Notable Building sights in Australia
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Sydney Opera House
Overcome with admiration for the Sydney Opera House, notable architect Louis Kahn said, ‘The sun did not know how beautiful its light was until it was reflected off this building.’ Danish architect Jørn Utzon’s competition-winning 1956 design is Australia’s most recognisable icon. It’s mused to have drawn inspiration from orange segments, palm fronds and Maya temples, and has been poetically likened to a typewriter stuffed with scallop shells and the sexual congress of turtles. While viewed from any angle it’s architecturally orgasmic, the ferry view approaching Circular Quay is hard to beat.
The predicted four-year construction started in 1959. After a…
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Council House 2
CH2 was completed in 2006 in response to meeting the council's own targets for zero carbon emissions by 2020. Its design is based on 'biomimicry', reflecting the complex ecosystem of the planet. The building uses the sun, water and wind in combination with a slew of sustainable technologies.
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Victorian Arts Centre
The Arts Centre is made up of two separate buildings: the concert hall (Hamer Hall, which at the time of writing was undergoing a major redevelopment) and the theatres building (under the spire). Both are linked by a series of landscaped walkways. The Famous Spiegeltent, one of the last of the great Belgian mirror tents, occupies the forecourt annually between February and April, and is the stage for cabaret, music, comedy and circus. The George Adams Gallery and St Kilda Road Foyer Gallery are free gallery spaces with changing exhibitions. The Arts Centre hosts a makers market every Sunday from 10am to 4pm. Around 80 artisans sell everything from juggling balls to…
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Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf
A former wool and cargo dock, this beautiful Edwardian wharf faced oblivion for decades before a 2½ year demolition-workers’ green ban on the site in the late 1980s saved it. It received a huge sprucing up in the late 1990s and has emerged as one of Sydney’s most exclusive eating, drinking, sleeping and marina addresses.
It’s still a public wharf, so feel free to explore the innards, past industrial conveyor-belt relics, the five-star hotel BLUE and its designery Water Bar. Along the way the wharf’s history is etched into glass walls. You might even squeeze in some star-spotting – songbird Delta Goodrem and everyman-megastar Russell Crowe have both had plush pads…
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Town Hall
Mansard roofs, sandstone turrets, wrought-iron trimmings and over-the-top balustrades: the High Victorian wedding-cake exterior of the Town Hall (built 1869–1889) is something to behold. Inside, the elaborate chamber room and the wood-lined concert hall are almost as good (the concert hall has a humongous 8000-pipe organ and hosts free monthly lunchtime concerts).
Unless there's something on, you can explore the halls off the main entrance.
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Central Station
Sydney’s main railway station was built in 1906 on top of an old convent and cemetery (watch out for ghosts). The 75m Gothic clock tower was added 15 years later. The main sandstone concourse has an impressive vaulted roof and is the terminus for intercity and country trains. It also houses the Rail Heritage Centre; check out the stained-glass windows. Suburban trains chug into the outdoor platforms downstairs on the Surry Hills side. As you’re pulling into Central from the south, look for the ornate disused Mortuary Station (1869) on your left.
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Australia Square
Generally acknowledged as Australia’s first major office tower, Australia Square (1968) was designed by archi-phenomenon Harry Seidler. His 50-storey design assumes a distinctive cylindrical form, with an open plaza at the base and shops below.
A vibrant Sol LeWitt lobby mural (2004) replaced a rare Le Corbusier tapestry that hung here for decades before the building’s owner auctioned it off. Head up to Orbit Bar on the 47th floor – jaw-dropping views for the price of a martini.
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Darling Walk
The $560-million environmentally conscious Darling Walk development is Darling Harbour's newest block of restaurants and offices, all wrapped up in a curvy glass shell.
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Commonwealth Bank Building
Built in 1916, the 12-storey Commonwealth Bank building was Australia’s first steel-framed ‘skyscraper’. Its interiors are largely intact and clock-watching tellers still muse over the inscription on the wall: ‘The Noiseless Foot Of Time Steals Swiftly By’. Another branch has taken over the old State Savings Bank building: it’s a beaut example of interwar beaux-arts architecture, featuring green-marble Doric columns and an enclosed brass-and-marble teller area.
