Boasting the most extravagant of Sydney’s old English charm, The Queen Victoria Building sits smugly on an entire block of the Sydney city. Bound by George, Market, York and Druitt Streets, and sitting in high-Victorian fashion, the regal building is crowned in copper domes and dressed in golden sandstone. Affectionately known as the QVB by Sydney siders, it is guarded by a glorious statue of Queen Victoria herself throned at the entrance, looking somewhat disapprovingly out over Sydney’s new metropolitan style.
Erected in 1898 as a mark of honor of the Queens jubilee, The QVB’s construction brought relief during the Great Depression, giving craftsmen a step out of unemployment (a somewhat grander version of Peter Garret's Insulation Scheme). Over the span of its life, it has hosted a library, a concert hall, shops fronts and offices. The fortress’ charming columns and stained glass arch windows are lucky to still be standing as the city council seriously entertained the thought of replacing it with a parking lot! Yet in 1982 it was restored and leased on a 99 year agreement by the Malyasian firm Ipoh Garden Berhad, and continues to retain its former glory. Its original spiraled cast iron stair cases run up into the ceiling and the crafted railings still stand, framing the voids of the top three floors. However, there are a few modern features such as elevators and contemporary bathrooms bringing the building into the Twenty-first Century.
