The good, bad and ugly: Sydney’s wonders and blunders
Just because Sydney is the greatest city in the world doesn’t mean we always get it right. The Daily Telegraph’s James Morrow reveals our greatest hits and misses. Have your say
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Just because Sydney is the greatest city in the world doesn’t mean we always get it right.
Yes we have the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House but what are our other hits and misses?
National Affairs Editor and Daily Telegraph architecture critic James Morrow reveals the seven wonders and seven blunders of the Harbour City …
THE SEVEN WONDERS
CAHILL EXPRESSWAY
Seriously, is there a road more glorious than the Cahill Expressway anywhere in the world? Critics bemoan that it cuts off Circular Quay but the nearly 65 year old roadway is nowhere near retirement and still features the best view of any commuter road on the planet.
SYDNEY FISH MARKETS (the current one)
Perhaps the last remaining link to the old days when Sydney was home to a proper working harbour, it’s no wonder it’s been earmarked for destruction. Still, we love the chaos, the bustle, and of course the pelicans.
SYDNEY METRO
While this almost fell into the “blunders” category simply because its construction means the loss of beloved CBD institution Frankie’s, this is the people moving project Sydney needs.
M8 TUNNEL
Who’s your mate? The M8! And in fact the entire network of WestConnex tunnels the government has been beavering away on for the better part of a decade. Less traffic on streets, less time on the roads is a double-barrelled win for Sydney drivers.
TARONGA ZOO
Short of renovating a kitchen in an apartment you’re leasing, there is no greater mistake a Sydneysider can make than forgetting about our glorious zoo with its harbour views once the kids grow up. Yes, the lions can get escape but that’s all part of the fun!
QUEEN VICTORIA BUILDING
Yes, it’s a magnificent structure. But it is included in this list as a warning to governments present and future, because through the 1950s and ‘60s plans were afoot to tear it down in the name of progress. Vandalism is never a road to a better future.
CROWN TOWER
Some sniffy wowsers and bluenoses may hate it, but the Crown has quickly become one of the jewels of the city, from the way the light plays off its curves throughout the day to its transformation into a world class pleasure palace at night.
THE SEVEN BLUNDERS
SYDNEY LIGHT RAIL
We could fill an entire newspaper writing about the $3 billion debacle that is the Sydney Light Rail. While overseas contractors got rich, businesses shuttered and much of the city came to a standstill. And it remains a blight on the city, cutting off George Street to traffic.
NEW FISH MARKET
From Tokyo to Paris, schemes by planners and bureaucrats to knock over classic food halls and replace them with something modern never work and wind up being anodyne and banal. The old fish markets were – are – great, but architects’ plans reveal something with about as much charm as a shopping centre.
ALISON ROAD, RANDWICK
The east isn’t all beautiful people, and while this sort of thing happens across the city we reckon the visual debacle of apartments and shops and advertising on this main drag of Randwick is a perfect example of the accidental ugliness than can befall any suburb.
“PRECINCTS”
Can we ban this word from the city planning lexicon? This is 2020s-era Sydney, not a gritty 1970s New York cop show. Once we talk about “activating precincts”, we are talking about siloing bits of the city from other vibrant areas – and implying that what is in between is wasteland.
UTS’S ARCHITECTURE
It may be a fine institution of higher learning but it is also an open air museum of bad architecture. From the brutalist UTS Tower to the “paper bag” business school, the trustees seem devoted to putting up structures that instantly date.
POTHOLES
Who hasn’t found themselves on the business end of an expensive bill for new wheels? La Nina has done a number on our roads (and wallets) but if the Romans could build carriageways that last two thousand years, why can’t we build ones that can last a couple of wet seasons?
BURWOOD TOWERS
It’s unfair to pick on any one high rise apartment block but we’re going to do so anyway. Why? Because more than anything else, visually unappealing and generally shoddy constructions across the city have made density unappealing to neighbours. Builders, do better please.
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