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| This is pretty much all that remains of James Barnet's 1879 Garden Palace, these gates off Macquarie Street. It was burnt to the ground in September 1882. It was constructed of timber, and the fire lasted 6 hours! The image from the Dome - courtesy of the National Library of Australia - was taken by Charles Bayliss, as part of a panorama, in 1880. It affords splendid detail of the buildings along the west side of Macquarie Street. Who would blame a resident for torching such a massive building that eliminated one's spectacular views of the harbour? |
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4 comments:
What a building it must have been...
How fantastic it would have been to survey Sydney from that dome Julie.
I would walk past those steps and gate and never know what was there until now. Thanks Mrs Historian.
Terrific at the time, Joe. But not terrific nowadays. Although the Garden Palace was 4 times the size of the QVB, it would now be totally dwarfd by modern skyscrapers. I am one of those who suspect the fire did the city a fvour.The footprint was just mssive and cut a swathe through our precious parkland.
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