A "Sydney Living Museum" Pass

I have a Sydney Living Museum 3-month pass, that enables me to see four named museums for an investment of $8. I saw the Museum of Sydney first, which is on Bridge Stree, down near Circular Quay, on the site of the first Government House. Then I went through the Justice & Police Museum, which is on Phillip Street, also down near Circular Quay. My third museum is this one: Hyde Park Barracks.

Hyde Park Barracks is on Macquarie Street adjacent to Hyde Park. It was commissioned by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, and designed and overseen by Francis Greenway. In 1817 it was ready for its first intake of convicts. From 1788 until then, convicts were mostly able to spend the night wherever they could find a roof. Where else were they going to run off too? Sydney was down the nether-end of the world! Those who did try to escape, died quickly in the unforgiving bush.

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.

On the Street Where I Live - Macquarie Street

Left: Sydney Hospital (1880) Right: State Library of New South Wales (1906)

Left: Spire Of St Stephen's Uniting Church (1935) Right: Main window behind the mezzanine pews of St Stephen's Uniting Church (1935)

Left: Corner moulding Sydney Hospital (1880) Right: Above the main entrance, Colonial (or Chief) Secretary's building (1873-1880)

Left: Light on Sydney Hospital (1880) (1935) Right: Logo on cast-iron gate, The Mint (1811-1816)

The massive footprint of the Garden Palace

The Garden Palace was erected for the 1879 Sydney International Exhibition, just as the Crystal Palace was erected for the 1851 Exhibition in London, and the Eiffel Tower for the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris. The Eiffel Tower is the only structure still standing, the Crystal Palace also being destroyed by fire, in 1936. Photo 1 and photo 3 show the current gates labelled "Garden Palace". I am not sure they are the sames gates as in photo 2, taken immediately after the blaze. The Australian Historical Society Green Plaque on the gates tell me they were erected in 1889, whereas websites tell me they are the originals. The originals were spread across what we know today as the intersection of Bent Street and Shakespeare Place, ie in front of the State Library, before there was a State Library. They could, of course, be from the original materials, erected in a different spot.

The Garden Palace was massive for its day, even for today if you consider that it was 4 times larger than the existing Queen Victoria Building (QVB), covering just over 8 acres. Its problem was that it was constructed primarily from timber, oregon imported from the United States. It was only ever intended to be a temporary structure, but politicians and citizens got carried away with the grandiose strucure and with their perceived status in the world. Being made from timber, it was a conflagration waiting to happen. Originally intended as a private enterprise venture, the time frame became squashed and the Premier, Sir Henry Parkes, offered the coffers of the state, giving the architect, James Barnet, and the builder, James Young, less than a year to get it all together.

The fire started around dawn on 22nd September, 1882. The watchmen had done their rounds during the early hour, and were out the front near the main gates doing the hand-over, when one noticed smoke arising from the dome. The raced up to the main entrance but it was filled with smoke, The fire-engines were speedily on site, but it was timber, it was on a rise from, the harbour, the design involved long wing that fanned the flames very nicely. The rose gardens of today's Royal Botanic Gardens occupy the space of the north wing of the Garden Palace, with the sunken memorial to the Pioneers (erected in 1938, with a bloody statue of Cupid, is close to where the massive dome loomed. The south wing jutted across Shakespeare Place and into Hospital Road. Below, on the left, ia an image from Sydney Architecture, which endeavours to show the massive footprint on a Google-map scene. It stretched from the State Library, along Macquarie Street, to the Conservatorium of Music, conceived by Governor Macquarie as stables for his dreamt-of Government House. To the eat, it tumbled down what are now lawns sloping down to Farm Cove. It was simply massive, with fantastic views, and could be seen from all over the North Shore of the harbour. It dominbated the skyline. It may not dominate nowadays with all the commercial high-rise of the CBD. Not everyone could go to the top of the donme like photograpgher, Charles Bayliss. But the northern tower had the city's first hydraulic lift, and the citizenry flocked to it in their thousands.

