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The High Life

The Astor Flats, Macquarie Street 1923, Building Magazine 12 Nov 1923, p3 Nestled at the Harbour end of Macquarie Street facing the Botanic Gardens is The Astor, the grand old dame of Sydney’s apartment blocks. Built in 1923, it was then…

High rise living

Wyoming Chambers, Sydney's newest skyscraper 1911, Building Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 45 (12 May, 1911). p45 via Trove In the latest census data available, Sydney has over 450,000 flats, units or apartments making up 28% of the domestic buildings. This is…

Helen Pitt, The House

Helen Pitt, The House Allen & Unwin, 432pp., ISBN 9781760295462, p/bk, AUS$32.99 Helen Pitt launches head first in to over six decades of turmoil and tribulation on Bennelong Point in The House, available now from Allen & Unwin. She sets a cracking pace…

Zeny Edwards, A Life of Purpose: a biography of John Sulman

Emeritus Professor David Carment launched this book at the State Library of NSW on 15 December 2017 and he has generously given us his permission to publish the text of his speech. Zeny Edwards, A Life of Purpose: a biography of John Sulman…

Sydney’s modernists

The Australian Women's Weekly, September 7 1946, p48 via Trove Sydney Living Museums has an interesting exhibition at the Museum of Sydney, The Moderns: European Designers in Sydney. This exhibition seems to come at a time where this city’s built environment…

Historic meets modern at Sydney Open

Stained glass window in in Sydney Town Hall, designed by Lucien Henry symbolising Australia. Photo by Paul Paterson, Courtesy City of Sydney Council. It's on again this Sunday, 6 November! Sydney Open is your chance to be a sticky beak and see…