The city block known as World Square is finally being completed after nearly 20 years of planning/construction/stoppages.
Situated on block bounded by George, Pitt,Goulburn and Liverpool Streets, the first proposals date back to 1960;s and 70's.The massive Anthony Hordern Department store occupied most of the block from 1905-1986.
The massive 30m deep hole sat idle for years with construction commencing in 1989 on the George st tower (E&Y) and stopping in 1990 due owners (Ipoh gardens) going bankrupt.The 60m core sat rusting for 12 years and restarted finnaly in 2002 after Multiplex acquired the project.
In 1997, a developer purchased 1/4 of the site and built the Hordern Towers and Avillion hotel cnr Pitt/Liverpool st.In year 2000 a design comp was held for the world tower site which harry trigubof purchased. NFK won the comp and the tower started soon after in 2001.
When completed in 2004, World Tower became tallest residential tower in Southern Hemisphere and 2nd tallest bldg in Australia (to roof).

Anthony Horderns dept store (largest shopping centre in Australia for many years) 1905

pic from Goulburn & george st
http://image.sl.nsw.gov.au/hall/349/34989h.jpg

old pic scanned by muse
centre pic is World square vision in 1968
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/503/3793rendersofsydneyprojects68.JPG

original Approved 4 tower scheme

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1230/992941475_0ad94a3839_o.jpg
-------------------------------------------
construction progression
1986-site is cleared
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1161/1021059949_0d04c62568_b.jpg

1995-massive hole! Core of E&Y is progressing but soon after photo it stalled for more then 10 years!!
note the monorail station with no building attached.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1166/1021059977_995f6be8e8_b.jpg

feb2002
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1130/992941487_0d272fe0d6_o.jpg

E&Y Centre in March2002
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1378/992828667_5ad846d612_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1390/610328873_22bbcf29f5_o.jpg

oct2002
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1171/992828691_84f01a8c2b_o.jpg

World Tower reaching full height in June2003.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1395/992828679_bfffdf3f98.jpg?v=0

April 2004
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1066/992828723_be06c9a8e1.jpg?v=0

Aug2004
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1291/992828763_200c9434f2_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1323/992941449_516abae218_o.jpg

ATO in feb2007
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1237/992941503_8435544b18_o.jpg

-----------------------------------
WORLD TOWER (NFK)
(73st/230m/2004) consists of over 700 units
Still has 2nd most number of floors in Australia (83) after Eureka (92).

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/12/16798701_59fbb704af_b.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/203/498729520_9ffa5a9abe_o.jpg

the great beacon of WT
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/106/262089240_1190d94725.jpg?v=0

the magnificent destailed facade of WT
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/24/91293032_91092335ea_o.jpg


E&Y TOWER (Crone)
(45st/192m/spire 222m/2004) (65,000sqm office space)
roof 180m./ 70m spire attached in multiple sections)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/124/322662292_17d802b6be_b.jpg

HORDERN TOWERS (Davenport Campbell)
(48st/156m/1997)
http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/6201/301498ph0.jpg

ATO Centre (Crone)
(12st/52m/2007)
really disapointing way to end the world square saga. should have been the 32st/110m resi tower by DCM but markets swayed Multiplex to opt for 24,000sqm office bldg instead.the only thing going for it is its central void which has glass lifts.
http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/5136/549957kk5.jpg
#Overall, im happy with World Square.
the 3 towers are quite good and ground level and podium work well with retail areas.

3 of the towers from the east
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/5503/470830sv1.jpg

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/3553/427778uy7.jpg

World Square dominated the southern part of CBD
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/70/356913638_b454de6056_b.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/185451727_3ad2b6c978_o.jpg

don't get me wrong i really like world square, but the Anthony Horderns dept store was a real loss to the area.

just don't buildings with class anymore :(

thanks for putting all these photos together mate, some great ones there!

I agree i really like that dept store, looks really interesting and HUGE. I also prefer Tsangs original design far better than what we have.

yes, the horderns was a great loss. Apparently the largest brick structure built by a private firm on completion. ill edit in some piccies i scanned from back in late 80's. classics.does anyone remember how the POWER RANGERS THE MOVIE was made in Sydney 1995 and they used World Square stalled construction site as part of its set.lol

^ thanks for your efforts as usual cul ! yep, a pity we lost that building, it's very new york macy's like. we should of at least kept the facade. oh well.

