High Class Elite Independent Sydney Model Escort
SYDNEY CITY CENTRE
Australia's first thorough-fare, George Street, was originally lined with clusters of mud and wattle huts. The gold rushes brought bustling prosperity, and by the 1880's shops and the architecturally majestic edifices of banks dominated the area. The city's first skyscraper - Culwulla Chambers in Castlereagh Street - was completed in 1913, but the city council then imposed a 46m (150ft) height restriction which remained in place until 1956. Hyde Park, on the edge of the city centre, was first used as a racecourse, attracting illegal betting and gambling taverns to Elizabeth Street. The park later hosted other amusements: wrestling matches, circuses, public hangings and, from 1804 onwards, cricket matches between the army and the town. Today it provides a peaceful oasis, while the city's commercial centre is an area of glamorous boutiques, department stores, arcades and malls. Various exercise needs are also catered for: the Cook and Phillip Park Centre in College Street is a great pool and gym complex.
STREET - BY - STREET: CITY CENTRE
Although closely rivalled by Melbourne, this is the business and commercial capital of Australia. Vibrant by day, at night the streets are far less busy when office workers and shoppers have gone home. The comparatively small city centre of this sprawling metropolis seems to be almost jammed into a few city blocks. Because Sydney grew in such a haphazard fashion, with many of today's streets following tracks from the harbour originally made by bullocks, there was no allowance for the expansion of the burgeoning city into what has become a major international centre. A colourful night scene of cafes, restaurants and theatres is emerging, however, as more people return to the city centre to live.
QUEEN VICTORIA BUILDING
Taking up an entire city block, this 1898 former produce market has been lovingly restored and is now a shopping mall.
THE QUEEN VICTORIA STATUE
Was found after a worldwide search in 1983 ended in a small Irish village. It had lain forgotten and neglected since being removed from the front of the Irish Parliament in 1947.
STATE THEATRE
A gem from the era when the movies reigned, this glittering and richly decorated 1929 cinema was once hailed as "the Empire's greatest theatre".
MARBLE BAR
Once a landmark bar in the 1893 Tattersalls hotel, it was dismantled and re-erected in the Sydney Hilton in 1973.
STRAND ARCADE
A reminder of the late 19th-century Victorian era when Sydney was famed as a city of elegant shopping arcades, this faithfully restored example is said to have been the finest of them all.
MARTIN PLACE
Martin's Place's 1929 Art Deco Cenotaph is the site of animal Anzac Day war remembrance services.
SKYGARDEN
Shopping arcade features elegant shops and boutiques with designer labels, and a popular food court on the top level.
SYDNEY TOWER
The tower tops the city skyline, giving a bird's eye view of the whole of Sydney. It rises 305m (1,000ft) above the ground and can be seen from as far away as the Blue Mountains.
THE MARBLE BAR, 488 George Street.
The Marble Bar, originally part of George Adams' Tattersalls Hotel built in 1893, is an inspired link with the Sydney of an earlier era. The bar, whose rich and decadent Italian Renaissance style had made it a local institution, was dismantled before the demolition of the hotel in 1969. Its colonnade entrance, fireplaces and counters were re-erected in the Sydney Hilton basement and reopened in 1973.
During the week, the bar attracts a broad range of city workers for after-work drinks. On Fridays and at weekends if a band is playing, the bar bustles with a younger crowd who come to hear the mostly jazz and rhythm and blues music.
Open: 3pm - 11pm Monday - Wednesday, 3pm - midnight Thursday, 3pm - 2am Friday, 5pm - 2am Saturday.
Closed: Public holidays.
Tel: 92 - 66 - 20 - 00.
QUEEN VICTORIA BUILDING, 455 George Street.
