' period buildings • Addresses comer with arched pediment, curved projecting corner bay, signage

2. EAST SIDE NORTH TO SOUTH NO. OF BUILDING PERIOD FLOORS STREET FACADE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS No. 2 1930's 5 Ashlar stonework/ • Rhythm of Gothic reval facade to York Assembly meta 1 framed St. echoes the pattern of the western l Building glazing _street wa 11 Historically late usage of sandstone sets. a theme echoed in earlier buildings further south • Squat form and divided floors provide a human scale appropriate to the adjacent park

j 143,.

NO. OF !UILDI NG PERIOD FLOORS STREET FACADE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS

No, 14-16 1915-20 9 Cyclopean masonary, Classical division into base, shaft and N.C.R. House face brick, dressed capital with heavy projecting cornice stone trim Corner bay addresses street corner Use of giant order brick pilasters and finely crafted stone detailing indicate the transition from American; Chicago School to Beaux-Artes inspired New York skyscrapers

No, 18-20 1876 5 Ashlar stonework Facade demosntrates the early establish- ment of arcading as an affecting technique in the elevating of multi-storied buildings

No, 22 1878-80 4 Ashlar stonework Refined use of classical elements • Emergence of arcading in treatment of floors • No, 24-26 1878 5 • Detailed classical stonework to have three floors • -Simplified stuccoed detailing to upper two floors , Early example of arcading, extended cornices

No. 28 1930's 13 Reconstituted • New York style stepped tower addressing s.e.u. stone/metal frame both streets and intersection iuildi ng windows 'Art Deco' detailing and 'punched' windows break mass of the building Pink colour used to lighten the form • No. 38-44 1900-05 6 Face brick/stone • American influences of rusticated stone trim base and giant order pilasters Vertical emphasis offset by horizontal stone banding Facade detailing repeats scale/ proportion of adjacent Victorian facades Ho. 46-48 1890's 7 Stucco on brick • Italianate detailing with strongly arcaded lower section • Upper three floors detailed as a 'piano nobile' the simplified detailing reflecting the aesthetic move away from - Victorian 'Boom' style No. 50-54 1890's 7 Stucco-on b!"i.c!< ~ -~ £~~le ~f the simplified ordering of facade and the flattening of arcading during the late Victorian era • Super attic addition of 2 floors due to improved lifts No. 78-130 1890's 4 Carved stone/timber • A major example of Romanesque revival ~een Victoria framed windows • Pattern of projecting and receding bays iuilding echo pattern of opposing street facade • Built up end pavilions and roof domes • provtde vertical elements to an essentially linear building Building cornices emphasise linear movement towards Town Hall Tower •

• 144.

4.4 IMPLEMENTATION OF GUIDELINES

Just as the 150 foot rule and the propagation of ideas developed in response to the 1916 New York planning ordinances were inherent factors in the emergence of the York Street Wall, so too will current and newly evolving planning regulations form the catalyst for conservation of this distinctive urban streetscape. Fundamental to the implementation of conservation guidelines is their ability to be incorporated into existing planning controls and to be accepted by those who interpret these controls. It is indicative of the nature of urban conservation that the guidelines are predominantly concerned with the control of new development and its relationship to existing structures. Inherent in this approach is the widely accepted attitude amongst building owners that existing plot ratios are an inalienable right of the property owner subject only to upward negotiation. To a large degree the Sydney City Council has added cogniscance to this attitude being itself the principal recipient of higher rates from such ever upward development When in 1982 proposing the opposite to this in the form of downzoning of city blocks to a uniform development level with a limited tower allowance per block sold through public auction, New York Times architectural critic Paul Goldberg noted

"There is reason to question whether it could work in a city in which ••• a philosophy that implicitly encourages maximum development - has been in practise for years 11 .2

I Hence a more palatable system of controls would need to be implemented if success were to be contemplated in 1980s Sydney with its aspirations towards being a mini-Manhattan. The key factor to emerge from the Goldberg proposal was the consideration of the problem in terms of larger elements of 145.

the city whether a whole city block or in this case a whole street.

The first American city to adopt a set of planning codes based upon overall volume and profile considerations has been San Francisco with its new city plan introduced in 1984

11 For the first time in any United States architectural planning codes, formal attitudes are being prescribed. As well as realistic height limits, buildings will now have complex bulk and setback limitations which follow specific dimensions and formulas. They will be mandatory but flexible enough to allow creativity for the imaginative architect 11 .3

Instigation of such planning represents an acceptance of the rational architectural ideas promoted by European architectural philosophers such as the Krier brothers and Rem Koolhaus referred to in chapter one -

11 An urban landscape is recognised as being made up of streets and squares, alleys, arcades and plazas; that buildings are not objects in space but become part of blocks which in turn create an urban fabric 11 .4

For implementation of the guidelines established for the conservation of the York Street Wall to be successful acceptance of a rationalist view of urban fabric is essential. Fortunately signs of such an acceptance can be seen in the Sydney City Cou~cils evolving Western Precint Development Control Plan.

4.5 CURRENT CITY DEVELOPMENT CONTROLS

The decision by the City Council to develop an overall control plan for the streets west of George Street was a response to the rapid influx of new office development of the 198Os in 146.

this area. Council planners recognised an overall consistency of urban fabric in this area

"The distinctive character of the Western Precinct is made up of many elements but those which contribute most significantly to its fonn are the topography - the street pattern and the facades of the late 19th and early 20th century warehouse buildings 11 .5

In response an overall study of the precinct is underway with a view towards controls which seek to regulate building form integrating new development with existing fabric

"The controls we are developing are designed to maintain the coherence (of the streets) and stabilise the form by conserving a large amount of facades and producing broad envelopes for development".6

As a forerunner to the introduction of its Development Control Plan the council in April 1985 adopted certain urban design controls for the area. These correspond with the intent of the San Francisco City Plan controls affecting new high rise buildings. The interim controls for the Western Precinct [ref. Appendix B] centre upon the retention of existing street parapet heights with designated facades being retained, new facades having harmonious colours, scale and proportion to the old ones and tall buildings set back from the existing parapet line.

Of equal importance for York Street is an interim clause calling for the recognition of corner sites in the design of new towers. With some specific modifications these interim controls equate to items within the conservation guidelines for York Street in this report. 147.

4.6 PROBLEMS TO BE AVOIDED

The success of any development control is determined by its acceptability to property owners, building designers and those whose role it is to enforce such controls. Public understanding and support for such controls whilst determining the long term survival of any building regulations is a secondary event usually only gaining momentum after physical evidence of a beneficial nature becomes apparent. As urban conservation in Sydney began with the precious few remnants of Macquarie's town and then spread to essentially tourist or pedestrian orientated areas such as the Rocks precinct and Martin Place the popularly accepted grounds for retention of any building fabric in Sydney have become closely associated with the historically spectacular. This gives rise to a danger that conservation controls will tend to encourage developments which blandly ape the urban remnants amongst which they find themselves situated. One of the principal philosophies held by the current 'Post Modern• movement in architecture is that designers should seek to re-examine historical aspects of architecture and to interpret them in a dualistic manner. At the one time Post Modern architecture seeks to operate in both an elevated thought level akin to architectural gamesmanship and on a more direct level as a conveyor of ideas and images provoking familiar associations amongst the less initiated. Unfortunately when debased to its most commercial level this philosophy has given glib justification to design responses based upon time related expediency rather than any genuine attempt to interpret planning guidelines in a meaningful way

Ironically a major factor in this half-hearted approach to urban design is the ability of the frame structured high-rise building to be manipulated into almost any shape.· Whilst this 148 •.

~ IIP.· __ - ~ ... -...... __ ------

41. No 277 York St - the insertion of this contemporary high rise into York Street highlights the inability of many contemporary designs to generate successful urban character. 149.

should provide great scope for the successful manipulation of urban space [41] it is more often counter-productive due to a genuine resistance to the accepted values of urban conservation by a significant proportion of high-rise designers. Whilst addressing an open forum on facade retention in 1985, Sydney architect Andrew Andersons presented a key argument in favour of such conservation

"The cities most universally accepted as exhibiting the most favourable characteristics of urbanism are those that matured in the 19th Century. The scale and quality of major streets in cities such as London and Paris remains as a gauge against which all new urban development must be measured".7

Counter to this run the arguments expressed most vehemently by Sydney's foremost high-rise design architect Harry Seidler

"In Australia anything in the city is available. As long as its old its a monument, and when that begins to destruct the kind of aims which are freeing up the city, when there is a new endeavour of genuine worth, to let it suffer because of this provincialism, then I really get upset".8

Such tub-thumping in favour of the 'Ville Radiuese' is accompanied by an unshakeable faith in the qualities of the free standing building whether it be old or new. In reference to a group of early 20th Century buildings adjacent to his Grosvenor House development [42], Seidler displays the singular attitude that dominated the previous three decades of urban growth

"The main building is the Royal Naval House, a fine piece of architecture that I would defend with all I 1 m worth"

but as for its neighbour in a slightly later style 150.

4~. Grosvenor House development - George Street, Sydney. 151. ·

"The beautiful side of Royal Naval House is now totally obsqured by a most unworthy building . which goes around the corner. The building in anybody's discernment is a monstrosity 11 .9

Seidler's lack of concessions to urban continuity or street­ scape and his unrelenting demand for the solitary monument surrounded by openness represent a museological viewpoint of conservation. Here only the unique and the pristine are preserved as it were on a pedestal without historical context and with little relevance to ongoing urban growth. British architect James Stirling hinted at the inevitable consequences of this approach in his Derby Town Centre design of 1977. In his design Stirling took the facade of the former Town Hall and mounted it on a sloping pedestal as a centrepiece to his new town square [43].

43. Derby Town Centre, James Stirling 1977.

Stirling's symbolic fallen remnant of past urban fabric highlights two problems to emerge from this frequently held viewpoint on conservation. Unless sufficient fabric essential to the streetscape is retained the streetscape will be lost. Further if the manner of interpreting 152.

historical fabric is not sympathetic to the actual building and its relation to the street then the whole exercise becomes meaningless.

More drastic than the slow nibbling of urban renewal is the rapid change threatened by technological revolution. Just as the metal frame and the safety elevator were the basis for the first generation of high rise buildings so too can other equally readical technological inputs threaten to overturn established order.

The debate through 1985 and 1986 to the planned introduction of an overhead monorail into Sydney's streets would to some appear to fly in the face of Willie Corbett's concepts of a multi-layered dynamic metropolis. Counter to this is the argument that streetscape is now being recognised as a definable urban component. The axial view along York Street towards the Town Hall tower is clearly established and no amount of romanticising will show this to be improved by the placement of an elevated track above the intersection of York and Market Streets. Where later 20th Century technology offers advantages is in its breadth of options. By clearly establishing urban preference the choice of the best option whether in transport systems or any other urban amenity can be better determined. [44]

A final potential problem area is one of some subtlety

11 Great care should be exercised in attempting any historic solution. The reinstatement or re-creation of past walls should only be attempted where sufficient evidence is available. Do not guess ••• .•. Beware of civil improvement schemes such as malls and road closures, for whilst they improve some aspects of amenity then often destroy some aspect of the character of the place 11 • 10 153.