OMG the original building looks so beautiful, and served by the tram.

Whoever made a decision to demolish it must be tortured.

apparently it was in a sad state near the end. council were using as carpark and library stack.

there was a 235m height limit on liverpool st tower, WT reaches just under @ 230m.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1134/1024842086_392d1ef8d2_b.jpg

Nice glass on top. I don't mind the curtains so much.

God I am dumb, it was this thread I posted in and not the other one.

Copied from thread of exactly the same name:

It IS great we have lots of variety on the square BUT the buildings and complexes on the square don't match and aren't imaginative in almost any way. The Hotel (built by a malaysian developer? Hordern Tower? - the yellow one) is HORRIBLE nothing architecture whilst the other buildings, World Tower excluded, lack imagination. They are pretty mundane corporate boxes with some unnecassary skin deep facade elements which will only horribly date as the next wave of skin deep facade elements come along. World Tower has a bit of imagination but in my opinion, the conflicting motifs on the tower haven't been seamed together properly and the slightly forward beacon on top makes the tower looks as if it has a hunchback! At least there are lots of people milling about - that's what's great about the square - the people! I'm not surprised people don't see Hordern Tower and immediately climb to the top and - unfortunately u know what I'm implying.

Culwulla, do you have any renders hanging about of alternate design comp entries for Latitude and World Tower which you can post?

there wasnt a design comp for E&Y just an amendment.
there were 3 finalists.
seidler
peddle thorp
NFK
peddle thorps looks like tallest in Auckland

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/765/peddlethorpwtvb1.jpg

Seidlers looks like meriton tower.
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/8239/seidlerwtowervy6.jpg

Thank god it wasn't Seidlers. We have enough of those towers.

peddle thorps design looks awefully like Vero tower in Auckland.
we named it the excellerator peddle.

http://www.skyscraperpicture.com/auckland03.jpg

more like toilet lid ;)

I can't believe the design which won is actually the best...Absolutely shocked - thought that there mustve been money exchanged or something amiss behind the scenes for World Tower to have won...

Will put a little more trust into Design Panel but won't put proper trust into the workings of council/state/federal beauracracy.

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/765/peddlethorpwtvb1.jpg


Usually there's shit below a toilet lid but this is an exception, I like it. I think I even prefer it over the built design.

the nation fender design was by far the best design.thats why it won.
no money exchanged or under counter dealings with paper bags.lol

rare pic. all 4 bldgs in one shot. you can tell how Hordern towers supposed to be the shortest tower.thus ATO should have been between 140m-200m, bugger
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1271/1057775314_2b081296a4_b.jpg

the roof of ATo already looks old
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2034/1752655447_ad27e45fcd_b.jpg

where does the hotel ibis fit into that block im staying there soon

Hotel Ibis is right across the road from the complex (Pitt St).

more like toilet lid ;)

Hehe :laugh:

Making one of my rare visits here. I was contacted a few months ago by a local historian who is working on some type of publication on 'World Square'. She came across my Anthony Hordern page. I loaded up about 35 photos to my Nexo site for her to pick out several. Sent off the photos but haven't heard anything back yet. She said the book (or whatever) will feature a history of all the buildings on the block (Pitt-Liverpool-George-Goulburn Sts). Here's the link to the photos on Nexo.

http://triang.nexo.com/anthonyhorderns

great collection tiptruck
i never ever saw the horderns bldg in flesh. it was demolished before i knew it.

gee sydneys south CBd in 1985 was tragic
http://nexo-s.com/userstatic/triang/anthonyhorderns/abdfe9209894466593cfa07ca3bdd04e/x1985f_500.jpg

It's come a long way since, not to mention Aspect and the proposed 403 Pitt St will block the entire view in that shot.

These days, they would probably not be allowed to demolish the old dept store anymore - they would most likely need to retain at least one or two facades.

Too bad they didn't do that out of their own fee will....

Or they can always build on top of it. It was a very strong building!!!

^ i was thinking that too fabian, they could have built out the top of it with the twoer being somewhat set back all around.

Just something cool I stumbled upon on YouTube :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMHs4gOdujg

Thanks for posting that. I like how they focus on certain sections of each tower under construction. A bonus that Cassia Garden was also included given it was directly opposite World Square. Very good overview and not to mention a World Record.

