The Customs House description and photos - Australia: Sydney (Topic)

The Customs House description and photos - Australia: Sydney. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is The Customs House.

Photo and description

The Customs Building is a historical landmark of Sydney, located on the Circular Quay. Built in 1844-1845, it was the main administrative building of the Customs Administration until 1990. It was then taken over by the Sydney City Council and used for exhibitions and private events. And after a major renovation in 2003, it also housed the City Library of Sydney.

In the basement of the building, there is a 4.2 x 9.5 meter layout of Sydney's CBD, viewed from above through a glass floor. The model, weighing one ton, was built in 1998. Here you can see paintings and photographs of the building itself, created throughout its history.

They say that it was from this place that the Eora Aborigines watched the arrival of the First Flotilla in Sydney Harbor in 1788. Here in 1790 the prisoner David O'Connor was hanged, and his spirit, according to legend, still wanders the Customs Building, offering everyone a glass of rum.

Colonel John Nathaniel Gibbs, head of customs for a record 25 years, from 1834 to 1859, spearheaded the construction of the sandstone building on the Circular Key. He convinced the governor of the New South Wales colony, George Gipps, citing Sydney's growing maritime trade. The two-story Georgian mansion was designed by the architect Mortimer Lewis. Its highlight was 13 huge windows on the facade, which provided a panoramic view of Sydney Harbor and the ships passing through it. Colonel Gibbs himself, who lived in the house opposite, could observe the construction of the Customs Building, sitting on the veranda of his Wotong estate (today it is the Admiralty Building).

In 1887, the building was partially dismantled and increased to three stories under the direction of the architect James Barnett. Over the next century, various elements were added to it, especially during the First World War, but the main details of the Customs Building have been preserved in their original form.

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Topic: The Customs House description and photos - Australia: Sydney.