Queen Victoria Building
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Queen Victoria Building, or QVB, is a grand Victorian building located in the heart of the Sydney central business district. The elaborate Romanesque Revival architecture presents a contrast to the modern buildings around it. Measuring 190 metres long by 30 wide, it fills an entire city block, bounded by George, Market, York and Druitt Streets. It currently serves as a shopping centre.
Contents |
[edit] History
The site on which the QVB now stands was originally home to the George Street Markets, and was selected for the construction of a grand government building. Architect George McRae designed the QVB in a Romanesque style to employ a great number of skilled craftsmen who were out of work due to a severe recession. The building was completed in 1898 and named the Queen Victoria Building as a monument to the long reigning monarch.
The completed building included coffee shops, showrooms and even a concert hall, as well as providing a comfortable business environment for tradesmen such as tailors, mercers, hairdressers, and florists and blackface minstrels. Over time changes were made to the buildings function to accommodate the cities evolving needs: the concert hall became a municipal library and offices for Sydney City Council.
The building steadily deteriorated, and as recently as 1959 it was threatened with demolition. During the 1970s it was restored by AW Edwards, a construction company, and is now home to a wide variety of mostly upmarket boutiques and "brand-name" shops.
[edit] Architectural features
The dominant feature is the huge Centre Dome, consisting of an interior glass dome and a copper-sheathed exterior, topped by a domed cupola. Many smaller domes in a range of sizes dot the roofline, most notably a pair overtopping each end of the rectangular building.
Stained glass windows, including a cartwheel window depicting the ancient arms of the City of Sydney, admit light into the central area, and the roof itself incorporates arched skylights running lengthways north and south from the central dome. The intricate colonnades, arches, balustrades and cupolas make the exterior a visual feast of Victorian fussiness.
Inside, the building consists of four main shopping floors, the top three pierced by voids protected by decorated cast-iron railings. Much of the tilework, especially under the central dome, is original, and the remainder is in keeping with this style. Underground passageways lead off to Town Hall Station at the southern end, and to a food court at the north.
[edit] Interior displays
Two large mechanical clocks, each one featuring dioramas and moving figures from monents in Australian history, can be seen from the nearby railings. The Royal Clock, designed by Neil Glasser and made by Thwaites & Reed of Hastings in England, shows scenes of English royalty from King John signing the Magna Carta to the execution of King Charles I. The Great Australian Clock, designed and made by Chris Cook, weighs four tonnes and stands ten metres tall. It includes 33 scenes from Australian history seen from both Aboriginal and European perspectives. An Aboriginal hunter circles the exterior of the clock continuously, representing the neverending passage of time.
The building also contains many memorials and historic displays. Of these, two large glass cases stand out. The first display case contains an Imperial Chinese Bridal Carriage made entirely of jade and weighing over two tonnes, the only example found outside China. The second is a lifesize figure of Queen Victoria on her Coronation Day in historical costume, and surrounded by the British Crown Jewels of the time. Her enthroned figure rotates slowly throughout the day, fixing the onlooker with her serene and youthful gaze.
[edit] Exterior features
At the southern end of the building is the Bicentennial Plaza facing the Sydney Town Hall across Druitt Street. Another statue of Queen Victoria can be found here arrayed on a light grey stone plinth, the work of Irish sculptor John Hughes. This statue stood outside the Irish Houses of Parliament in Leinster House, Dublin until 1947, and was given to the people of Sydney by the Government of the Republic of Ireland. It was placed in its present site in 1987.
Nearby stands a wishing well featuring a bronze sculpture of Queen Victoria's favorite dog "Islay". A recorded message voiced by John Laws urges onlookers to give a donation and make a wish. The tens of thousands of dollars cast into this well benefit deaf and blind children.
[edit] Gallery
 The interior, showing the multi-levelled arcades on either side of great lightwells. |
 A figure of Queen Victoria, wearing her coronation regalia. |
 The central tiled mosaic. |
 Giant Christmas tree placed at the centre of the QVB. It is about three storeys height from the ground floor and almost reaches the interior glass dome. |
 The interior glass dome. |
 The Great Australian Clock. |
 The statue of Queen Victoria, a gift from the people of Ireland. |
 The QVB's wishing well. |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