It's been a while since I posted on this subject, but I recently received copies of WORLD SQUARE : FROM CEREMONIAL GROUNDS TO INTERNATIONAL PRECINCT by historian Terri McCormack, which traces the history of the World Square block. isbn 978-0-9805429-1-2. It's a good read, tracing as it does the early days through to Anthony Hordern's, and finally, the long and involved history of the redevelopment. I'm not sure if it's yet on public sale, but you can find a cover scan on my AH Nexo page. The last photo (at the moment). http://triang.nexo.com/anthonyhorderns

Is there a posibility to build a tower on top of ATO? Perhaps adding stilts through the ATO as support beams.

Is there a posibility to build a tower on top of ATO? Perhaps adding stilts through the ATO as support beams.

No. The ATO building used all of the remaining FSR for the site.

It's been a while since I posted on this subject, but I recently received copies of WORLD SQUARE : FROM CEREMONIAL GROUNDS TO INTERNATIONAL PRECINCT by historian Terri McCormack, which traces the history of the World Square block. isbn 978-0-9805429-1-2. It's a good read, tracing as it does the early days through to Anthony Hordern's, and finally, the long and involved history of the redevelopment. I'm not sure if it's yet on public sale, but you can find a cover scan on my AH Nexo page. The last photo (at the moment). http://triang.nexo.com/anthonyhorderns

Some great photos there - thanks for the link! :)

way to go to bump up a topic from way back lol

world tower/square sticks in my head now whenever i think of syd south.. cant recall what it was like before it was built

don't get me wrong i really like world square, but the Anthony Horderns dept store was a real loss to the area.

just don't buildings with class anymore :(

thanks for putting all these photos together mate, some great ones there!

I'm not too upset about it. Anthony Horderns might have been an incredible building. But look what we got in the place of it and how much it adds to George St. I think we've been more than compensated for the loss of Anthony Horderns.

Shame though.... I wish the whole building could have just been moved instead of destroyed!
Look at it, these shots from the 80s.
http://www.collectingbooksandmagazines.com/ah83big1.jpg
http://www.collectingbooksandmagazines.com/ah85big.jpg

http://www.collectingbooksandmagazines.com/ah8505bg.jpg

http://www.collectingbooksandmagazines.com/ah.html



It's a real shame we've lost one of the best Victorian buildings the city has, that building is worth weeping over. It was almost as good as the QVB. But at least the World Square is a stunner that will be fondly remembered in a century I'm sure too.
Also I guess it was a sensible move, how many examples of Sydney's retail history at the cost of todays retail history do we need? It seems a little redundant when we have the QVB.

should have kept the facade. some how incorporate it new podium.same for the 50m high water tower in last pic.

From what I've read the CSIRO told Ipoh that it would be too expensive to restore the building and they also raised structural concerns as well. Thats why it had to be demolished.

Sad way for a building to come down but structually had passed it's use by date.

Be good if they can find better uses for Mark Foys as well

Mark Foy's: Should have been turned into a classy European style hotel.

Given the condition of many of the courtrooms in the Mark Foys building, the NSW government has another very expensive decision to make hot on the heals of spending squillions at Queens Square...

SCC has the beginnings of a retail strategy for the CBD and inner city and they list the Mark Foys building as a potential 21st Century equivalent of the QVB...I'd prefer to see it resurrected in its original form - as a department store with a cutting edge that stocks underexposed Australian designers as well as brands from overseas that have limited exposure in Australia...at least over the bottom 3 floors.

Be good if they can find better uses for Mark Foys as well

Indeed, walk past that building and it's a dead street. Sad to see a great building getting so little use. Myer and David Jones are the only department stores left though, I wonder if SCC could give them the building for an incredibly low rent.

Indeed, walk past that building and it's a dead street. Sad to see a great building getting so little use.

?? It's very highly utilised.

It's been converted to courthouses and they are very much used full time.

The old Mark Foys building also has an annexe in the form of the John Madison Tower on Goulburn Street side of the block which deals with Civil cases.

Legal offices also occupy the upper floors of the building above the district and local courts.

I know, what I meant is, courthouses don't bring the large influx of pedestrians that retail does, so it makes the block feel a little 'retired'.

You have to look to the area also surrounding the Downing Centre. There are no crowd pullers.

What are you talking about, Fabian? Chambers Arcade is a thriving haven of high-end retail and a massive crowd puller.