I just adore the next two historic images, taken whilst the 1879 exhibition was in progress, ie September 1879-April 1880. On the left, taken from the northern shore of the harbour, we have a view up the slope to the Garden Palace. On the right of thid image, one can see the curve of Macquarie Street, and the imposing sandstone ediface of the Colonial Secretary's building half-way up. Immeditely behind the celebratory yacht in the foreground, stands Fort Macquarie on Bennelong Point, the site for the Sydney Opera House. At this stage, Fort Macquarie was operating as a tram depot. Can you see the curve of cut standstone cliff which is the Tarpeian Walk, between Benelong point and the nearly inconspicuous Government House? On the right, is a shot taken from the spire of St James church, the same church I featured in my post just last Thursday. See the dome of the Garden Palace and its four entrance towers? Come back this way along Macquarie Street, and on its eastern side there is the Iron Church, which is the site of the "new" wing of the State Library. Next to that is the Legislative Assembly building, parallel to the street, and then the Legislative Council building, perpendicular to the street. Then, there is a long, long stretch of rubble, with the "quaint" Nightingale Wing behind. This rubble had been the second incarnation of the Sydney Hospital, Macquarie's "Rum Hospital" (1816-1879). The third, and still existant, incarnation of Sydney Hospital, although commenced in 1880, was not completed until 1894. In the background of the Garden Palace, can you see the sweep of Farm Cove as it travels out to Mrs Macquarie's Chair? And just the tiniest peek at Fort Denison, the island in the middle of the harbour. Both these phographs were taken by Charles Bayliss. What I wouldn't give (if I had it) to attend a dinner party with Mr Bayliss!

And, so I come back to the present, to the rose gardens of the Royal Botanic Gardens. There was a wedding there yesterday. In my opinion, a large wedding. A lass of Indonesian background married a lad of Anglo-saxon background. Always good to see. But it is also good to see the swathe of green intact. The green that rushes up fro the harbour, through the Botanic Gardens, through the Domain, and inyo North Hyde Park, ending in South Hyde Park. I do not try to hide my admiration for Governor Lachlan Macquarie. This was his doing, this greensward. And I salute him for it. I think I am glad the Garden Palace is no more.

The images in this post have been sourced primarily from: State Records the Powerhouse Museum, and the State Library of NSW Other references are cited within the text.

Sad swansong for the Garden Palace

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?

St James' Church, Macquarie Street

I took the first shot at the end of May. Charles Bayliss took the second shot in 1879. I sourced the historic shot from the National Library of Australia. St James’ Church was constructed between 1819 and 1824. It is the oldest church building in the City of Sydney and has been in continuous use from its consecration on 11 February 1824 to the present. It is a church of the Anglican tradition.

Macquarie Street - The Mansion Era (1819 - c.1900)

Macquarie St today looking south (up the ridge) from History House at #175

Yesterday, I wrote about the early housing on Macquarie Street, using "History House" (#175) as an example. However, as I noted, this was not constructed until 1873, even though Macquarie was Governor from 1810-1822, and had a massive enough ego to name a street after himself during his term in office. Today, I will mention some of the other early residences for which there is evidence.

Two sketches of Hdye Park by John Rae, one in 1842, and the other dated 1847. I have noted the stone house built for D'Arcy Wentworth.

The first stone residence on the street was built for D'Arcy Wentworth in 1819, on a parcel of land adjacent to the race-course (Hyde Park) and in what is now the forecourt of St James, which was not constructed until 1824. I say "residence" because there were government buildings constructed prior to 1819, to whit, "the Rum Hospital" in 1816, and Hyde Park Barracks in 1819. All these institutional buildings were allocated to the eastern side of Macquarie Street, leaving the western side for private residences. D'Arcy was the father of William Charles Wentwoth who carved such a massive public profile for himself in the latter parts of the 19th century. He never lived in this house, but on-sold it, and it eventually became so entwined with St James it is referred to as "The Parsonage". It was demolished in 1888.

Left: Horbury Terrace today, replete with temporary hoarding; Right: Horbury Terrace in 1946 taken by Max Dupain. The original 8 went to the right, meaning that even the building fragment Dupain included is no longer standing.

Another residence for which records are available is the Horbury Terraces. The AHS Green Plaque states These houses, once part of a terrace of eight, were built in 1842, for Ouseley Condell. Their name derives from the second owner, Thomas Holt, a native of Horbury, Yorkshire. Today, there are two left. Rather, there appears to be two left from all external appearances. However, internally it is all one building with just the facade representing a nod to our heritage1, from the 1970s restoration. In my current image, the other 6 terraces stretched to the right up to the Bent Street corner. They are partly obscured because of the hoardings required for the restorative work on the adjacent "Wyoming Tower". I have not been able to determine yet, th demolition date for the other terraces.

