Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

General Post Office

Renaissance Palazzo style building in Pyrmont sandstone on the corner of George Street and Martin Place. The building was constructed on the site of the earlier George Street General Post Office in two stages from 1866 to 1892 as the headquarters of the Government's growing postal services. In the mid 1990s part of the building was sold and converted for use as a hotel, with the remainder of the building being sold to the hotel's operators Far East/Sino Land in 2017.

-33.867647297096, 151.20773649215

Milestone
Constructed
1866 - 1874
Modified
1897 - 1905
Name
Commemorated by
Alternate
Westin Hotel
1999 -
Position
1865 - 1874
1869
1882
Property
On site of
Type

General Post Office

CC BY-SA 2.0
,
2008

From convict beginnings, the General Post Office was to re-emerge in the 1860s in Italian Renaissance grandeur when James Barnet created an enduring centrepiece for Sydney.