French Designer Pierre Cardin called the Queen Victoria Building "the most beautiful shopping centre in the world". Yet this spacious and ornate Romanesque building, better known as the QVB, began life as the Sydney produce market. The dust, flies, grime and shouts as horses struggled with heavy loads on the slippery ramps are now difficult to imagine. Completed to the design of City Architect George McRae in 1898, the dominant features are the central dome, sheathed in copper, as are the 20 smaller domes, and the glass barrel vault roof which lets in a flood of natural light.
The market closed at the end of World War I and the building fell into disrepair. It had various roles during this time, including that of City Library. By the 1950's, after extensive remodelling and neglect, it was threatened with demolition. Refurbished at a cost of over $75 million, the QVB reopened in 1986 as today's grand shopping gallery, housing over 190 shops and boutiques on four levels. At the Town Hall end a wishing well incorporates a stone from Blarney Castle, Ireland and a sculpture of Islay, beloved dog of Queen Victoria. In 1983, a worldwide search began for a statue of the queen herself. One was finally found in the village of Daingean, Republic of Ireland, where it had lain forgotten since its removal from the front of the Irish Parliament in 1947.
Now fully restored, the Queen Victoria Statue stands near the wishing well. Inside the QVB, suspended from the ceiling, is the Royal Clock. Weighing more than 1 tonne and over 5m (17ft) tall, the clock was designed by Neil Glasser in 1982. The upper structure features part of Balmoral Castle above a copy of the four dials of Big Ben. At one minute to every hour, a fanfare is played and there follows a parade depicting six scenes from the lives of various kings and queens of England.
Open: 9am - 6pm Monday - Wednesday, 9am - 9pm Thursday, 9am - 6pm Friday and Saturday, 11am - 5pm Sunday and Public holidays.
Tel: 92 - 64 - 92 - 09.
STATE THEATRE, 49 Market Street.
When it opened in 1929, this picture palace was hailed as the finest that local craftsmanship could achieve. The State Theatre is one of the best examples in Australia of the architectural fantasies used to entice people to the movies.
Its Cinema Baroque style is evident right from the Gothic foyer, with its vaulted ceiling, mosaic floor, richly decorated marble columns and statues. Inside the brass and bronze doors, the auditorium which seats over 2,000 people, is lit by a 20,000-piece chandelier. The Wurlitzer organ (currently under repair) rises from below stage just before performances. Now one of Sydney's premier concert and theatre venues, it is also the main base for the Sydney Film Festival, held in June of each year.
Open: 9am - 5:30pm (Box office)
Closed: Good Friday and December 25.
Tel: 93 - 73 - 68 - 52.
SYDNEY TOWER
The highest observation deck in the southern hemisphere, the Sydney Tower was conceived as part of the 1970's Centrepoint shopping centre, but was not completed until 1981. About a million visitors a year appreciate the stunning views, often stretching for over 85km (53 miles). A landmark in itself, it can be seen from almost anywhere in the city, and far beyond. Visitors can also take a 75-minute SkyWalk tour over the roof of the tower.
THE TURRET'S NINE LEVELS
Include two restaurants, a cafe, the Observation Level, and SkyTour, the largest simulated virtual ride in the southern hemisphere.
THE WINDOWS
Comprise three layers. The outer has a gold dust coating. The frame design prevents panes falling outwards.
THE SHAFT
Is designed to with stand wind speeds expected only once in 500 years, as well as unprecedented earthquakes.
THE STAIRS
Are two separate, fireproofed emergency escape routes. Each year in April or May Sydney's fittest race up the 1,504 stairs.
DOUBLE-DECKER LIFTS
Can carry up to 2,000 people per hour. At full speed, a lift takes only 40 seconds to ascend the 76 floors to the Observation Level.
THE 30-M (98 FT) SPIRE
Completes the total 305m (1,000 ft) of the tower's height.
THE WATER TANK
Holds 162,000 litres (35,5000 gallons) and acts as an enormous stabilizer on very windy days.
THE 56 CABLES
Weigh seven tonnes each. If laid end to end, they would reach from New Zealand to Sydney.
