Plan Gallery
Elevations & Floor Plans
Elevation to the Harbour
Signed by City Architect
Thomas Sapsford in 1885, this plan depicts the western exterior
of the Town Hall. It reminds us that originally the Town Hall
dominated the view from Darling Harbour. This elevation of the
Town Hall is no longer visible as Town Hall House abuts the
back of the Town Hall.
(image: City Sydney Archives, CRS 141/P20)
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Elevation to George Street
This drawing
details the entrance of the Town Hall facing George Street.
There has been some debate about the authenticity of the City
Architect’s name on the plan. Take a close look at the
bottom right hand corner, where George McRae’s name appears
to be stuck over the original architect’s name. Other
plans done around the same period show Thomas Sapsford’s
name. Either way, neither men were responsible for the building
of the first stage. Perhaps McRae was so proud of his work at
the Town Hall he wanted to gain all the credit for the design
of the Sydney Town Hall. This plan was probably a presentation
drawing done near the completion of the Town Hall.
(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS
141/ P725) |
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Basement Plan, 1886
Architect Thomas
Sapsford’s detailed floor plan of the Town Hall dated
8th February 1886. The plan illustrates the original room
structure of the Lower Town Hall. In this building, a deliberate
attempt was made to cater for diverse need by providing three
areas: the pompous small hall (Vestibule), the plainer Centennial
Hall, and the unpretentious lower hall, which Sapsford envisaged
could be used for ‘banquets, bazaars, skating rinks
and ordinary meetings’.
The natural focus on the ornate, grand spaces of the Town
Hall rather conceals the many ‘below stairs’ parts
of the building which are essential to the functioning of
the whole building. Many of the rooms adjoining the corridors
around the Lower Hall on the lower ground floor were built
as service and trade purposes. The southern entranceway to
the Town Hall (now opening on to Sydney Square), unlike those
on the northern and the eastern sides, has always operated
as something of a tradesmens’ entrance to the building.
In the late nineteenth century, the entrance portico to the
lower ground floor led to storerooms for coal and wood, and
other service spaces such as a scullery and a kitchen complex
to service the Main Hall and Lower Hall. Also housed on the
lower ground floor were a liquor store and a cleaner’s
store, and at the eastern end, a workshop and machine room
which contained the gas engine and dynamo for the organ.
(image: City of Sydney Archives,
CRS 141/ P21)
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Size: 97 KB
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Ground Floor Plan, 1917
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This
ground floor plan dated 23rd May 1917 shows how the Town Hall
functioned at this date. Many of the offices on the ground
floor accommodated the Council staff. The Town Clerk and the
City Surveyor, along with their staff, were to the right of
the entrance. The Treasury, where people came to pay their
rates, was located to the left of the entrance. The City Treasurer
was next to this, followed by various offices for the Electrical
Engineers. Today the majority of Council staff are housed
in Town Hall House and other administrative buildings and
depots around the city.
(image: Sydney City Archives, CRS 141/
P700)
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Size: 111 KB
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