Historic Macquarie Street

The crenellated tower and sandstone walls of Government House rise above the Royal Botanic Gardens, built to resemble a medieval castle from the nineteenth century. Sir George Gipps pushed for its completion in eighteen forty-five to…

The Chief Secretary's Building features a series of grand arches and a sandstone clock tower that rises over the intersection of Bridge and Loftus streets. Designed by colonial architect James Barnet in the eighteen seventies, it once…

The State Library of New South Wales features a grand sandstone facade topped with a copper dome that has weathered to a pale green. It functions as the oldest library in Australia, growing from a humble subscription collection in eighteen…

The oldest public building in Australia stands here, recognizable by the slender, two-story veranda of cast iron that runs along its face. This structure began as a wing of the Rum Hospital in eighteen sixteen, built by convicts using a…

The sandstone walls of the Sydney Eye Hospital hold the oldest continuous medical site in Australia. Dr. James Bowman opened the original colonial facility on this Macquarie Street plot in eighteen twenty-two to serve the convict…

The Mint on Macquarie Street features a long, two-story veranda of cast iron that distinguishes it from the surrounding sandstone buildings. Originally built as the southern wing of the Rum Hospital in eighteen sixteen, the structure…

The Hyde Park Barracks wears a high, sand-colored brick wall topped with a pedimented clock tower that stands apart from the surrounding glass towers of Sydney. Built by convict labor in eighteen nineteen, the barracks housed men sent to…

St James' Church stands out with a tall, slender copper spire that turns green against the Sydney sky. Designed by convict architect Francis Greenway, the church opened in eighteen twenty-four. Greenway had been transported to the colony…