181–187 Hay Street, also known as the Corporation Building or Municipal Building, is a

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

former council chambers located at 181–187 Hay Street, in the Haymarket district of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia. It was built from 1893. The property is owned by City of Sydney and was added to the

New South Wales State Heritage Register The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...

on 2 April 1999. The building is home to the 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art.

History

The "

Eora The Eora (; also ''Yura'') are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales. Eora is the name given by the earliest European settlers to a group of Aboriginal people belonging to the clans along the coastal area of what is now known as ...

people" was the name given by the British colonisers to the

Aboriginal people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

who inhabited the area around Sydney around 1788. Central Sydney is therefore often referred to as "Eora country". Within the City of Sydney

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

, the

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

are the

Cadigal The Gadigal, also spelled as Cadigal and Caddiegal, are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands are located in Gadi, on Eora country, the location of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. However, since the colonisation of Australi ...

and

Wangal The Wangal people (; Wanngal or Won-gal) are a clan of the Dharug Aboriginal people whose heirs are custodians of the lands and waters of what is now the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, centred around the Municipality of Strathfield, ...

bands of the Eora. There is no written record of the name of the language spoken and currently there are debates as whether the coastal peoples spoke a separate language "Eora" or whether this was actually a dialect of the

Dharug language The Dharug language, also spelt Darug, Dharuk, and other variants, and also known as the Sydney language, Gadigal language ( Sydney city area), is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Yuin–Kuric group that was traditionally spoken in th ...

. Remnant bushland in places like Blackwattle Bay retain elements of traditional plant, bird and animal life, including fish and

rock oyster Rock oysters are true oysters of the genus ''Saccostrea'', belonging to the subfamily Saccostreinae of the family Ostreidae The Ostreidae, the true oysters, include most species of molluscs commonly consumed as oysters. Pearl oysters are n ...

s. With British settlement of the Sydney region, the

Gadigal The Gadigal, also spelled as Cadigal and Caddiegal, are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands are located in Gadi, on Eora country, the location of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. However, since the colonisation of Australia ...

and

people were decimated, but there are descendants still living in Sydney today, and Aboriginal people from across the state have been attracted to suburbs such as Pyrmont, Balmain,

Rozelle Rozelle is a suburb in the inner west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 4 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Inner West Council. Location Rozelle s ...

Glebe A glebe (, also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s)) is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church. ...

, and Redfern since the 1930s. Changes in government legislation in the 1960s provided freedom of movement, enabling more Aboriginal people to choose to live in Sydney. In 1892 it was proposed that "the old Corporation stores at the Haymarket is to be removed and give place to a building which will unite in character the markets adjacent." Primarily the new building was to provide "good lavatory accommodation" to cater for increased market activity in the area as well as some small retail outlets and offices. Indications of this combined use are still evident. The building is one of the very few remaining public toilets built in this period. The contract for the construction of the new building, designed by

George McRae George McRae (10 September 1857 – 16 June 1923) was a Scottish-Australian architect who migrated from his native Edinburgh to Sydney, where he became Government Architect of New South Wales and designed some of Sydney's best-known build ...

, was let on 16 February 1893 to Daniel McInnes. This was around the same time that the construction of the

Queen Victoria Building The Queen Victoria Building (abbreviated as the QVB) is a heritage-listed late-19th-century building located at 429–481 George Street, Sydney, George Street in the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. D ...

, also by McRae, was commenced. The New Corporation building was completed in 1895. In 1913 the adjacent Belmore markets were converted to the "Hippodrome" (later Capitol Theatre) and the original terracotta features were relocated to the first floor. During the 1920s as the market use ceased, shop fronts were inserted into the openings in the facade of 181-187 Hay Street and in 1935 the original awning was replaced with the present structure. The early awning was colonnaded with cast iron supports and was constructed under a separate contract in 1894. Following a fire in 1974, the roof covering was replaced with metal sheeting and since that time numerous alterations have taken place to the interior and exterior including the demolition of the central stairs and the removal of first floor partitions. The corner of the building under the tower has also been removed and new stairs and concrete floors have been inserted.

Description

181–187 Hay Street is a rare example of Federation Anglo-Dutch style commercial architecture (pre-dating the Federation period by some years) with its intricate detailing and richly textured

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

. Located in the Haymarket area of the City of Sydney, the building has its own distinctive architectural features using colourful

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

and

red brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

detailing and flamboyant forms and motifs. he external detail is largely intact, with openings having been infilled from the 1920s onwards and an

awning An awning or overhang is a secondary covering attached to the exterior wall of a building. It is typically composed of canvas woven of Acrylic fiber, acrylic, cotton or polyester yarn, or vinyl laminated to polyester fabric that is stretched tight ...

being replaced in 1935, but the interiors have undergone significant changes with only some elements surviving. The building occupies a corner site, fronting three streets, giving it a visual prominence in the area and the major corner is surmounted by a small round tower with conical roof. It forms a key part of the precinct with the Capitol Theatre and the Haymarket Chambers, which reflect Sydney's social and architectural heritage around the turn of the century.

Physical condition

The original building was predominantly loadbearing brick and timber construction, but various alterations have changed internal materials with the introduction of

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

floors, concrete stairs and the removal of dividing walls on the upper level. Internal features of significance include: timber-panelled encasement of the early

roller shutter A roller shutter, security shutter, coiling door, roller door or sectional overhead door is a specialized type of door or window shutter consisting of multiple horizontal slats, bars, or web systems interconnected through hinges. The mechanism ...

, internal detail of the

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History O ...

(now concealed), and original

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

columns. The building appears to have been damaged by fire in the 1970s, which apparently affected the roof and internal finishes. Intrusive elements include a post-1970s fitout and other alterations.

Modifications and dates

*1893–1895 – the building was used for market administration and public toilet by City Council; *2000 – the building was renovated and used as a Chinese community centre.

Heritage listing

The Corporation building is within a recognised Heritage Streetscape. The building is of historic, aesthetic, and social significance as a rare surviving example of a small scale, flamboyant Federation Anglo-Dutch style building, characterised by intricate brick detailing and stylised design motifs. With the Haymarket Chambers, Capitol Theatre, and Palace Hotel, it forms a significant historic precinct of Victorian and Edwardian buildings of consistent character and scale, reflecting the period's growth and prosperity in relation to the markets, the railway terminus, and nearby large scale retail centres such as Anthony Hordern and Company. With the Capitol Theatre, the Corporation Building is a surviving element of the Belmore Market Precinct and a very fine example of market architecture from the late Victorian period. The building is an early and important work of the City Architect, George McRae, who designed a number of buildings throughout the city including the Queen Victoria Building. 181–187 Hay Street was listed on the

on 2 April 1999.

Tenants

The Corporation Building has been the home of the 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art since 2000.

References

Attribution

* *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:181-187 Hay Street, Sydney New South Wales State Heritage Register sites located in the Sydney central business district Sydney central business district Town halls in Sydney 1895 establishments in Australia Former seats of local government Government buildings completed in 1895 Articles incorporating text from the New South Wales State Heritage Register Haymarket, New South Wales