Left: Burdekin House c. 1930 Right: More of the streetscape showing Burdekin House and the equally ill-fated "Albany".

Which brings us to Burdekin House, another Macquarie Street resudence constructed in 1842. You may recall my post about the Burdekin Terraces in College Street. Burdekin House was demolished in August 1933, to make way for the redeployment of the St Stephen's in Phillip Street. All this change being required as M artin Place was pushed through to link with Macquarie Street. Burdekin House was not the only building for the high-jump in that concern. It had been described as the finest, most elegant terrace of them all. But it was the Depression. Jack Lang was in charge of the state, amd all this style, and grace, and alegance was against the grain. St Stephen's in Phillip Street, can be seen in the historic image on the right. See the spire st the back on the left?

Burdekin House taken in August 1933, the day before the demolition team descended. Oh what we have lost!

The other great original during Macquarie Street's "mansion ra" stands at 175, and is today occupied by the Royal Australian College of Physicians. However, it is currently totally hessianed-up for restoration. Built in 1848 for John Fairfax, I believe it has the most elegant surviving facade from that era. I will keep an eye on it, and return for photographs at some later date when the covers come off.

John Fairfax's 1848 city pad, now the home of the Royal Australian College of Physicians.

Dotted around my city, as around many cities world-wide, there are plaques which serve citizens well re the history which is under their very nose. The Australian Historical Society has 100 or so "green plaques" here and ther, quite a few in Macquarie Street. The state government wedges its plaques into the pavement. This is a shot of one of many which add to the feel of the street: For the half-century to 1900, Macquarie Street was Sydney's best address. Here the wealthy, the powerful, and the aspiring, lived in grand style, their houses the outward sign of their status.

Patrician Sydney: a state government plaque

Sources: Images were sourced from: State Library NSW NSW State Records Powerhouse Museum, and Historic Houses Some information sources are referenced in the text. Much information was gleaned from the relevant page of the NSW Office of Environment & Heritage.

Theme Day - Stylish

Left: The bell for 133; Right: Mansions between Bent and Bridge Street in 1859 (SL-NSW)

Throughout the 19th century, Macquarie Street, on the eastern most ridge of the city, was regarded as the most fashionable of streets with stylish three and four storey terraces nestling along its western side.

Left: The attic windows on 133; Right: View north somewhere between 1867 and 1877

W. S. Jevons, an English economist, conducted a survey of Sydney housing which concluded that successful merchants, shopkeepers and professional men lived in mansions or villas, naming Macquarie Street as a favoured location. Politicians, and pastoralists established town-houses there. Medical Practitioners, attracted by the nearby Sydney Hospital (1816), also took up residence.

Left: The green plaque and detail at 133; Right: Looking south from Bridge Street during the 1870s

The first (stone) residence was constructd in Macquarie Street in 1819, for D'Arcy Wentworth. It was adjacent to the Hyde Park racecourse, and served for a time as the Parsonage for St James Church. It was demolished in 1888. Burdekin built his fabled, porticoed town-house there in 1842. It was demolished to make way for the connection of Martin Place through from George Street, all the way to Macquarie Street in 1933. Two of the original eight 1842 Horbury Terraces still grace the street, as does the mansion at 145, built for John Fairfax, of Sydney Morning Herald fame. For many years now, this mansion has housed the Royal Australian College of Physicians.

Left and Right: History House at 133 Macquarie Street today

There are not many of the original, stately mansions left. I have chosen to show you the mansion built in 1871 for George Oakes, politician and pastoralist, at 133. It is now known as "History House", and has been the home of the Royal Australian Historical Society since 1971. Its location would have enhanced its reputation, as it is opposite the Royal Botanic Gardens, and the very site where the Garden Palace burnt to the ground in 1881, returning the glorious view of the harbour to these most stylish of town-houses.

Lookin SW across Macquarie Street from the dome of the ill-fated Garden Palace in 1881, shortly before the fire.

This is a contribution to the City Daily Photo Monthly Theme Day. The Theme for June is "Stylish". To see what other CDP bloggers have chosen to represent the theme, click here.