Interruption of eatablllwcl atrHt wal

Unsympathetic atreet furniture

lnappropr:ata 11lectlon of contemporary transport t1chnolo9Y

Poor po1ltlonln9 of new clavelopment

44 • York Street, 1987. 154.

Restoration of the Queen Victoria Building has greatly extended the lifespan of this structure. It has also resulted in considerable closure of York Street to vehicular traffic. Should this process continue over the length of York Street then as Rob Krier observes:

"The seperation of pedestrians and traffic carries with it the danger of the isolation of the pedestrian zone. Solutions must be fully worked out which will keep the irritation of traffic noise and exhaust gasses away from the pedestrians 11 • 11

The high percentage of diesel buses using parts of York Street poses a very real problem in the later respect. To achieve some improvement in this area and to maintain the feeling of movement inherent to York Street a highly desirable development would be the reinstatement of the pre 1930 1 s relationship of footpath/roadwidth. One traffic lane would need to be sacrificed to achieve this ratio - a not impossible demand given the substantial diversion of traffic away from the city provided by current freeway developments. This linear increase in pedestrian space as opposed to extended road closure would also avoid much of the temptation for the plethora of urban accroutements which street closures tend to attract in Sydney. In many street closures these tend to be as visually and physically obtrusive as the traffic they replace. 155.

CONCLUSIONS - THE POTENTIAL FOR SUCCESSFUL CONSERVATION

In October 1986 the State Government Minister for Planning and Environment, Mr. Carr, announced that the western edge of Sydney city between York Street and Darling Harbour would be preserved from high rise development. This somewhat belated intervention came partly as a response to the City Councils initiatives in the area and partly as an expression of the Governments preparedness to accept protection of part of the old city whilst accepting a rapid inflation in the scale of high rise development elsewhere in the city. To impose this restriction at the peak of a building boom once more highlighted the very vast nature of government involvement in the urban planning process. As stated at the beginning of this report few identifiable cohesive streetscapes remain in Sydney and the building boom of the late 1980 1 s was vastly outpacing the effects of its predecessor a century earlier in changing the city's appearance. So a political intervention appeared imminent and in favour of the York Street Wall.

With this additional backing the City Council had proceeded towards implementation of its Western Precinct Local Environment Plan - the Plan being exhibited for public comment in June 1987. Ironically this exhibition coincided with the Councils dismissal. Under the direction of a caretaker group of City Commissioners, appointed by the State Government, implementation of the Western Precinct Plan was suspended whilst an overall review of city planning took place. During the interim applications for development of this area are to be based upon the Councils 1971 Planning Code with the merits of applications being assessed on the basis of their recognition of conditions contained within the former councils interim development controls. 156.

Suspension of the increasingly refined planning controls developed for York Street in mid 1987 introduces two likely scenarios for the future of this urban streetscape:

Eventually within the limits of an existing street plan urban development reaches a point where society considers the major portion of built fabric to be complete whether by virtue of accepted aesthetic, social or historic significance or by virtue of the sheer inability to squeeze any further building volume into a street. As the latter is not the case, the former may become the basis for identity of the York Street Wall as an accepted element of the city and the ideal of area conservation be promoted within overall city planning.

Alternately the pursuit of broadly rationalised but fiercely economical solutions to overall city planning may see the specific identity of York Street completely overrun or debased. The intrusion of the monorail across York Street and the erection of the poorly located Carringbush Tower in George Street behind the Town Hall - York Street axis are recent reminders of this likelihood.

Whilst an overall city plan may define desirable growth and building forms, the.York Street Wall remains vulnerable due to demographic adjustments both to the centre and peripheries of Sydneys central urban area. With the rapid redevelopment of Darling Harbour to the west and renewed building activity to the north and south of the city's traditional core, York Street now occupies a far more central location than in any previous stage of its history. In conclusion the forces that spawned the York Street Wall have continued unabated over the half century that has elapsed since the wall reached a 157.

definable maturity. It is to be hoped that this maturity will be matched by the owners of the city-property owners and elected government alike. Government recognition of the aesthetic and historical nature of this streetscape is essential to the maintenance of this quality in the city that cannot be replaced. 158.

References 159.

TEXT REFERENCES

0. SYNOPSIS

1. Raymond J. Curran. Architecture and the Urban Experience, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1983, p.5. 2. Anthony Sutcliffe (ed.). Metropolis 1890-1940, Alexandrine Press, Oxford, Mansell-London, 1984, p.5. 3. Op.Git., p.5. 4. Paul Goldberg. The Skyscraper, Allen Lane, London, 1982. 5. Op.Git., p.75. 6. Paul Goldberg. On The Rise - Architecture and Design in a Post Modern Age, Times Books, New York, 1983, p.44.

1. CHAPTER ONE

1. Rhem Koolhaus. Delirious New York - A Retroactive Manifesto For Manhattan, Oxford University Press, New York, 1978, p.10. 2. Rob Krier. On Architecture (translated from the German by Eileen Martin), LOndon, Academy, 1982. 3. Vincent Scully. American Architecture and Urbanism, Thames and Hudson, London, 1969, p.30 •. 4. Max Kelly and Ruth Crocker. Sydney Takes Shape - A Collection of Contemporary Maps from Foundation to Federation, The Macleay Museum, The University of Sydney, 1977, p.2. 5. Ibid, p.4. 6. Ibid, p.8. 7. Op.Git., p.22. 8. Op.Git., p. 12. 9. Ibid, p. 10. 160.

10. Rob Krier. On Architecture {translated from the German by Eileen Martin), London, Academy Edition, 1982, p.64. 11. Op.Git., p.13. 12. Ibid, p.15. 13. Whether York Street ever clearly ran past the old burial ground or simply opened out into a broad space subsequently defined by the ongoing growth of the burial ground is a matter of some licence amongst early map makers (Authors note). 14. Op.Cit., p.21. 15. A.G.L. Shaw. The Economic Development of Australia, Longmans, Australia, 1967, p.68. 16. Ibid, p.69. 17. Ibid, p.70. 18. J.M. Freeland. Architecture in Australia - A History, Penguin Books, Australia, 1968, p.168. 19. National Trust of Australia. Classified Buildings Listing - 43 York Street, Sydney, 1.11.1982. 20. Reference - J. Glover - untitled painting in the collection of the Dixon Galleries, New South Wales Public Library, Sydney. 21. J.M. Freeland. Architecture in Australia - A History, Penguin Books, Australia, 1968, p.171. 22. A.G.L. Shaw. The Economic Development of Australia, Longmans, Australia, 1967, p.84. 23. Ibid, p.87. 24. Ibid, p.88. 25. K.G. Dunstan. Phd. Thesis. An Historical Study of the Introduction of Building Service Equipment into Buildings in Australia, University of New South Wales, 1975. 26. Ibid. 161.

27. J.M. Freeland. Architecture in Australia - A History, Penguin Books, Australia, 1968, p.171. 28. Ibid, p.168. 29. A.G.L. Shaw. The Economic Development of Australia, Longmans, Australia, 1967, p.101. 30. Ibid, p.106. 31. Op.Cit., p.166. 32. Ibid, p.180. 33. Ibid, p.180. 34. Robert Furneaux Jordan. Victorian Architecture, Penguin Books, England, 1966, p.171. 35. Ibid, p.174. 36. Ibid, p.166. 37. Ibid, p.159. 38. Eric Irvin. Sydney As It Might Have Been, Alpha Books, Sydney, 1974.

CHAPTER TWO

1. Paul Goldberg. The Skyscraper, London, Allen Lane, 1982, p.24. 2. Ibid, p.18. 3. J.M. Freeland. Architecture in Australia - A History, Penguin Books, Australia, 1968, p.216. 4. Ibid, p.219. 5. Emery Balint, Trevor Howells, Victoria Smith. Warehouses and Woolstores of Victorian Sydney, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1982, p.20. 6. Op.Cit., p.219. 7. Ibid, p.220. 8. Paul Goldberg. The Skyscraper, London, Allen lane, 1982, p.10. 162.

9. Ibid, p.13. 10. Ibid, p.53. ll. The Sydney Harbour Bridge Souvenir. A composite feature published in conjunction with the bridge opening - 1932 (cover page missing), p.26. 12. Ibid, pp.26-27. 13. Rhem Koolhaus. Delirious New York - A Retroactive Manifesto For Manhattan, Oxford University Press, New York, 1978, p.102. 14. Ibid, p.14. 15. The Sydney Harbour Bridge Souvenir, p.112. 16. Architecture - Journal of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, Vol. 19 No. 6, June 1930. 17. Ibid. 18. Rhem Koolhaus. Delirious New York - A Retroactive Manifesto For Manhattan, Oxford University Press, New York, 1978, p.95. 19. Architecture, Vol. 19 No. 6, June 1930. 20. Architecture, Vol. 22 No. 2, Feb. 1933. 21. Wunderlich Architectural Terra Cotta Bulletin No. 1 Publicity Department of Wunderlich Ltd. Sydney. Dec. 1975. 22. Ibid 23. Architecture, Vol. 19 No. 12, Dec. 1930. 24. Charles Lloyd Jones. Art and Architecture in America, Architecture, Vol. 25 No. 7, Jan. 1936. 25. Interview with Gordon Collet, former production manager of Wunderlichs Australia. 26. J.M. Freeland. Architecture in Australia - A History, Penguin Books, Australia, 1968, p.252. 27. Rob Krier. On Architecture (translated from the German by Eileen Martin), London, Academy Editions, 1982, p.75. 28. Sydney Morning Herald - The Supplement, 5.11.84, p.3. 163.

CHAPTER THREE

l.

2. Sigfried Giedrion. Space Time and Architecture: the growth of a new tradition. The Harvard Press, Cambridge, Conn., 1941. 3. J.M. Freeland. Architecture in Australia - A History, Penguin Books, Australia, 1968, p.298. 4. Ibid, p.299. 5. Ibid, pp.302-305. 6. The Council of the City of Sydney. Action Plan No. 3 Wynyard Pedestrian Network, Urban Systems Corporation Sydney, 1971 , p. 1 • 7. The Council of the City of Sydney. City of Sydney Strategic Plan, The 1974-77 Statement of Objectives, Policies and Action Priorities. Urban Systems Corporation, Sydney, 1974, p.51. 8. Vincent Scully. American Architecture and Urbanism, Thames and Hudson, London, 1969, p.144. 9. Paul Goldberg. On The Rise: Architecture and Design in a Post Modern Age, Times Books, New York, 1983, p.52. 10. Ibid, p.52. 11. The Council of the City of Sydney photographic files of demolished buildings had no record of this building when examined in 1985 (Authors note). 12. Robert Hughes. The Shock of the New: Art and the Century of Change, London, British Broadcasting Corporation, 1980, p.211. 13. Sydney (N.S.W.) Council. City of Sydney Strategic Plan, Revised ed., Council of the City of Sydney, Sydney, 1971, p.169. 14. Ibid, p.173. 15. Jane Jacobs. The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jonathan Cape, London, 1961. 16. Op. Cit. 164.

