QUEEN VICTORIA BUILDING

Description

Essentials about the Queen Victoria Buildung in brief

Architecture and shopping fans alike will be thrilled by the Queen Victoria Building (known as “QVB” for short). The beautiful building, built in the 19th century in neo-Romanesque and Art Deco style, is today the luxury shopping temple par excellence in Sydney.

The location of the Queen Victoria Buildung

Anyone walking through Sydney’s central business district will find it hard to miss the QVB. The 190-meter-long and 30-meter-wide building fills an entire street block between George, Market, York and Druitt Street and forms a stark contrast to the modern buildings in the surrounding area.

The history and architecture of the Queen Victoria Buildung

In the mid-19th century, four stone market halls already stood on the current site of the QVB, which were later to be replaced by a larger commercial center. The Scottish architect George McRae provided the plans for the cathedral-sized building. Since, in the building boom of the late 19th century, Sydney’s city fathers felt that no one style should dominate, McRae submitted four designs in different styles: Gothic, Renaissance, Queen Anne style and Romanesque. As can be seen today, the City Council chose the Victorian Neo-Romanesque design with its extraordinary detail of columns, arches, reliefs, friezes and ornamentation.

Completed in 1898, the building was first called George Street Market, but later renamed the Queen Victoria Building. The building housed a concert hall; the interior arcades contained coffee shops and stores of tailors, textile merchants, barbers, and florists. Over the decades, many changes occurred. The concert hall became the public library, the offices of the city administration displaced many of the merchants. Gradually, the building fell into disrepair and was finally scheduled for demolition in 1959. But fortunately it was restored in the 1970s and is now once again home to a variety of stores, cafes and restaurants.

The interior of the Queen Victoria Buildung

The interior of the Queen Victoria Building is also of extraordinary beauty. It is dominated by a large central dome, the inside of which has glass ornaments. Many smaller domes adorn the roofline. Painted windows let light into the central hall. Arched skylights run from the central dome to the south and north. The winding colonnades, arcades, balustrades, and cupolas bear witness to the Victorian swagger.

The architectural highlight inside, however, are two large mechanical clocks with moving figures that dominate the two wings of the building. The clocks can be seen up close from the top floor. The Royal Clock depicts scenes from the English Kingdom and the Great Australian Clock depicts scenes from Australian history, both from a European and Aboriginal perspective. In addition, many monuments and historical display cases enhance the interior of the QVB.

Retail stores are located on the four floors of the Queen Victoria Building, and the top three floors are open and surrounded by wrought iron railings. Many of the tiles, especially under the central dome, are still in their original condition. Underground passages lead to the Town Hall railway station and a food court.