Skip to main content

Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
Multimedia
The city to the south 2005

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

The city to the south 2005

Image courtesy of

[0510-2713-03]

Search

Browse

Browse
- Artefacts
- Buildings
- Events
- Natural Features
- Organisations
- People
- Places
- Structures
- Entries
- Multimedia
- Subjects
- Roles
- Contributors

Connections

Appears in

Planning

Subjects

Commercial building

Buildings

Customs House

Places

Circular Quay Sydney

Footer

Home
About
Copyright
Blog
Facebook
Twitter

Airview

Airview is a commercial aerial photography company supplying the Dictionary with both stock and artistic aerial photography

Planning

From an accidental city without a plan, Sydney has become a city with many plans. The early town grew without controls, but later governments tried to regulate building and development, and keep up with necessary services and infrastructure. From 1900, resumptions, zoning and regulation were used to shape the city and its suburbs.

Commercial building

Customs House

full record »

Public building on Alfred Street at Circular Quay where shipping was cleared and goods passing through the port of Sydney were taxed and cleared for sale or export. A number of Customs House buildings have stood on the site since since 1845 and it was designed and redesigned by three government architects Mortimer Lewis, James Barnet and Walter Liberty Vernon. When the port was busy the House was crowded and noisy, the scene of raised tempers, delays and disputed dealings. It was surrounded by public houses, shipping companies and general maritime activities.

In 1990 the building was closed as a customs departments and in 1994 was leased to the City of Sydney who refurbished the building for use as a multipurpose commercial space that opened in 1995. In 2005 Customs House reopened as the headquarters of the City of Sydney Library and function centre. In April 2019 the City of Sydney purchased the building from the Federal Government.

Circular Quay

full record »

Area of Sydney's central business district that surrounds the quays built on reclaimed land from the 1830s.

Sydney

Traditional home of the Cadigal people and site of the first British colony, the city of Sydney is a cosmopolitan business and cultural centre of 25 square kilometres.

full record »