17. Sydney (N.S.W.) Council. 1980 City of Sydney Strategic Plan, Council of the City of Sydney, Sydney, 1980. 18. The Sydney Morning Herald, 4/8/84, p. 105. Hazel Pilleme reporting on inner city real estate 11 ••• according to real estate experts •.• people who bought such units in the heat of the market, two and a half years ago, still need a 25 per cent rise to come out even". 19. Op.Cit., p.101.

CHAPTER FOUR 1. Based upon a proposal by Sydney architect Andrew Anderson, speaking at Facades, Saving Face, a seminar held by the National Trust of Australia, Sydney, 1985. 2. Paul Goldberg. On the Rise: Architecture and Design in a Post Modern Age, Time Books, New York, 1983, p. 56. 3. John Ellis. Streets of San Francisco, The Architectural Review, Feb. 1985, pp.54/2. 4. Ibid, pp.54/2. 5. Francesca Morrison, Principal Planner, Urban Design - Sydney City Council, quoted in Facades, Saving Face, National Trust Magazine No. 31, Sept. 1985, The National Trust, Sydney, p.7. 6. Ibid, p.7. 7. Andrew Anderson, Sydney architect, speaking at Facades, Saving Face, a seminar held by the National Trust of Australia, Sydney, 1985. 8. Harry Seidler, Sydney architect quoted in The Weekend Australian, July 20-21, 1985, p.30-.- 9. Ibid, p.30. 10. Meredith Walker. Planning Considerations for the Protection of Townscape, Civic Design and Public Spaces, from Urban Conservation in the 1 80 1 s, The National Trust of Australia, Sydney, p.54. 165.

Appendices

Appendix A Development control zoning for York St 1981 Appendix B Intrim planning controls for York St 1985 Appendix C National Trust listings for York St and Wynyard Appendix A Development control zoning for York St 1981 r PORT

~ Poinl Appendix B Interim planning controls for York St Sydney. 1985. .,_ (/J

.,_ (/J z a, :; . .,_ ...J t:: ::) ::) ~ a:: C

RETAIN EXISTING AET AIN EXISTING RETAIN EXIS.TING BUILDING FACADE FACADE

WEST SIDE OF~ YORK ST Appendix c National Trust listings for York Street and Wynard. SYDN EY OCCIDENTAL HOTEL 43 Yo r:k .St cnr Ers kine St ,n or D istric t )

,code iP.QO City of , Govt e c . -.-l- ~ . ,,,,. ....,J_ .. .._ __ J ~, of I Shields-Brown ~sal

1of Aug 1982 11sal (Name or Identif ication of Listing) (A d dress o r Location) Add ress ;iited Bibliography Owner and ,g CLASS IFIED Comc.erve No. 543 P/L ~ - c/o 43 York St -m, ttee HBC / 298 ::t ;t Use ) SYDNEY 2000 Advised: 13/'t/83; copy to t he ' i ~,I APPROVEDCLASSIFI~D Council of the City of Sydney ~ sel 1/11/1982 I a,ption Briefly cover the points on the following check l ist where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

~ruction A five storey rendered masonry building dating from the early 1850s. Little decorati on. Classical mouldings over 111ect /s dtrls first floor windows, otherwise plain window surrounds. Rounded corner, simple parapet and cornice. Main timber door, surround 1uuction and entablature are original; rest of ground floor facade modernised 11111 ~ition including alteration to original window mullions. Signs of original ~ry internal fabric in staircases, panelling, shelving and bars. •irs ,,daries Suspended metal awning. ,oposed ~ Originally three storeys high with only three bays to Erskine St.

______a=~ aons for listing

This building, dating from the early 1850s, is the oldest building in Wynyard Square and probably the oldest building in York St. It is one of a group of surviving hotels in the central Sydney area which together form an interesting collection reflecting an aspect of the s ocial and recreational history of Sydney. ~ r,...... ------~- "'+ -'-- ~ "' -~ _ , _ _ ... - - i Itch plan and p notos ' ach -&j :onal pho t os 1ny. -

~

~co unc1- 1 APPROVED CLASSIFIE, D !(T rust Use) 26/9/83

Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and w ithin your knowledge.

Style Construction Three warehouse facades, one in the Edwardian Free Style and the others Use Victorian Free Classical mode. Though none is outstanding in Architect/s in Late Bu ilder/s quality and all are stylistically diverse, they make a dignified and Date of unified group and together comprise an important component of York Street. Construction Present Condition See individual cards for further details. History Owners Boundaries of proposed listing

Reasons for !:sting The group remains a significant contributor to the identifiable early 20th Century city streetscape of York Street, whose quality is so compelling that it has been described as "the York Street wall". Consistency of scale and rhythmic progression of facade detailing unite the three separate buildings. Prominent articulation and the intactness of external detailing enable the buildings to maintain the cohesivene~s of the original construction despite the intrusions of recent modifications.

67

:·,on.Reid ~~U C~

Wyke

~ /I SYDNEY

(Town or District) Post Code 2000 Sydney JcARLTON HOUSE 38-44 York Street Local Govt Area r.; i--v r.nn nr ; l

Author o f Par t of York Str eet Gr oup Proposal Coli n Brady Facade to s treet level Date of Sept ember 1983 Proposal (Name o r Identif icat ion of Listing ) CARD 2 OF 4 (Address or Location) rsuggested CLASSIFIED Bibliography Owner and Address Li sting GROUP c------Ca tegory ----< Carl t on House (Securities ) Committee c/- Hopkins & McGowan & Co. (Trust Use) HBC -----·---- Box 2551 GPO council APPROVED CLASSI FII D SYDNEY 2000 j(Trust Use, 26 /9/83

/oescript ion Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and w ith in your knowledge.

Style Const ruct ion A six-storey commercial building ~'i.th a facade in the Edwardian Free Style, Use showing the influence of American commercial architecture of the time. A Architect/ s Builder/s massive rusticated stone base with shallow-arched openings of dressed Date of sandstone supports a brick facade articulated with pilasters like giant Construction orders. The decorative crown, detailed in stone, comprises smaller pilasters, Present Condition a cor_p_~lled. cornice, and ._an attic treatment·,:featur:ing a : rus-ticated arch History in the- "projecting central bay. . - Owners Boundaries of propo sed ReceI!_tly comple~ed . adaptation of the building. to o_f fi_ce u~e. has. included listing r estoration of -the facade masonry. In this adaptation the original interior de tai ling and original timber sash windows and doors to th~ , street facade wer e removed.

Reason s f or !:st ing Pa rt of a group of three turn-of-the-century buildings of similar s cale and fenestration with good details. Refer also to group listing. \

Ill 0 2

f-~ ,------Sketch plan and p hotos------;------~------~ Attach additional photos o. if any. ..~ 0, C t; J

L SYDNEY

~s_tr_,c_t_l------:.·. -~ ii Code 2000 City of VCHOWN HOUSE FORMERLY 46- 48 York Street ~al Govt Area Sydney , HARDWICK HOUSE FACADE ABOVE AWNING -i!hOf of sa 1 190 Colin Brady PART OF YORK ST GROUP

1:eof I car d 3 of 4 ,posal Sept ember 1983; (Name or Iden tific a t ion o f List ing) ------(A ddress or Location) _i9ested I Bibliography Owner and Address 111ng CLASSIFIED i1egor y GROUP Ms Carla Zampatti )'Tlm,tt ee ·rust Use) 435 Kent Street HBC Sydney "'"'" APPRO VED CLASSIFIED :,ustUsel 26/9/83 I

ucnption Briefly cover the points on the following chec k list where they a r e rilevan t and w ithin your k n o w led ge. ~le A seven-storey connnercial building in the late Victorian Free Classical mode, inscruction ··-;-:---::'::·

~ with rendered a~d painted masonry street facade of Italianate moulded ,chitect/s detailing. Projecting cornices divide the facade above the awning into ,,lder/s ·11e of four articulated bands featuring major and minor pilaster forms. ~nst ruct ion Corinthian embellishments complete the lowest double-level arcade pilasters, ,sent while shallow arches with extended keystone motifs head the double-level ~nd1t ion •11ory arcade at fifth floor level. Decorative spandrels and a running circular )wners motif beneath the projecting cornice complete an interesting facade. !oundaries Below the awning the original facade has been unsymp.athetically modified ; proposed mng and all interior detailing has been removed or concealed.

1mons for listing Part o f a group o f treeh turn-o f -th e-century b ui· ld ings· o f s1m1· · 1 ar sea1 e and fenestration with good details. Refe r

!leech p lan and pho tos nac h addit ional photos I any .

------=------=~- --===--- SYDNEY

, ...,n or D istrict I ------10 !YORK HOUSE 50-54 York Street ~c~e 2000 City of : ..-.- ,cal Govt Area S dne Part of York Street Group .,rnor of Facade above awning 0posal Colin Brady CARD 4 OF 4 September 198 (Name or Identification of Listing I (Address or Location I _;.;;este-0 ED Bibliography Owner and Address .sting GROUP ~ Y------1 Associated Engineers P/L 50 York Street ;omm,ntt HBC Trust Use! Sydney

~ •1 APPROVED C ;ounc1 / / rustUsef 26 9 83

)escrrpt,on Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. A late Victorian connnercial building with rendered and painted masonry facade. ;ons1ruct1on Italianate detailing employs round and segmental variants of arched openings

irch1tectls arranged in bays within a frame of pilasters. The pilasters ascend from a !u1lder/s giant Corinthian form through first and second floors to unadorned panels )ate of on third floor level, with twin· pilasters at fourth floor level featuring Construction hesent capitals with palmette motifs, under a projecting cornice. Two floors Condition above cornice level are treated as a plain attic, and appear to be an early Hdtory addition to t~e building. The varied decorative scheme includes incised Owners Soundaries tracery on some pilasters. ,1 proposed '111 "9 Below the awning the facade has been greatly modified. Some original finishes remain on all interior levels but much has been concealed. Floor structure is of characteristic composite metal, masonry and timber construction.

Reasons for !:sting Part o f a group o f three turn-a f -th e-century b uildings· · of similar scale and fenestration, with some good details. Refer also to group listing.

Sketch plan and photos Attach additional photos ,,I any.

