Broadway, Sydney
| Broadway New South Wales |
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|---|---|
 |
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| George Street West (Broadway) in c.1930 taken from the heights of the Grace Bros. building | |
| General information | |
| Type | Street |
| Route number(s) |  A22 |
| Major junctions | |
| West end | Parramatta Road (A22), Glebe |
| East end | George Street, Ultimo |
| Location(s) | |
| Suburb(s) | Chippendale, Ultimo |
Broadway is a road in inner city Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The road constitutes the border between the suburbs of Ultimo (to the north) and Chippendale (to the south). Broadway is also an urban locality.
When travelling westward along Broadway the name changes into Parramatta Road at Victoria Park just after the junction with City Road. Broadway and Parramatta Road are part of the Great Western Highway.
Contents
History[edit]
Broadway is historically important because it is one of the first roads built in the colony of New South Wales, in 1794. It had been called "George Street South" and then "George Street West". After being widened in 1906 when the Central Railway Station was built, George Street west of Railway Square, it became known as "The Broadway".[1] This name was subsequently shortened to just "Broadway".
In the early nineteenth century, travel to Parramatta on Parramatta Rd attracted a toll and this was charged from the area now known as Railway Square. The toll gate was subsequently moved to the approximate junction of the present Broadway and Parramatta Rd.
Broadway was once a major retailing centre, and for 90 years was home to the flagship complex of department store chain Grace Brothers. The complex consisted of two stores on either side of Bay Street. It was visited by Queen Elizabeth II during her 1954 visit to Australia. Retailing on Broadway declined and the store was eventually closed in 1995. Today this site contains the Broadway Shopping Centre on the western side and the Hotel UniLodge Sydney on the eastern side.
The southern side of the road was dominated by a brewery. The facility closed in December 2006 and the site was purchased by Frasers Property from the Fosters Group on 29 June 2007.[2] The site has been redeveloped into a mixed use precinct called Central Park, which includes a new public park located just off Broadway of approximately 6,500 square metres in size,[2] and a new tower called One Central Park designed by Jean Nouvel and featuring "vertical gardens" by Patrick Blanc.[3] Located opposite the UTS Tower, One Central Park is an apartment complex with a shopping centre called Central located on the lower levels.[4]
Transport[edit]
Broadway was a busy tram thoroughfare in the first half of the 20th century, until the line's closure in 1958.[5] Since then it has been the primary entry point into the Central Business District for bus services from the Inner Western suburbs.
Education[edit]
A number of educational institutions are located on or around Broadway. These include the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), University of Notre Dame, University of Sydney and the TAFE NSW Sydney Institute.
UTS has a particularly strong presence. The UTS Tower is the tallest structure on Broadway and is a Sydney landmark. Designed in the brutalist style, it has been described as one of Sydney's ugliest buildings. An adjacent building on Broadway designed by Denton Corker Marshall was completed in 2014.[6] There are also plans to redesign the podium of the tower.[7]
Other buildings[edit]
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The Embassy Conference Centre is a historic building, built in the 1890s as the first branch of the Bank of New South Wales.
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Bar Broadway
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The Clare Hotel
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Agincourt Hotel
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Abercrombie Hotel
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Former St Barnabas Anglican Church, destroyed by fire in 2006 and now replaced by a contemporary building
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St Benedicts church with the University of Notre Dame behind.
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Vision of redesigned Tower podium and the Denton Corker Marshall
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University of Technology, Sydney building, considered an eyesore by some Sydneysiders
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Widening the streets - City of Sydney website
- ^ a b "Frasers Broadway (formerly CUB site)". City of Sydney. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
- ^ "One Central Park Gardens". Frasers Property. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
- ^ "Shop Central". Frasers Property. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
- ^ D. Keenan: Tramways of Sydney. Transit Press 1979
- ^ "Broadway Building (ITE Building)". University of Technology, Sydney. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
- ^ "UTS Podium Design Competition". University of Technology, Sydney. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
External links[edit]
Route map: Bing
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