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Rose Seidler House
Iconic Sydney architect Harry Seidler designed this modest 50-sq-m house (1950) for his mother and father, Rose and Max. It’s a modernist gem, with free-flowing open spaces, retro colour schemes and hip furnishings. Every year the Historic Houses Trust holds a Fifties Fair (usually in August) on the grounds. The house is around 30km north of the city and a fair hike from the train station (approximately 40 minutes; around 3km) − you’re better off with your own wheels.
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National Library of Australia
The National Library was established in 1901 and has since accumulated over six million items, most of which can be accessed in the reading rooms. The library has been undergoing refurbishments over the past year or so, though the building has remained open and still hosts exhibits. Call ahead or check the website to find out what's on.
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State Theatre
The utterly ornate State (1929) is Sydney’s most ostentatious theatre. Originally built as a movie palace during Hollywood’s heyday, it’s now a National Trust–classified building, dripping with gilt and velveteen. Live shows (musicals, comedy, middle-of-the-road bands) take the stage, except during the Sydney Film Festival in June.
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Eureka Tower & Skydeck 88
Eureka Tower, built in 2006, has 92 storeys. Take a wild elevator ride to almost the top (don't miss a glance at the photo on the floor) and you'll do 88 floors in less than 40 seconds. 'The Edge' – not a member of U2, but a slightly sadistic glass cube – propels you out of the building.
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Cockle Bay Wharf
The first vaguely tasteful development in Darling Harbour, Cockle Bay Wharf occupies the harbour’s cityside frontage as far as Pyrmont Bridge. Its sharp, contemporary angles are softened by the use of timber and whimsical sculptures (we particularly like the jaunty dancing storks).
Housing upmarket restaurants and bars, Cockle Bay helped yank Darling Harbour out of the financial mire in the 1990s. Sydney’s megaclub Home set a new standard for stylish clubbing and bucked the colonial trend by spawning an offshoot in London.
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Parliament House
The symbolic and extravagant Parliament House opened in 1988 after a $1.1 billion construction project. The building is dug into Capital Hill, its roof covered in grass and topped by an 81m-high flagpole with a flag the size of a double-decker bus. The rooftop lawns are easily accessible, encompass 23 hectares of landscaped gardens, and provide superb 360-degree views of the city.
Free 45-minute guided tours are available on nonsitting days and 20-minute tours on sitting days, but you're welcome to self-navigate and watch parliamentary proceedings from the public galleries. Tickets for Question Time (2pm on sitting days) in the House of Representatives are free but must…
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Overseas Passenger Terminal
Multistorey luxury cruise ships weigh anchor at this architecturally dynamic terminal, disgorging hordes of shaky-legged tourists onto Circular Quay West – a slew of ultraflash drinking and dining establishments gives them somewhere to sit down (Quay being the flashest of them all).
For a killer harbour view, head up to the level-four observation deck in the turret on the northern end.
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Parliament House
At the southern end of Mitchell St is the elegantly boxlike Parliament House, which opened in 1994. Reminiscent of Southeast Asian architecture, it's designed to withstand Darwin's monsoonal climate. Book a free 45-minute tour exploring the cavernous interior. The building also houses the Northern Territory Library.
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Bondi Pavilion
More cultural centre than changing shed, the Mediterranean Georgian Revival Bondi Pavilion (1929; aka ‘The Pav’) offers change rooms, showers, Bondi Openair Cinema, restaurants, exhibitions, and a plethora of courses and live performances.
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Melbourne Recital Centre
This new and award-winning complex may look like a framed piece of giant honeycomb, but it is actually the hub (or hive) for two of Melbourne's arts companies. It's not unusual to see the likes of Geoffrey Rush performing with the Melbourne Theatre Company, while the Recital Centre's program ranges from quartets and local singer-songwriters to Babar the Elephant. From Flinders Street Station cross the Yarra and turn right at Southbank Blvd.
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High Court of Australia
The grandiose High Court was dubbed 'Gar's Mahal' when it opened in 1980, a reference to Sir Garfield Barwick, chief justice during the building's construction.
The rarefied heights of the foyer (that's a 24m-high ceiling!) and main courtroom are in keeping with the building's name and position as the highest court in the Australian judicial system. Have a chat to a knowledgeable attendant about judicial life and check out the murals and paintings adorning the walls.
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