..._~ ---. SYDNEY FORBES :TAVERN HOTEL 30 York Street facade to ground •own or District) ·stCode 2000 City of ~ I Govt Area Sydney

,thor of 090 sal January, 1980 (Name or Identification of Listing) (Address or Location) .;gested Bibliography Owner and Address .sting I )legory Tooheys Limited HBC :o,nmittee IPO Box 58 Trust Use) !LIDCOMBE 2141

·,uncil ·,,ust Use)

;iscription Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

'.Vie :onsuuction .se

THIS BUILDING IS AT PRESENT RECORDED AND · ALSO RECOMMENDED TO BE CLASSIFIED BY THE HISTORIC BUILDINGS COMMITTEE. THIS BUILDING WILL BE CLASSIFIED WHEN A REPORT IS PREPARED.

mng

'mons for listing

The hotel is a good example of an English ~ueen Anne style building in oiled brickwork featuring surviving original cetails and an important corner building in York Street

:,etch plan and photos lttach additional photos I any. SYDNEY P.T.C. )ADMINSTRATION BUILDI G 19 -31 York Street

·11 Code 2000 ~al Govt A rea City of Syd

(Name or Identification of Proposed Listing) (Address or Location) .;gest ed B ibliography Owner and Address 111ng ;1t9or y NSW Government -mmi ttee :,,1t Use)

iuncil D Advised - 1.12.75 'rust Use)

t1Cription Briefly cover the points on the following check l ist where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

1le Jnstr uction 1935-1936 t Sulman Medal 1936 ·ch 1tect/s RIBA Bronze ,ilder/s 1936 i1eof Architect - Budden,and Mackey i nstruction ·1sent )ndition

THIS BUILDING IS AT PRESENT RECORDED Ai'ID ALSO RECOMMENDED TO BE CLASSIFIED BY THE HISTORIC BUILDINGS COMMITTEE. - THIS BUILDING . WILL BE CLASSIFIED . WHEN A REPORT IS PREPARED • . __ ...._,_

·:,:· .. : · .. - , -, ' , . :: T. :-- r, . 1

'mons for l,5i,ng A strong clever interpretation of the skys craper style on a broad facade. The building features good geometric art deco detailing · and was awarded two medals in l936.

..__I 111ch plan and photos ,nac h additional photos an y.

-~ . fr - "": · :. --:·:·< ~ --~:-=.::..-~ i-~·-·:_~- :_~ :· .-__. _. -~ . ,. .,. SYD NEY JOHN SOLOHON BUILDING 18-20 Yo rk Street Facade exc·luding shop front

rovvn or District) r :lUDu I ~sl Code i .ocal Govt Area ! "Jop-ey cuy council. I IU(h 0 :r0posal

I )ate of I hoposal (Name or Identification of Proposed Listing) (Address or Location) ! juggested Bibl iography Owner and Address .,sting RECORDED { H.O.Webb ;aiegory Investment Co Pty Ltd - 152 Bungaree Rd ;ommittee PE:1--.-ULE HILL 2145 rust Use) HBC ~ ;ouncil APPROVED Trust Use

)escription Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. 1876 11yle tonstruct,on Jse Architect/s 8uilder/s )ale of tonstruction Present Condition History Owners Boundaries of proposed 1,ning

,Reasons for listing

Sketch plan and photos Anach additio nal pho tos . if any. i SYDNEY NCRJ BUILDING 14-16 York Street,

' 'ifown or District) ,ost Code 2000 L4':.',.. 1rfn°~!,A?li. t-u f'n11nr; 1 Author of Proposal

Date of Proposal (Name or Identification of Proposed Listing) (Address or Location) Suggested Bibliography Owner and Address Listing Category RECORDED ~ertram Fabrics Pty Ltd R.A.I.A. (N.S.W.) Twentieth Century committee 3 Cumberland St. Sydney !Trust Use) HBC Buildings of Significance A-- nr,z-1v v cu R Council !Trust Use) /n/1//f C Description '/ / Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

5tY1e C. 1910 Construction Use Architect/s Builder/s Date of Construction Present Condition History Owners Boundaries of proposed listing

Reasons for listing

Sketch plan and photos Attach additional photos I if any. ,Author of 'Proposal

Date of ,roposal (Name or Identification of Proposed Listing) (Address or Location) 5uggested 8 ibl iography Owner and Address Listing c,tegory RECORDED ~ertram Fabrics Pty Ltd R.A.I.A. (N.S.W.) Twentieth Century 3 Cumberland St. Sydney eommittee Buildings of Significance !Trust Usel ·--HBC r.r n,t.., v cLJ R eouncil lfrust Usel II/It C oescription '/ / Briefly cover the points on the following check fist where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

Style C .1910 Construction Use Architect/s Builder/s Date of Construct ion Present Condition History Owners Boundaries of proposed l~ting

Reasons for listing

: Sketch plan and photos I Attach additional photos l if any. I

,---.----·---_ - ~"'"A"w ....

Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list wherefy,Yey_ are relevant and within yo_ur knowledge. Style operated as Petty's Hotel since 1836; nd storey added cl860; 3rd storey Construction added early 1850's Use Architect/s Bui:der/s Date of Construction Present Condition History Owners Boundaries of proposed listing

Reasons for listing

Sketch plan and photos I Attach additional photos l if any. I

~- ..-,,.~-~~. -~~- ·---,~~ - . (Town or 0i_st_ri_ct_l ______---1 Post Code 2000 Sydney FACADE . Local Govt Area Cit Council Author of D. Sheedy Proposal

Date of Feb. 1981 Proposal (Name or Identification of Listingl (Address or Locationl Suggested CLASSIFIED Bibliography Owner and Address Listing RAIA Supplementary List of 20th ~C~at~~~0~'Y'------1century buildings 1975. Commonwealth Savings Bank of committee HBC 268 Australia, (Trust Usel 1/12/80 108-120 Pitt Street, Council APPRQ\fi=:l ' SYDNEY NSW 2000 (Trust Use) · - •· -··- a.dv. 1?:.i?:.IS'1 Description '/ l / '3r/efly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. Style Built .192 t and d1:>B.igned by Architects HughesJ& Maloney, this fine Georgian Construction Use Revival facade is a well detailed brick elevation with small multi paned Architect/s timber framed windows and doors, sensitively proportioned and-positioned. Builder/s Of note is the massive entablature of almost one storey height on the top Date of Construct ion seventh floor. The ground floor has been altered. Present The statue of St. Joseph as a Cfrpenter on the top floor of the builing Condition was sculpted in 1888 by ArthurJCollingridge, and was originally installed History Owners in the Elizabeth Street offices of the St. Joseph Building Society. The Boundaries latter company became The Lisgar Investment and Building Society, and this of proposed company built Lisgar House in 1921, re-installing the statue there in that listing year.

Reasons for listing This building is in the style of the Georgian revival which is rare in Sydney and also unusual for office buildings, The top floor of the facade features fine detailing.

Sketch plan and photos Attach additional photos • if any. SYDNEY SHELL.HOUSE 2-12carringtcn Street NOW PART OF MENZIESiHOTEL I rown or District) ~stCode 2000 C '°''I Govt Area ..

1u1h0r of ~ ,roposal :,

~te of ,roposal (Name or Identification of Listing) (Address or Location) ------1u9gested RECORDED Bibliography Owner and Addres,. lilting f. } c,1egory Menzies Hotel t 1/ll/ 04 On RAIA Twentieth Century Buildings ~ eommittee HBC/ I: [Trust Use) 268 of Significance ~ ~ eouncil .... ~ !Trust usel AP_"f' · .OVED R · -----L------'------'"~ Description driefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. ~ ~ Style Construction 0 Use 1938 Architect Spain/and Cosh, Builder Howie Moffat & Co. Architect/s Builder/s Date of Construction IPrtsent Condition ,History Owners Boundaries

!of proposed l~ting

Reasons for listing

-- . ,· ,'i-~, 1'. \J/J 'I . ~ _· .~ - i

Sketch plan and photos 'Attach additional photos ',ii any. tovn or District Name or Identification of Proposed Listing Address or Location I SYDNEY THE/GRESHAM HOTEL 149 York Street, corner Druitt Street -' Post Code 2000 PART OF TOWN HALL GROUP 'Local Govt Area Sydney City Council card 5 of 6 'Author of see also George St Pro;,,:,sal David Sheedy

Date of Pro?osal 14/10/74 S~gg~sted Part of Bibliography Owner and Address L1sung ; Category CLASSIFIED GROl'F ------'--_.______Tooth & Co. Ltd., : Co=ittee Westpac Archives 26 BROADWAY. . (Trust Use) HBC

Ii; Council illAtn;,; Ad · d 16 12 75 ; (Trust Use) N"'l"1'(\JVED vise .. • • Description 21l/t,(1j cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. I Style A richly decorated commercial building of circa 1890 and to a design , Construction : Use attributed to the architect J.~Kirkpatrick which consists of five storeys I Architect/s with basement. Originally designed for offices with a bank in York Street, i Builder/s ! Date of it is now used mainly as an hotel. The style is Classic Revival exercise i Construction in the Baroque manner and is basically a face brick facade with sandstone : Present · Conc!ition surrounds to doors, windows and ornamental gables. Red granite attached History Corinthian colwnns and a grey granite base add to the textural contrast. . o.mers Boundaries The original Bank Chamber is still intact and is an elaborate composition : of ;,roposed of moulded plasterwork to the ceiling and columns with false arched wall · listing panels. Building is in good condition. The building was owned by the Excelsior Land and Building Company and Bank Ltd. It is unclear whether that body built it for its own use or as an investment. Between 1894 and 1934 the ground floor and basement were leased in turn to the Bank of New Zealand, the City Bcnk of Sydney, the A.B.C. Bank and the Bank of N.S.W ••

j Reasons for listing .I An important and lively link in the street elevations of Druitt Street between the

~ 0 Town Hall and Queen Victoria Building. It serves tQ preserve the rich unity of the z: z,f< civic space at the end of York Street. A substantial and architecturally interesting example of the Victorian comrn,.farcial building • • The building is one of the finest remaining High Victorian hotels in New South Wales 0.. 0' and appears unique within this State in incorporating a bank chamber and boardroom. II," ·~;"° .,~.

~ 3 Sket eh plan and :;,hotos 111 . Attach addi t iona 1 photos :::, if any .

• .", <

"'0 ., " -0 .. C 0 !Town or District)

,ost Code I 1,0Cal Govt Area

,Date of ,1roposal (Name or Identification of Proposed Listing) (Address or Location) Suggested Bibliography Owner and Address ,Listing Category Twenty-ninth p & C Nominees P/L :committee HBC 180 William St l(Trust Use) Melbourne VIC 3000

Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

Style Construction Use Architect/s Bui;der/s Date of Construction • Present Condition THIS BUILDING IS AT PRESENT RECORDED AND ALSO RECOMME1'DED TO BE CLASSIFIED BY THE HISTORIC BUILDINGS COMMITTEE. THIS BUILDING WILL BE CLASSIFIED WHEN A REPORT IS PREPARED. Cil

Reasons for listing

A fi~e example of American Romanesqu~ architecture contributing to the York Street townscape and sympathetic in form to the Queen Victoria Building. ,. 1' SYDNEY ARUNTA I HOUSE -- 83-87 York St FORMERLY PATTERSON-. REID & BRUCE BDG (has rear frontage to J#fl or D istrictl Clarence St) ,code- LUUU City or ~1Govt Area Sydney

,-or of T Hyde-Page IPOsal

11 ot May 1976 IPOsal (Name or Identification of Listing) (Address or Location) CLASSIFIED Bibliography Owner and Address 19 76 R.A.I.A. - 20th Century Buildings VT Estates P/L of Significance 44th floor, Australia Square ,nmittee ~s: Use) George St SYDNEY 2000 ~ncil APPROVED CLASS .,;_ ,ustUsel IFIED 31/5/76 11Criptt0n Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. ...:::.. yle A former warehouse built 1913 to the design of Joseland,and Vernon - a late -,~ instruction work of former Government Architect Vernon, who had returned to private thitect/s• practice. -lder/s The strongly designed York St facade is of massive scale, and features a ,,of two storey sandstone base with·, wide arched openings, rock-faced granite -~ 11111ruction ~ ,pent panels and a high bracketted stone arch over the central entrance. The rest is llldition of red brick with brick pilasters and typically Edwardian tall bay windows with .iorv metal spandrels. The three upper floors are separated from the rest by a stone 111ndaries cornice, and at the roof line there are two massive corbelled stone arches lprop0sed flanking the entrance section. There is a simp~e stone parapet with scroll motifs ning in pilasters above the stone arches. The Clarence St facade lacks the wealth of materials used in York St; the cornice recurs but in ca3t cement, and the giant arch recurs but in red brick. The interior has been completely altered, although a_large lantern survives in the main entrance.

leasons for listing The building is a good example of early 20th century city architecture. With its sophisticated facade and use of "natural" brick and stone it forms an interesting contrast to the boom style stuccoed buildings on the corner of King and York Sts.

lhtch plan and photos lttach additional photos I any.

