A Romanesque Revival market hall of 1898 that was nearly a car park, restored with Malaysian money and a great deal of stained glass.
Built in 1898 by George McRae as a market building, replacing the old Sydney markets, in a Romanesque Revival style with a central dome, arcaded galleries and a great deal of stained glass and tilework.
It was intended to give work to unemployed craftsmen during the depression of the 1890s — stonemasons, plasterers and stained-glass artists — which is why it is more elaborately finished than its function required.
How it survived
By the 1950s it had been subdivided, painted over and used as council offices and a library, and it was in poor condition. Demolition was proposed repeatedly through the 1950s and 1960s — the site was wanted for a car park and, at one point, a civic square.
It was saved and restored between 1984 and 1986 under a 99-year lease to a Malaysian company, Ipoh Garden Berhad, at a cost of around $86 million. Pierre Cardin called it the most beautiful shopping centre in the world, a line the building has quoted ever since.
What to look for
The dome — the central one is glass over a copper-sheathed inner dome, and the view up through the galleries is the point of the building.
The Royal Clock, suspended in the northern well, made in 1982, which performs on the hour with dioramas of six scenes from English royal history.
The Great Australian Clock, added in 2000, four tonnes and ten metres tall, with 33 scenes from Australian history seen from both Aboriginal and European perspectives, and an Aboriginal hunter who circles the outside continuously.
The letter from Queen Elizabeth II, sealed in 1986 and addressed to the Lord Mayor of Sydney, to be opened in 2085. It sits in a glass case.
The mosaic floors, wrought iron and the original tiles, and the stained glass in the barrel-vaulted roof.
The shopping
Mid to upper range, with fashion, jewellery, homewares and a run of cafés and restaurants. The Tea Room on the top floor does a formal afternoon tea under the dome.
It is a pleasant place to shop and it is not why you come.
Practicalities
Open daily, longer on Thursdays. Town Hall station is directly underneath and connects by tunnel.
Free guided heritage tours run on some days — check at the concierge on the ground floor.
The other arcades
The Strand Arcade on Pitt Street, from 1891, is smaller, entirely original and arguably prettier, with independent Australian designers and the Strand Hatters.
Westfield Sydney and Pitt Street Mall cover the mainstream. The Galeries opposite the QVB has Kinokuniya, the best bookshop in the city.
