The Sydney Town hall would have to be the grandest town hall in oz. Not only is it the largest and tallest its is rich in history! It is also the largest remaining from the 19thC town hall in the world.
Located in the centre of the CBD, the town hall is a focus on social events and is the "meeting" place.
The town hall was built in stages. the first stage consisted of the front section and tower. (1868-1875) .(the 2nd stage 1883-89, Centennial Hall).
In 1875 it was one of the tallest structures in Australia at 61m/200ft high to flagstaff. It overtook St James church as Sydneys tallest structure.

1875 pic showing just the front section & tower as viewed from darling harbour.
http://image.sl.nsw.gov.au/spf/a089/a089841r.jpg


the TH remains nesttled in the skyscraper canon of George st
http://photos1.blogger.com/img/159/3843/640/Queen%20Victoria%20Building%20(QVB)%20and%20Town%20Hall.jpg

The famous town hall steps are a well know meeting place.
http://echeng.com/travel/australia/images/sydney/20021229/20021229_203800_1.jpg

the clock tower is 57m high and is the 5th highest in Australia!
most town hall towers were built between 30m-45m tall.
but architect brother Thomas & Edward Bradridge wanted something outstanding.
http://echeng.com/travel/australia/images/sydney/20021229/20021229_203907_1.jpg

The town hall has had many architects involved.
the original design was by JH. Willson, others involved were Albert Bond,D Macbeath , George McRae
its French Rennaisance style architecture is a real treat.
http://www.mathan.ca/Gallery/UrbanAustralia/UrbanAustralia-Images/25.jpg

its interior is exqusite!
the lofty ceiling over 30m/100ft high and the hall extends some 200ft/60m long.
http://singers.byu.edu/images/Sydney%20Town%20Hall%20August%201996.jpg

http://www.beethovensociety.org.au/images/viennese_connection_sm.jpg

The centrepiece of the Main Hall is the Grand Organ, which was the largest in the world at the time.Organ builders W Hill & Son from London was chosen to construct the 54 ton structure which was shipped in 94 cases. The monster organ made its debut on August 9, 1890
quote from heritage statement> (history and construction of this spectacular instrument which survives almost entirely as built with 126 stops intact — the best preserved, huge, Romantic masterpiece organ in the world, staggering in its impact and awesome in its musical potential. It has one of only two full-length 64’ /20m reed stops in existence).

http://www.nzorgan.com/vandr/cases/sydneythfull.jpg
the amazing chandelier
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2004/10/28/sydtownhall_gallery__365x550.jpg

In 2020, the woolworths bldg opposite will be razed to give the city some 5300sqm of open space to give the town hall a grand square!
http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/citynews/2004_december/dec_images/park.jpg

It's definitely the grandest in the country. I'd love to hear the organ one day especially the 64 foot reed pipe.
The square sounds good but it looks like it will be an island in a whole lot of traffic. Will it be accessible direct from Town Hall station?

^the new square will have direct access from undeground walk under from station

Know what type of trees will be in the square? They look like eucalypts... i hope they arent...

Lol 2020? I am sure they havn't bothered with the details of the trees yet?

:P

Stunning interior.

What's the residential-looking skyscraper in the 2nd pic? (The one immediately behind the town hall).

Wow! Definately the most majestic Town Hall in Australia. But that building in the background sure is an eyesore. What a great place to have a square! However, I really wish they could designed it on a grander scale, like Trafalger Square in London, with a big fountain in the middle instead of a small grassy knoll. And get rid of the cars.

i just wish the city could do something about the urine smell emanating from the station steps. other than that, I LOVE IT!

The smell is part of the experience!

Stunning interior.

What's the residential-looking skyscraper in the 2nd pic? (The one immediately behind the town hall).
that would be WORLD TOWER!! Sydneys tallest at 230m.
yoyogi- the bldg in background is my bldg.:) tragic Town Hall house which house council offices, built 1973 in pebble crete,lol

hmmmm.. urine. either that or vomit. :cheers:

I just love that pic.It shows Sydney as a real living and breathing community.It would of been great if they preserved the whole area and built a more modern city back in Redfern.It looks very English/European in that picture.]

http://image.sl.nsw.gov.au/spf/a089/a089841r.jpg

^unfortunately the town hall precint is centre of the city on most busy street and would of been impossible to keep from devloping. but yes its a very english/eurpoean steeing. love the cows.
bring back the cows!!

checkout the views from the tower back then
view northwest towards st james and hyde park.

http://mview.museum.vic.gov.au/paimages/mm/006/PA006419.JPG

view south with sydney uni on hill
http://mview.museum.vic.gov.au/paimages/mm/006/PA006416.JPG

view northwest towards pyrmont bridge
http://mview.museum.vic.gov.au/paimages/mm/006/PA006418.JPG

view east down william st with Synagogue at left
http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an3100675-v.jpg

the area betweeen Town hall and st andrew cathedral is quite good.
has anyone seen the winking lion on south face of TH? classic
http://images.google.com.au/images?q=tbn:UUKOAhZNoEIJ:http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/history/foundations/images/Tall%2520Stories/lg_lion.jpg

from council site>>

Some stories are apocryphal, but they are part of Town Hall legend. Like the winking lion. One of the stonework lions which decorate the building’s exterior has been sculpted with a wink. The lion is near the Town Hall’s main entrance on George Street. The story goes that ‘the stonemasons laying the huge blocks of Pyrmont sandstone used in the building were supervised by a foreman with a lively mouth and a colourful turn of phrase. The foreman sighted the true horizontal of the stonework by closing one eye and roaring instructions to his harried workmen. When the building was completed in 1874, one of the lions’ heads decorating the stonework was winking its eye … an uncanny resemblance to the roaring foreman.’ (Anchorpoint, December 1983) Another version of this story, now unproveable, is that the action of the foreman’s eye was a squint rather than a wink, and that this was memorialized in a lion’s head on the south, or cathedral, side of the building. When university students cleaned part of the exterior of the dirty Town Hall in the 1960s as a prank, Council was shamed into employing professional cleaners to finish the task. When the cleaners erected scaffolding, so the story goes, the lion’s squinting eye was damaged and the space it left was subsequently filled in with concrete. There is a lion with a concrete eye on the south side of the building but his squint, if he ever had one, is not apparent.

Its totally a residential city in those pictues.Terrace housing everwhere.Incredible.

The streets must of been busy back then with all those residents living in the city.I guess as the city grew more and more terrace housing was built in the near by suburbs.While the city gradually built heigher buildings and the residents moved out.

There are still some traces of terrace housing in the city.You see them around the place.Even up to the 1920s,Sydney had a alot of terrace housing around some of the areas.I guess once the office buildings from the early 20th century the skyscrapers in the 1950s appeared,the last remains of that Sydney was lost forever.

Amazing pictures Culwalla

That's good stuff more open-air. You feel pretty damn claustrophobic in that part of the CBD. Going to Hyde Park feels really relaxing. A lot of the cool cities in the world:D have great parks but wth 2020?

Where,besides the National library collection,can I get historical picutures of Sydney.

Does anyone know of some good websites?

sydney city council have a massive collection>>

http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/ArchivesWeb/scripts/home.asp

checkout Aussie cricket team back in Town hall in 1996! boonie :cheers:
http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/ArchivesLib/jsmall/018/018535.jpg

can anyone name all the players? lol i can see gcgrath in back.

Thanks Cul.But I cant seem to work the dam thing.It wont search when I tell it to.I will play around with it and get it to work somehow

Cheers for the link

Cant get it to work.Bumber.

Nothing comes up when I press search