,, ;YONEY VICTORIAN BUILDING 81 York St

~ or D istrictl cod• 1Govt Area

orof G Dawson ,sal ,ol Aug 1983 ,sal (Name or Identification of Listing} (Address or Location) Bibliography Owner and Address

jllittee ,tUsel

11Cil ,tUsel

uiPtion Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. This is a small five storey Victorian building with a rendered five-bay .. 111uction facade and typical Italianate mouldings: round arches with keystones; I ~itect/s classical geometric patterns between first and second floor levels; fluted tJ,r/s pilasters and intersting decorative panels on the end walls. There is a 1of central pediment with masonry balustrade parapet and small cast iron urn-like 111ruction 11111 decorations at each end. The ground floor is modern inside and out with new Mfition tiled exterior and display windows; the rest of the interior was not seen. 1/Jry 111rs 1ndaries proposed ing

usons for listing The building has a characterful Victorian facade with several fine and interesting details. It forms an interesting contrast with its neighbours the Grace Building (1930 - CLASSIFIED) and Arunta House (1913 - CLASSIFIED). These three buildings together allow an educational comparison of 19th and 20th century architectural styles.

ketch plan and photos 111ach additional photos 'anv.

------Cl E ...C .! ( (

L

... ____ _ ./ SYDNEY THEGRACE BUILDING 77-79 York Street (124 Clarence Street) (Town or District) Post Cod)OOO City of Local Govt Area Sydney Author of M Stapleton Proposal Date of October 1977 Proposal (Name or Identification of Listing) (Address or Location) SuggestedCLAS SI FI ED I Bibliography Owner and Address Listing ,Building, July 12,1930,pp69-8O Australian Government - Category tenanted by Department of Committ~BC/231 (Trust Use) Veterans' Affairs Advised: 8/3/78 Council APPROVED CLASSIFI 'o (Trust Use) 27 /2=...!.../.:...7=:8 ____...1.... ______....______Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. Architects: D T Morrowiand Gordon, ~uilders: Kell and Rigby. Opened in 1930, Style Construction the Grace Building like the Manchester Unity in Melbourne (1932) was modelled Use on the Chicago Tribune Building, a much-publicized work built to the prize- Architect/s winning ·design of Hood and Howells in 1922. It is a fine example of commercial Builder/s Date of Gothic, with a soaring vertical emphasis and a prominent 'Gothic' corner tower, Construction complete with flying buttresses, pointed windows and quatrefoils which provide ConditionPresent a distinctive landmark in York Street. Sheathed in glazed cream terra cotta, History details are picked out in green. Decoration is limited, skyscraper fashion, Owners to the summit and lower portion of the building. The street level facade has n ofBou proposedciaries been altered, but the facade above the awning remains intact. listing The foyer and lift lobby retain original marble lined walls and 'Gothic' mouldings on ceiling, l~fts have been recently renewed and original light fittings have disappeared. Original office fittings (heavy partitions of Queensland Maple and stippled green wall tiles) remain only on the fifth floor. The building was initially used as a department store for Grace Bros and provided showrooms and a glass roofed cafeteria on the lower floors, with prestigious office areas above. It was requisitioned by the Australian Government during the Second World War, and became the Headquarters of General Macarthur. The Government later resumed the buildin as a hos ital and medical centre for the De t of Reasons for listing Repatriation. The Grace Building is Sydney's finest example of skyscraper Gothic, and is a distinctive landmark in the city. Its relationship to the Chicago Tribune building illustrates the American inspiration of Australian commercial architecture at that period. Its location opposite Broughton House, 312-318 Kent Street (CLASSIFIED) allows an interesting contrast of nineteenth and twentieth century styles in significant buildings of similar mass •

. ~ .>Ketch pla,. and photos a Attach adr & if any. 0 I. OI .C ~

- ,

; ~

C •2 z• ,0.-.,n or District)

~l Code ':CJ:] Sy cnf:'y ,cal Govt Area Ci t Cn-1. CARD 3 of 4. athor of ,wosal T • Ll,,--'r,'•;L--•·~~ 2--~

)te of ~.:;.75 10posal I (Name or Identification of Listing} (Address or Location) ~ested P.J.RT CF j Bibliography Owner and Address ,,sung )tegory C".... ,~i5:3IFIED '.':RCL'.P 1 N.B.A. Properties,

;ommittee 340 George Street, !rust Usel H.3.C. SYDNEY NSW 2000

;ouncil APPROVED CL Trust Use) 3t/S'/7(.. Advised 9/8/76 o,scription Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

,tyle ;onstruction Desi~n~d b',J James .:nexancerJ'.,~ee'.< fu.3JJ] the most sophistic::tec ise and archi tectur2l ::;uilc:'inJ ~n the Group. f"1':'f:'1< m::>1

Reasons for listing

: Sketch plan and photos j Attach additional photos : ,f any. ; !Town or District) ..... ,..,,..,,, Post Code -~-- ·- ~'/Cn~y Local Govt Area Ci :y C::.uncii. CARD 4 of 4. Author of Proposal

Date of Proposal (Name or Identification of listing) (Address or Location) Suggested p_1,::n CF Bibliography Owner and Address Listing Category CL"'\SSIF!ED C:~CUP N.B.A. Properties, Committee 340 George Street, !Trust Use) H.3.C. SYDNEY NSW 2000 Council nPPROVEO CL (Trust Use) .31 /s 1<.: Advised 9/8/76 Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

Style Construction ~arrrnJ yel~=~ ~rick five storey f==~~? ~s~in2~e~ ~Va centr2l Use pro~~ucin: b2y heavily l2den ~~t~ ~ee~!y rnculde~ stu~co in 2 Architect ls Builder/s va~uely C!assical style. The top storey and p2rapet sheds Date of any pretens~ to the Classical anc is ~holly the builders o~n Construction uork. T~e ground floor has been =:terec. Present Condition History Owners Boundaries of proposed listing

..

Reas,

Ske . Att. ~ if a, -J - -

(Town or District) (Part of th= York 3tr~ct ~roup)

!'Author of Proposal I ------CARD 2 of 4. ~ate of : ,,...,r .. .., ...... !Proposal (Name or Identification of Listing I (Address or Location) ' (Suggested r:'.fH CF Bibliography Owner and Address !Listing Cl ·,~~IFTED ~...,c, 'P .--- .- Category _,,;_,J -'- u:-1 L ·. ..., Committee (Trust Use) H.3.C. Council f\t-'r'HUVEO CL !Trust Use) .31/5'/7(.. Advised 9/8/76 Desc:ription Briefly cover the.. points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. Style Construction Stuc~:J~d fi'J~ sto:-r:'-' f2.c:::r.2 th ~3senr:n"!:, ~~=~l ~, ::culC:::: i·.1 Use L.i l th Architect/s cri3p ~otifs but utterly !Jn~isci~lin~~ in its cv~r2ll t=~=t~~nt Suilder/s Th~rn is only th= f2int~st ~c~c =f E!~s3ic=l o= R~n=iss=-c~ Date of Construction crn=~cnt End th2 builciin~ ccn ~c d=ecrij~d as pu~~ or r2th2r Present i~~u=c boom stylF st 1ts shc~i~st. Condition History Owners Boundaries of proposed listing

Reasons for I isting

'

~ Sisetch plan and photos l Attach additional photos i if any. 'i

0 t;, (Town or District} :c~-l?RI..Jir~: Post Code .-.'J'.:': ~-,,-c,n~'.j Local Govt Area Ci t 1 _1 Cn::2.. c~.-.. :1!._ES" F.:.n :crJs 8. CC. r:'TY. LTD. 7 ~ York H--~'.)~.-~RE .;H:tJ3E Author of T· Yc:-k ='+rc::r::+ Proposal r: '-TIC:"t~L ,1Q~.'K ~ ......

Date of - ...,,,... _,.,_ CARD 1 of 4. Proposal .. (lllame or ,aentltitatlon of Listing} (Address or Location) Suggested Owner and Address Listing CL'.::::IFl"ED C:1CL~ Bibliography Category ~c=-v~v ~ R~~cr~ en :y~n~y Jan. ,~~ Committee ~\... =.. -· ~:c, -· ~7 6. ~ =-2 .:-~s~2ctiv2~y. (Trust Usel H.J.C. r. ~:'~;--"1=0 - ;1.::-chit~ctul'!? of Council Vi=~ori2n S~~n~y - ~o. 7~. Advised 9/8/76 (Trust Usel

Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

Style Construction Use Thr~P ~==-=~ous9s now cffice ~uildin;s, built in t~~ Architect/s ea=-~~= ·::o•s Builder/s end 2.!.l ;::m= ,~::=::::-:i~.!.r-s 'Jf :h2 ;=:,;-1ofus:::i =nd ==:-·.ube:::.ant orn::-cr:T==nt of Date of ~h:;t c:::c::c,-. Construction Present Condition History Owners Boundaries of proposed listing

Reasons for listing

'T'"nr~i 111 ~"; .... • -n~ ,,! • l.:. ,•_,; Crrn. .:p ~=:.rJ' s.

