Queen Victoria Building

Interesting facts

A sealed letter written by Queen Elizabeth II in 1986 is kept near the dome, to be opened by Sydney's Lord Mayor in 2085 and read aloud.

When the roof cupolas were removed in 1963, the contractor earned more by selling them as souvenirs and garden ornaments than from the removal contract itself.

In 1971 the satirist Barry Humphries wrote a mocking poem in the voice of the developers who wanted to replace the building with a car park.

The youth holding a torch in the York Street sculpture group, the Genius of Civilisation, is said to have been modelled on the swimmer Percy Cavill.

The council named the building after Queen Victoria without asking her consent, partly to avoid having to put the royal coat of arms on its facade.

On opening night in 1898 about 1,000 incandescent gas burners lit the interior, giving light said to equal some 70,000 candles.

The Druitt Street entrance was opened with a solid gold key that carried a miniature model of the main dome and its cupolas.

The building began as a commercial flop: in 1898 only 47 of about 200 spaces were let, and by 1915 it was being called a municipal white elephant.

On the Great Australian Clock an Aboriginal hunter circles the case without end, a figure for the endless passage of time.

The foundation stone, laid in December 1893 at the corner of George and Druitt streets, is a five-tonne block of granite.

Why it is worth it

The Queen Victoria Building fills an entire city block in the heart of Sydney, between George, York, Market and Druitt streets: a stone palace some 190 m long and 30 m wide, crowned by a great central copper dome and twenty smaller ones along its roofline. It was designed by the Scottish-born architect George McRae, who offered the council several stylistic options and saw his Romanesque Revival version chosen. The foundation stone was laid in December 1893 and the building opened on 21 July 1898.

It was built as a market hall, and its interior is a long galleried arcade on several levels under a glazed barrel roof. The main dome, about 19 m across, rises to a cupola some 60 m above the street; beneath it hang two remarkable clocks. The Royal Clock stages scenes from English royal history on the hour to Jeremiah Clarke's trumpet voluntary, while the Great Australian Clock, designed by Chris Cook, is about 10 m tall, weighs around four tonnes and carries 33 scenes from Australian history. Look up too at the stained glass, including a cartwheel window with the arms of the City of Sydney, and at the cast-iron balustrades and mosaic floors.

The building's survival was far from certain. From 1959 there were repeated proposals to demolish it; in 1961 the modernist Harry Seidler dismissed it as an architectural monstrosity. Instead, the Malaysian company Ipoh Ltd restored it in 1984–1986, and it opened its doors again on 18 November 1986 as a shopping gallery, with the arcade and domes returned to something close to McRae's intent. Outside, in the plaza facing the Town Hall, stands a statue of Queen Victoria by the Irish sculptor John Hughes, a gift from Ireland in 1987, beside a wishing well with a bronze of her dog Islay. The building has been on the New South Wales State Heritage Register since 2010.

Getting there

The building is in the centre of Sydney, about 0.4 km from the city's core. Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD) is about 8.7 km away. Underground arcades link the building directly to Town Hall railway station.

From the encyclopaedia

The Queen Victoria Building (QVB) is a heritage-listed late-19th-century building located at 429–481 George Street in the Sydney central business district, in the Australian state of New South Wales. Designed by the architect George McRae, the Romanesque Revival building was constructed between 1893 and 1898 and is 30 metres (98 ft) wide by 190 metres (620 ft) long. The domes were built by Ritchie Brothers, a steel and metal company that also built trains, trams and farm equipment. The building fills a city block bounded by George, Market, York, and Druitt streets. Designed as a marketplace, it was used for a variety of other purposes, underwent remodelling, and suffered decay until its restoration and return to its original use in the late twentieth century. The property is co-owned by the City of Sydney and Link REIT, and was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 5 March 2010.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Queen Victoria Building

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

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From the encyclopaedia