Facades of Clarence Street

In the Central Business District (CBD) of my city, there are two ridges whch run north-south, from about the Town Hall all the way down to Circular Quay. One ridge runs along Macquarie Street. Another ridge runs along York Street. But I have the chicken before the egg, because, of course, the street was laid out to traverse the ridge. You with me?

Macquare Street, on the eastern ridge, is the home of government, medical specialists, the landed-gentry and mercantilists. York Street, on the western edge is replete with 19th century warehouses. In between these two is the retail quarter, closer to the Town Hall, and the business quarter, closer to Circular Quay.

The ridge along York drops north toward the Quay, and also drops west toward Darling Harbour. The streets of any length to the west of York Street are: Clarence, Kent, and Sussex.

Each of these three streets has a hard-yakka provenance, wedged as they are between warehouses, engineering concerns, and the dockyards and piers of the eastern side of Darling Harbour. One of the good things about these streets, is that many of the buildings from the second half of the 19th century are still standing. Handsome on the outside, but modernised on the inside. I can live with that.