~-.... oJ YorK ~t tcnr tlarracKJ

(Town or District} Post Code 2000 Sydney Local Govt Areaci t Council Author of Proposal D. Sheedy Date of 2 12 7 ProposaRevised March, 76 (Name or Identification of Listing} (Address or Location} Suggested Bibl iog raphy Owner and Address Listing Category CLASSIFIED Committee (Trust Usel HBC Council APPROVED CL (Trust Usel 31 /t1'/'ll.,, Advised 6/8/76 Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. Style Construction Original four storey sandstone building, architect unknown, cl880, with Use Arch itect/s cast iron structure internally and later (c1930) two upper storeys. Builder/s Designed in Victorian Romanesque style; coursed smooth sandstone with Date of vermiculated quoins and reveals. The original entrance to Barrack Street Construction was restored and the facade steam cleaned in 1975. The interior was also Present Condition remodelled. Prior to work being carried out, full measured drawings of History -the building were made by the Architects, Laurie,,;& Heath, as accurate Owners Boundaries ones were unavailable. of proposed listing

Reasons for listing

A better quality connnercial building from the late Victorian era of a type now rare. Situated on an important city site, it relates well to adjacent building of Mauri Bros. & Thompson and preserves the earlier city scale of Barrack St:reet containing other listed buildings such as Commonwealth Bank and G.P.O. at eastern end. Although added to and '°N N renovated it serves as a good example of how older buildings can be .....l'l adapted for contemporary use • II) Q zf-- ______Z Sketch plan and I i Attach additional &. if any. 0 ~ Cl> .!: t: .J

..:, ~ iii ' \ C .2 :;; z \ ' \

·--··- SYDNEY YORK STREET GROUP ITown or District! comprising: Post Code 2 000 CITY OF Local Govt Area SYDNEY iCARLTON HOUSE 38-44 York Street Author of I JCHOWN (FOR}1ERLY '1IARDWICK) HOUSE 46-48 York Street 1--Pr_opo_sa_i__ C_o_l_i_n_B_r_a_d_y_----11 hoRK HOUSE 50-54 York Street Date of I CARD 1 OF 4 Proposal September 1983 ! (Name or Identification of Listing) (Address or Location) ~uggested i Bibliography Owner and Address , Listing CLASSIFIED Category GROUP Committee !Trust Use) HBC council APPROVED CLASSIFI D IITrust Usel 26/9/83

Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

Style Construction Three warehouse facades, one in the Edwardian Free Style and the others Use ' Architect/s in Late Victorian Free Classical mode. Though none is outstanding in Builder/s quality and all are stylistically diverse, they make a dignified and Date of unified group and together comprise an important component of York Street. Construction Present Condition See individual cards for further details. History Owners Boundaries of proposed listing

Reasons for listing The group remains a significant contributor to the identifiable early 20th Century city streetscape of York Street, whose quality is so compelling that it has been described as "the York Street wall". Consistency of scale and rhythmic progression of facade detailing unite the three separate buildings. Prominent articulation and the intactness of external detailing enable the buildings to maintain the cohesivene~s of the original construction despite the intrusions of recent modifications •

...J r-3ce ...J lui\ding

j :!: .;on. Reid i~:--uc~

~I I 'SYDNEY OCCIDENTAL HOTEL 43 Yot:k .St cnr Erskine St _., or District! ,cod• ,~no City of it1Govt A ell' " _, _ ·- - -J "J ~rof I Shields-Brown ,0111 Aug 1982 (Name or Identification of Listing) (Address or Location I .-,s-ted------+-B-ib-li-og-ra_p_h_y------=------r:0:--w-n-er_a_nd-:-A-dd-:--:-re_ss______- ti19 CLASSIFIED Com~erve No. 543 p /L :;.HBC/298 - c/o 43 York St 111 Use I SYDNEY 2 000 ,icil APPROVEDCLASSIFI~D Advised: 13/'1./83; copy to the ~use> l/-=l=l..,./-=l=9-=8-=2--...._l ______c_o_un_c_i_· l_o_f_t_h_e_C_i_t_y_o_f_S_y_d_n_e_y_ r;ription Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

•1111uction A five storey rendered masonry building dating from the early I ~~ect/s 1850s. Little decoration. Classical mouldings over .itr/s first floor windows, otherwise plain window surrounds. Rounded 1of corner, simple parapet and cornice. Main timber door, surround ...111ruction, and entablature are original; rest of ground floor facade modernised ld~ion including alteration to original window mullions. Signs of original r,ry internal fabric in staircases, panelling, shelving and bars. MIS llldaries Suspended metal awning. ,roposed 1119 Originally three storeys high with only three bays to Erskine St.

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-- - ~ 11011s for listing

This building, , dating from the early 1850s, is the oldest building in ~ Wynyard Square and probably the oldest building in York St. It is one of a group of surviving hotels in the central Sydney a-rea which together form an interesting collection reflecting an aspect of the social and recreational history of Sydney. :=: ~ b I

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• SYDNEY YORK STREET GROUP trown or Dis_;_tr-'ic'-'t'--l------; comprising: Post Code 2000 CITY OF Local Govt Area SYDNEY JCARLTON HOUSE 38-44 York Street Author of ~CHOWN (FOID-1ERLY iliARDWICK) HOUSE 46-48 York Street L-Pr_o_Po_sa_1__ C_o_l_i_n_B_r_a_d_y_----;1 hoRK HOUSE 50-54 York Street Date of I CARD 1 OF 4 (roposal September 1983 I (Name or Identification of Listing) (Address or Location) 1--rs-ug-g-es-te_d__ C_LA_S_S_I_FIED i Bibliography Owner and Address Listing Category GROUP Committee (Trust Use) HBC council APPROVED CLASSIFI ,D l(Trust Use) 26/9/83

Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

Style Construction Three warehouse facades, one in the Edwardian Free Style and the others Use ' Architect/s in Late Victorian Free Classical mode. Though none is outstanding in Builder/s quality and all are stylistically diverse, they make a dignified and Date of unified group and together comprise an important component of York Street. Construction Present Condition See individual cards for further details. History Owners Boundaries of proposed listing

Reasons for llsting The group remains a significant contributor to the identifiable early 20th Century city streetscape of York Street, whose quality is so compelling that it has been described as "the York Street wall". Consistency of scale and rhythmic progression of facade detailing unite the three separate buildings. Prominent articulation and the intactness of external detailing enable the buildings to maintain the cohesivene~s of the original construction despite the intrusions of recent modifications •

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~I I SYDNEY

!Town or 0istrictl Post Code 2000 Sydney JcARLTON HOUSE 38-44 York Street Local Govt Area r; tv r ...... n,..; 1 Author of Part of York Street Group Proposal Colin Brady Facade to street level Date of September 1983 rroposal (Name or Identification of Listing I CARD 2 OF 4 (Address or Locationl Suggested CLASSIFIED Bibliography Owner and Address Listing GROUP -~------Category Carlton House (Securities) Committee c/- Hopkins & McGowan & Co. !Trust Usel HBC ------t Box 2551 GPO council APPROVED CLASSIFII D SYDNEY 2000 !Trust Use, 26/9/83 Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

Style Construction A six-storey commercial building ~Tith a facade in the Edwardian Free Style, Use showing the influence of American commercial architecture of the time. A Architect/s Builder/s massive rusticated stone base with shallow-arched openings of dressed Date of sandstone supports a brick facade articulated with pilasters like giant Construction orders. The decorative crown, detailed in stone, comprises smaller pilasters, Present Condition a CO!'.P-~lled .. cornice, and ._an attic treatment·,:featurtn.g a~rus·ticated arch History in thci~prcijecting central bay. Owners Boundaries of proposed ReceI1tly comple.~ed. adapta..tion of: the building. to .o_ffi_c~· use. -has. included listing restoration or-the facade masonry. In.this adaptation the original interior detailing and original timber sash windows and doors to th~,street facade were removed.

Reasons for !:sting Part of a group of three turn-of-the-century buildings of similar scale and fenestration with good details. Refer also to group listing. \

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:awn or Dis_tr_ic_t_l------1 ,~Code 2000 City of ~CHOWN HOUSE FORMERLY 46-48 York Street ,c:al Govt Area Sydney ~HARDWICK HOUSE

wihor of FACADE ABOVE AWNING !Oj)05al Colin Brady PART OF YORK ST GROUP )II of i card 3 of 4 !Oj)05al September 1983; (Name or Identification of Listing) (Address or Location) .,ggested ! Bibliography Owner and Address 'ft!I09 CLASSIFIED ~egory GROUP Ms Carla Zampatti ;ommottee Trust Use) 435 Kent Street HBC Sydney ;ouncil APPROVED CLASSIFIED Trust Use) 26/9/83

)licription Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are re'ievant and within your knowledge.

ivie :onstruction A seven-storey cotmnercial building in the late Victorian Free Classical mode, ,,, with rendered a~d painted masonry street facade of Italianate moulded 1rthitect/s detailing. Projecting cornices divide the facade above the awning into luilder/s !1te of four articulated bands featuring major and minor pilaster forms. tonstruction Corinthian embellishments complete the lowest double-level arcade pilasters, hesent while shallow arches with extended keystone motifs head the double-level tondition Mistorv arcade at fifth floor level. Decorative spandrels and a running circular Owners motif beneath the projecting cornice complete an interesting facade. toundaries Below the awning the original facade has been unsym~athetically modified of proposed lsting and all interior detailing has been removed or concealed.

Reasons for lining Part of a group of three turn-of-the-century buildings of similar scale and fenestration with good details. Refer

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Sketch plan and photos Attach additional photos ii any.

...------~--=------=----, i - SYDNEY

r0..,nor Ois-"tr....:ic:..:.tc..l------l !YORK HOUSE 50-54 York Street ,011 Code 2000 .ocal Govt Area Part of York Street Group iuthor of Facade above awning ~oposal Colin Brady o,1e of CARD 4 OF 4 ~oposal (Name or Identification of Listing I (Address or Location) !,,ggested Bibliography Owner and Address Lill•ng GROUP ~egorv______----, Associated Engineers P/L eo,nm,nee 50 York Street HBC /Trust Usei Sydney D eouncil /Trust Usei 26/9/83

Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

Style A late Victorian commercial building with rendered and painted masonry facade. Construction Italianate detailing employs round and segmental variants of arched openings use :Architect/s arranged in bays within a frame of pilasters. The pilasters ascend from a :suilder/s giant Corinthian form through first and second floors to unadorned panels 'Date of on third floor level, with twin·pilasters at fourth floor level featuring nstruction Present capitals with palmette motifs, under a projecting cornice. Two floors Condition above cornice level are treated as a plain attic, and appear to be an early History addition to t~e building. The varied decorative scheme includes incised Owners Boundaries tracery on some pilasters. of proposed lmiing Below the awning the facade has been greatly modified. Some original finishes remain on all interior levels but much has been concealed. Floor structure is of characteristic composite metal, masonry and timber construction.

Reasons for Hsting Part of a group of three turn-of-the-century buildings of similar scale and fenestration, with some good details. Refer also to group listing.

,r------1 : Sketch plan and photos l Attach additional photos iii any. ( SYDNEY FORBESITAVERN HOTEL 30 York Street facade to ground rown or Oistrictl 2000 City 11st Cod e of IDCII Govt Area Sydney

1111hor of ~CJPOsal

i,ta of January, 1980 ,roposal (Name or Identification of Listingl I (Address or Location) ~ested 8 ibl iography Owner and Address Listing c,1egorv Tooheys Limited eommittee HBC PO Box 58 1Trust Use) iLIDCOMBE 2141 eouncil ~rust Use)

l)efeription Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

ltYle Construction Use

THIS BUILDING IS AT PRESENT RECORDED AND ALSO RECOMMENDED TO BE CLASSIFIED BY THE HISTORIC BUILDINGS COMMITTEE THIS BUILDING WILL BE CLASSIFIED WHEN . · A REPORT IS PREPARED.

listing

Reasons for listing

The hotel is a good example of an English ~ueen Anne style building in oiled brickwork featuring surviving original details and an important corner building in York Street

ketch plan and photos ttach additional photos ,lanv.