OBSERVATION LEVEL
Views from Level 4 stretch to Pittwater in the north, Botany Bay to the south, westwards to the Blue Mountains, and along the harbour out to the open sea.
CONSTRUCTION OF TURRET
The nine turret levels were erected on the roof of the base building, then hoisted up the shaft using hydraulic jacks.
NEW YEAR'S EVE
Every year, fireworks are set off on top of the tower as part of the official public fireworks displays to mark the New Year.
STRAND ARCADE, 412-414 George Street.
Victorian Sydney was a city of grand shopping arcades. The Strand, joining George and Pitt Streets and designed by English architect John Spencer, was the finest jewel in the city's crown. The blaze of publicity surrounding its opening in April 1892 was equalled only by the natural light pouring through the glass roof and the artificial glare from the chandeliers, each carrying 50 jets of gas as well as 50 lamps.
The boutiques and shops in the galleries make window shopping a delight in this airy building which, after a fire in 1976, was restored to its original splendour. Be sure to stop, as shoppers have done since opening day, for refreshments at one of the beautiful coffee shops in the arcade.
Open: 9am - 5:30pm Monday - Wednesday and Friday, 9am - 9pm Thursday, 9am - 4pm Saturday,
11am - 4pm Sunday.
Closed: some public holidays, December 25,26.
Tel: 92 - 32 - 41 - 99.
MARTIN PLACE
Running from George Street across Pitt, Castlereagh and Elizabeth Streets to Macquarie Street, this plaza was opened in 1891 and made a traffic-free precinct in 1971. It is busiest at lunchtime when city workers enjoy their sandwiches while watching free entertainment, sponsored by the Sydney City Council, in a performance space near Castlereagh Street.
Every Anzac Day, a national day of war remembrance on April 25, the focus moves to the Cenotaph at the George Street end. Thousands of past and present servicemen and women attend a dawn service and wreath-laying ceremony, followed by a march-past. The shrine, with bronze statures of a soldier and a sailor on a granite base, by Bertram MacKennal, was unveiled in 1929.
On the southern side of the Cenotaph is the symmetrical facade of the Renaissance-style General Post Office, considered to be the finest building by James Barnet, Colonial Architect. Construction of the GBO, as Sydneysiders call it, took place between 1866 and 1874, with additions in Pitt Street between 1881 and 1885. Most controversial were the relief figures executed by Tomaso Sani. Although Barnet declared that the figures represented Australians in realistic form, they were labelled "grotesque".
A stainless steel sculpture of upended cubes, the Dobell Memorial Sculpture stands above a waterfall which was funded by public subscription following a donation by artist Lloyd Rees. The sculpture, a tribute to the artist William Dobell, was created by Bert Flugelman in 1979.
LANDS DEPARTMENT BUILDING, 22 Bridge Street.
Designed by the Colonial Architect James Barnet, the three-storey Classical Revival sandstone edifice was built between 1877 and 1890. As for the GPO building, Pyrmont sandstone was used for the exterior. Decisions about the sub-division of much of rural eastern Australia were made in offices within. Statues of explorers and legislators who "promoted settlement" fill 23 of the facade's 48 niches; the remainder are still empty. The luminaries include the explorers Hovell and Hume, Sir Thomas Mitchell, Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth, Ludwig Leichhardt, Bass and Matthew Flinders and the botanist Sir Joseph Banks.
Open: only 2 weeks, dates vary.
MUSEUM OF SYDNEY, Corner of Bridge and Phillip Streets.
Situated at the base Governor Phillip Tower, the Museum of Sydney is on the site of the first Government House, the home, office and seat of authority for the first nine governors of NSW from 1788 until its demolition in 1846. The design assimilates a valuable archaeological site into a modern office block. The museum itself traces the city's turbulent history, from the 1788 arrival of the British colonists until the present day.
Open: 9:30am - 5pm daily.
Closed: Good Friday, December 25.
Tel: 92 - 51 - 59 - 88.
Gallery: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
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