- SYDNEY P;T.C.)ADMINSTRATION BUILDirG 19 -31 York Street

rown or Districtl istCode 2000 ,ocal Govt Area City of Syd

1u1hor of ~sal

~re of \Oposal (Name or Identification of Proposed Listingl (Address or Locationl mested Bibliography Owner and Address ,111ing )1egory NSW Government :o,nmittee Trust Usel

:ouncil D Advised - 1.12.75 Trust Usel

)l!Cription Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

l(yle :onstruction 1935-1936 /le Sulman Medal 1936 1rchitect/s RIBA Bronze luilder/s 1936 l11e of Architect - Budden,and Mackey :Onstruction !,sent :Ondition listorv ,Wn•rc

THIS BUILDING IS AT PRESENT RECORDED AND ALSO RECOMMENDED TO BE CLASSIFIED BY THE HISTORIC BUILDINGS COMMITTEE. - THIS BUILDING. WILL BE CLASSIFIED WHEN . - -· . . . •, A REPORT IS PREPARED • .... --.. -,

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leasons for li 5ting A strong clever interpretation o:f the skyscraper style on a broad facade. The building features good geometric art deco detailing· · 'and was awarded two medals in 1936.

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___:------,., SYDNEY JOHN SOLOHON BUILDING 18-20 York Street ..... - ..... ,,, Facade exctuding shop front -

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0ate of i,oposal (Name or Identification of Proposed Listing) (Add•ess or Location) 'Suggested Bibliography Owner and Address L~ting RECORDED Category [ H.0.Webb Investment Co Pty Ltd 152 Bungaree Rd committee !Trust Use) HBC PENDLE HILL 2145 leouncil APPROVED !Trust Use

oescription Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. 1876 Style • Construction Use Architect/s Builder/s Date of Construct ion Present Condition History Owners Boundaries ol proposed listing

Reasons for listing

:' Sketch plan and photos l Attach additional photos 1if any. ' i SYDNEY NCRJ BUILDING 14-16 York Street,

!Town or District) Post Code 2000 L9f.it1.P~0~!.Ai;i:, t-v rn11nr; 1 Author of - Proposal

Date of Proposal (Name or Identification of Proposed Listing) (Address or Location) . Suggested Bibliography Owner and Address Listing Category RECORDED Bertram Fabrics Pty Ltd R.A.I.A. (N.S.W.) Twentieth Century Committee 3 Cumberland St. Sydney (Trust Use) HBC Buildings of Significance nrA--- rnVvcU Council A !Trust Use) /b /I/ft C Description "/ / Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

Style C Construction .1910 Use Architect/s Builder/s Date of Construction Present Condition History Owners Boundaries of proposed listing

Reasons for listing

0 0 z 'zrS-ke_t_c_h_p_la-n-an_d_p_ho_t_o_s ______i Attach additional photos 'i if any. ! L .:• J

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Date of Proposal (Name or Identification of Proposed Listing) (Address or Location) Suggested Bibliography Owner and Address Listing Category RECORDED Bertram Fabrics Pty Ltd R.A.I.A. (N.S.W.) Twentieth Century eommittee 3 Cumberland St. Sydney !Trust Usel HBC Buildings of Significance A --- ru I 1iv I/ :::0 Council A !Trust Usel lb /;/ft C Description '/ / Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

Style C .1910 Construction Use Architect/s Builder/s Date of Construction Present Condition History Owners Boundaries of proposed listing

Reasons for listing

~ Sketch plan and photos I Attach additional photos I if any. 't ! ' J

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Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list where "(o/'ey_are relevant and within yo_ur knowledge. Style operated as Petty's Hotel since 1836; nd storey added c1860; 3rd storey Construction added early 1850's Use Architect/s Builder/s Date of Construction Present Condition History Owners Boundaries of proposed listing

Reasons for listing

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_ ... ;...:;,., .• !!"'!: • ....:;::--,.- ...... ·-·-· -~ .. ------.. ·---~--~ (Town or Di_st_ri_ct_l ______---t Post Code 2000 Sydney FACADE _ Local Govt Area Ci t Council Author of Proposal D. Sheedy Date of Feb. 1981 Proposal (Name or Identification of Listing) (Address or Location) Suggested CLASSIFIED Bibliography Owner and Address Listing RAIA Supplementary List of 20th ~=--'------~centuryCategory buildings 1975. Commonwealth Savings Bank of Comm,ttee HBC 268 Australia, (Trust Use) 1 / 12 / 80 108-120 Pitt Street, Council APPRQ\fi-:?~l ' SYDNEY NSW 2000 (Trust Use)-----·- adv. 16.i?:.1~, Description '/ l / '3r/efly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. Style Built .192t and d<:>Eligned by Architects HughesJ& Maloney, this fine Georgian Construction Use Revival facade is a well detailed brick elevation with small multi paned Arch itect/s timber framed windows and doors, sensitively proportioned and·positioned. Builder/s Of note is the massive entablature of almost one storey height on the top Date of Construction seventh floor. The ground floor has been altered. Present The statue of St. Joseph as a c~rpenter on the top floor of the builing Condition was sculpted in 1888 by ArthurJCollingridge, and was originally installed History Owners in the Elizabeth Street offices of the St. Joseph Building Society. The Boundaries latter company became The Lisgar Investment and Building Society, and this of proposed company built Lisgar House in 1921, re-installing the statue there in that listing year.

Reasons for listing This building is in the style of the Georgian revival which is rare in Sydney and also unusual for office buildings. The top floor of the facade features fine detailing,

,n q z f-1------~ Sketch plan and photos !I Attach additional photos 8. if any. e a... :;C .J SHELL.HOUSE 2- 2carringtcn Street SYDNEY I NOW PART OF MENZIESiHOTEL; I I 1r0wn or District) ~ ,ost Code 2000 i.ocal Govt Area

1u1hor of -.~.,, ,roposal

l)ate of Proposal (Name or Identification of Listing) (Address or Location) ------·~/.; !,Jggested RECORDED Bibliography Owner and Address- /~ Listing ~- Menzies Hotel 1.:::. ;;Ca;;.;teg-=---or_,v______rT,.....,rr,"7"<----1 ~ On RAIA Twentieth Century Buildings ~ Committee "" 1rrust use, of Significance i3

Council ,... irrust Use) AP_'f' · .OVED R .

Description driefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

1Style Construction :Use 1938 Architect Spain/and Cosh, Builder Howie Moffat & Co, ~rch itect/s Builder/s Date of Construction Present Condition History Owners Boundaries of proposed listing

Reasons for listing

: Sketch plan and photos / Attach additional photos iii any. town or District Name or Identification of Proposed Listing Address or Location I SYDNEY THE /GRESHAM HOTEL 149 York Street, corner Druitt Street 'Post Code 2000 PART OF TOWN HALL GROUP 'Local Gove Area Sydney City Council card 5 of 6 'Author of see also George St Pro;x,sal David Sheedy

Date of Pro;,osal 14/10/74 . S~gg~SCed Part of Bibliography Owner and Address , List L'lg ; category CLASSIFIED GROL'P ------'----~------Tooth & Co. Ltd., Co=ittee Westpac Archives 26 BROADWAY. (Trust Use) HBC I------): Council ,.•• _,.,. Advised - 16.12.75 : (Trust Use) ~VEO 21 't.-17<:;, ' Description lr;efly cover the !)Oints Oil the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

I Style A richly decorated corranercial building of circa 1890 and to a design , Construction Use attributed to the architect J.~Kirkpatrick which consists of five storeys Architect/s with basement. Originally designed for offices with a bank in York Street, Builder/s Date of it is now used mainly as an hotel. The style is Classic Revival exercise Construction in the Baroque manner and is basically a face brick facade with sandstone Present Condition surrounds to doors, windows and ornamental gables. Red granite attached History Corinthian columns and a grey granite base add to the textural contrast. , Owners Boundaries The original Bank Chamber is still intact and is an elaborate composition ' of ;,reposed of moulded plasterwork to the ceiling and columns with false arched wall : listing panels. Building is in good condition. The building was owned by the Excelsior Land and Building Company and Bank Ltd. It is unclear whether that body built it for its own use or as an investment. Between 1894 and 1934 the ground floor and basement were leased in turn to the Bank of New Zealand, the City B~nk of Sydney, the A.B.C. Bank and the Bank of N.S.W ••

..i Reasons for listing ..I ..I An important and lively link in the street elevations of Druitt Street between the

"'0 Town Hall and Queen Victoria Building. It serves tQ preserve the rich unity of the z: civic space at the end of York Street. A substantial and architecturally interesting "'z, example of the Victorian cornmyrcial building • • The building is one of the finest remaining High Victorian hotels in New South Wales 0.. 0. and appears unique within this State in incorporating a bank chamber and boardroom. "'".. ,~C

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lfown or District) ,ost Code I i.ocal G ovt Area

(Name or Identification of Proposed Listing) (Address or Location) Suggested Bibliography Owner and Address Listing Category Twenty-ninth P & C Nominees P/L committee HBC 180 William St !Trust Usel Melbourne VIC 3000 Council APPRO !Trust Use)

Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. Style Construction Use Architect ls Builder/s Date of Construction • Present Condition THIS BUILDING IS AT PRESENT RECORDED AND ALSO RECOMME1'DED TO BE CLASSIFIED BY THE HISTORIC BUILDINGS COMMITTEE. THIS BUILDING WILL BE CLASSIFIED WHEN A REPORT IS PREPARED. 'tl

Reasons for listing

A fi~e example of American Romanesque architecture contributing to the York Street tovnscape and sympathetic in form to the Queen Victoria Building. t\ - r------:.::-- ~ ~ ~ ~

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. --=-- > SYDNEY ARUNTA I HOUSE - 83-87 York St FORMERLY PATTERSON .. REID & BRUCE BDG (has rear frontage to 11¥" or District I LUUU Cl. ty or Clarence St) 1Code 111Govt Area Sydney

1torof T Hyde-Page IP(lsal .· 11 of May 1976 IP(l5al (Name or Identification of Listing) (Address or Location) CLASSIFIED Bibliography Owner and Address 19 / 6 R.A.I.A. - 20th Century Buildings VT Estates P/L of Significance 44th floor, Australia Square ,nmittee M: Usel George St SYDNEY 2000 111ncil APPROVED CLASS ----'rust Use) IFIED 31/5/76 15Cript,on Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. A former warehouse built 1913 to the design of Joseland~and Vernon - a late instruction'" work of former Government Architect Vernon, who had returned to private ,chitect/s• practice. ,'lJer/s The strongly designed York St facade is of massive scale, and features a 111of two storey sandstone base with·· wide arched openings, rock-faced granite ·, ,istruction llllflt panels and a high bracketted stone arch over the central entrance. The rest is )lldition of red brick with brick pilasters and typically Edwardian tall bay windows with i10ry metal spandrels. The three upper floors are separated from the rest by a stone 1wners 11Undaries cornice, and at the roof line there are two massive corbelled stone arches /proposed flanking the entrance section. There is a simp;e stone parapet with scroll motifs ning in pilasters above the stone arches. The Clarence St facade lacks the wealth of materials used in York St; the cornice recurs but in cast cement, and the giant arch recurs but in red brick. The interior has been completely altered, although a.large lantern survives in the main entrance.

leasons for listing The building is a good example of early 20th century city architecture. With its sophisticated facade and use of "natural" brick and stone it forms an interesting contrast to the boom style stuccoed buildings on the corner of King and York Sts.

liletch plan and photos 1!ttach additional photos lllany.

------. ;YONEY VICTORIAN BUILDING 81 York St

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cod• iGovt Area

ior of G Dawson ~I Aug 1983 (Name or Identification of Listing) (Address or Locationl Bibliography Owner and Address

i,11ittee ,tUsel

11til di Use)

uiption Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. This is a small five storey Victorian building with a rendered five-bay. •111ruction facade and typical Italianate mouldings: round arches with keystones; I •itect/s classical geometric patterns between first and second floor levels; fluted ll,r/s pilasters and intersting decorative panels on the end walls. There is a ,of central pediment with masonry balustrade parapet and small cast iron urn-like 111ruction lllflt decorations at each end. The ground floor is modern inside and out with new idition tiled exterior and display windows; the rest of the interior was not seen. IIOIV

llftdaries proposed ling

1110ns for listing The building has a characterful Victorian facade with several fine and interesting details. It forms an interesting contrast with its neighbours the Grace Building (1930 - CLASSIFIED) and Arunta House (1913 - CLASSIFIED). These three buildings together allow an educational comparison of 19th and 20th century architectural styles.

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'-= .• -== ._!?I~------....;;.._~--- SYDNEY THE.GRACE BUILDING 77-79 York Street (124 Clarence Street) (Town or District) Post Code2000 City of Local Govt Area Sydney Author of M Stapleton Proposal Date of October 1977 Proposal (Name or Identification of Listing) (Address or Location) SuggestedCLASSIFIED I Bibliography Owner and Address Listing 1Building, July 12,1930,pp69-80 Australian Government - Category tenanted by Department of ComminiliJBC/231 Veterans' Affairs (Trust Use) Advised: 8/3/78 Council APPROVED CLASS I FI' D (Trust Use) 2 7 / 2:::.L.:...:::. /7 8 ____...L.- ______..______Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. Architects: D T Morrowiand Gordon, ~uilders: Kell and Rigby. Opened in 1930, Style Construction the Grace Building like the Manchester Unity in Melbourne (1932) was modelled Use on the Chicago Tribune Building, a much-publicized work built to the prize- Architect/s winning ·design of Hood and Howells in 1922. It is a fine example of commercial Builder/s Date of Gothic, with a soaring vertical emphasis and a prominent 'Gothic' corner tower, Construction complete with flying buttresses, pointed windows and quatrefoils which provide ~_::on a distinctive landmark in York Street. Sheathed in glazed cream terracotta, History details are picked out in green. Decoration is limited, skyscraper fashion, Owners to the summit and lower portion of the building. The street level facade has Boundaries been altered, but the facade above the awning remains intact. of proposed listing The foyer and lift lobby retain original marble lined walls and 'Gothic' mouldings on ceiling, l~fts have been recently renewed and original light fittings have disappeared. Original office fittings (heavy partitions of Queensland Maple and stippled green wall tiles) remain only on the fifth floor. The building was initially used as a department store for Grace Bros and provided showrooms and a glass roofed cafeteria on the lower floors, with prestigious office areas above. It was requisitioned by the Australian Government during the Second World War, and became the Headquarters of General Macarthur. The Government later resumed the buildin as a hos ital and medical centre for the De t of Reasons for listing Repatriation. The Grace Building is Sydney's finest example of skyscraper Gothic, and is a distinctive landmark in the city. Its relationship to the Chicago Tribune building illustrates the American inspiration of Australian commercial architecture at that period. Its location 1 opposite Broughton House, 312-318 Kent Street (CLASSIFIED) allows an interesting contrast of nineteenth and twentieth century styles in significant buildings of similar mass.

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':~ ~ ;; C 2 z• :own or District) '.3roL.:;J) Dst Code ~CJ:J Sy Cnr::y ,ocal Govt Area Ci ~ Cn=l. CARD 3 of 4. ~1hor of T u ..-1 ..., ,gposal • ' ,\;'L~-t-:J[;1• - _ ,------; )teof ~. :;. 76 1aposal (Name or Identification of Listing) (Address or Location) ,iggested p;,RT CF j Bibliography Owner and Address .~ung )tegory C".... ~iSSIFIED :::RCL'.P 1 N.B.A. Properties,

;ommittee 340 George Street, Trust Use) H.3.C. SYDNEY NSW 2000

:ouncil APPROVED CL ,Trust Use) 31 s' 7(, Advised 9/8/76 Oeseription Briefly cover the paints on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

ityle Construction Desi~n::?d by J2rnes .;1exancerj~-~ee~ [is20] the most sophisticctec use and archi tectur2l :::ui::.din;:_; :.n the Group. r-:ee1< m21

11resent Condition The c:::::rner is emp!,:::sised by 3 protru:linG buy. C2st iron 1H~tory supporting columns survive i~ ~he groun~ floor banking chamb2r. jOwners 'Boundaries / of proposed [lining

Reasons for listing

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II I I : Sketch plan and photos j Attach additional photos 1,1 any.

.. !Town or District) Post Code ':~::'~ ~':,'Cn'"?y Local Govt Area Ci tv C::;unr.il CARD 4 of 4. Author of Proposal

Date of Proposal (Name or Identification of Listing) (Address or Location) Suggested P.1RT CF Bibliography Owner and Address Listing Category CL'\SSIF!ED c;RCUP N.B.A. Properties, Committee 340 George Street, !Trust Use) H.a.c. SYDNEY NSW 2000 Council nPPROVED CL (Trust Use) .31 /5 7& Advised 9/8/76 Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

Style Construction ~QrrrnJ yel::~ ~rick five storey f=c?~? ~s~in2~eci bv a centrel Use pro~~udin~ ~2y heavily l2den ~~t~ ~ee~:y moulded stur:co in 2 Architect/s and per2pet sheds Builder/s va~uely C:3ssic2l style. The top storey Date of any pretenr:2 to the Classical 2nd is t.:..:hol:!.y the builders Dl.L!n Construction uork. Tr.e ground floor has 8een ~:terec. Present Condition History Owners Boundaries of proposed listing

Reas,

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'!Town or District) ~rinri Post Code - ~u -1 =vr..nr:oy (P2rt of '2:-oup) Local Govt Area Ci t1: Couricil Author of Proposal CARD 2 of 4. ~ate of - ! , Proposal .. ·-. - (Name or Identification of Listing) (Address or Location) I !Suggested r.-\fH CF Bibliography Owner and Address LISt 'ng Cl ., .... ~IFTED ,...,[, 'P Category _,, :..J ~ -'- u:-t C.: .. Committee . ' !Trust Usel H.3.C. Council Ai-'i-'HUVEO CL !Trust Use) .3,/~/7~ Advised 9/8/76 Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. ~ Style Construction Stuc:~!::d fi'Jc? sto:-r::y f2c:c:r'2 !.. i ti-, 'J332TT1E'n".:, ~r:-2;:l '} r-::::;ulcc:= r_·i th Use Architect/s cri3p :10tifs but utterly • w·~i c; .... ; ~· ~ n""r in its cv'?:-211 t::-=:::::t'.:lc::nt Builder/s Th~r 0 is only t~~ f=int~st ~c~c cf E!~s3icol o~ R~n3iss=~c~ Date of Construction crn=~cnt End th2 ~uildin~ c:::n ~c d=sc:-ij~d as ~ur~ or r2th~r Present i~pu~s bocm stylF et 1ts shc~iPst. Condition History Owners Boundaries of proposed listing

Reasons for listing

S~etch plan and photos Attach additional photos if any. (Town or District)

Post Code Local Govt Area G~.--.~~Es, ~-~n.=crr:~ & CC. '.'TY. LTD. H--=!!):.:;.-~RE ;H:tJ:3E Author of Proposal r: ~ n;:r,~;.L, ::pr-!K

Date of CARD 1 of 4. Proposal .. -·, - (Name or ldentllleatlon of Listing) (Address or Location) Suggested Owner and Address Listing CL:~:F!ED C::lC:L~ Bibliography

Category t..., ~ =t.:..-:::'.Jr:!j Committee ~~~- _c, ~~7 & ~:: =~s~2ctiv~!y. (Trust Use) H.3.C. Council Advised 9/8/76 (Trust Use)

Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge.

Style Construction Use Th~oP fo~~~~ ~=~=~cus~s no~i cffic~ t~~ Architect/s ~uildin;s, built in ·::D's Builder/s end 2ll ;co= '?:::::n~!r-2 '.Jf :h2 p'.=)ofus':' ;::nd ~;-·.ube:::ant orn;:~r::~nt of Date of '!:h:Jt c=:::::::c,.... Construction Present Condition History Owners Boundaries of proposed listing

Reasons for listing

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(Town or District) Post Code 2000 Sydney Local Govt Areacit Council Author of Proposal D. Sheedy Date of 2 12 7 ProposalR.evised March, 76 (Name or Identification of Listing) (Address or Location) Suggested Bibliography Owner and Address Listing Category CLASSIFIED Committee (Trust Use) HBC Council APPROVED CL (Trust Use) 31 j!Jf!t.., Advised 6/8/76 Description Briefly cover the points on the following check list where they are relevant and within your knowledge. Style Construction Original four storey sandstone building, architect unknown, cl880, with Use Architect/s cast iron structure internally and later (c1930) two upper storeys. Builder/s Designed in Victorian Romanesque style; coursed smooth sandstone with Date of vermiculated quoins and reveals. The original entrance to Barrack Street Construction was restored and the facade steam cleaned in 1975. The interior was also Present Condition remodelled. Prior to work being carried out, full measured drawings of History -the building were made by the Architects, Laurie-,i& Heath, as accurate Owners Boundaries ones were unavailable. of proposed listing

Reasons for listing

A better quality commercial building from the late Victorian era of a type now rare. Situated on an important city site, it relates well to adjacent building of Mauri Bros. & Thompson and preserves the earlier city scale of Barrack Street containing other listed buildings such as 10 Conunonwealth Bank and G.P.O. at eastern end. Although added to and N N renovated it serves as a good example of how older buildings can be .....l"l adapted for contemporary use • Ill C? ...z ______~ Sketch plan and 1 :I Attach additional g_ if any. 0 et .£"' t: .J

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