SYDNEY'S BUSINESS AREA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18388, 2 May 1923, Page 11

SYDNEY'S BUSINESS AREA.

OLD ORDER CHANGING.

(AGE ; OF THE SKYSCRAPER.

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* CORRESPONDENT. SYDNEY, April 19.

• ' It is truly said that the appearance of '•■■ the business centre tof . Sydney "is so rapidly changing that in .a' few years time anyone who had not visited it since before the war'"would not recognise it*. Although the great scheme ,of ; improvement—the, extension , of', Martin.. Place which has been a bone of fierce contention for many years, in both. Parliament- ■ ary and municipal circles, has been finally abandoned during the past week, there are so many -huge buildings arising that the heart /of, the city is becoming metamorphosed. ' . -*. ■ . ' '■"'-'" Many ardent town-planners : are heartbroken at the collapse of the Martin Place scheme. It is the core of the city,' and although little more than a wide street, it is used as the assembly place for all open-air national demonstrations, and it is hallowed by many historic wartime scenes. The idea was to carry the street'through to Macquarie Street, the beautiful . thoroughfare in which Parliament House stands. ■ ' '

Recently matters have been brought to a head by the demolition of many of .the buildings obstructing such an improvement preparatory to the erection of a huge pile for. the State Government Savings Bank, which promises to be one of . the noblest structures in Sydney. An eleventh-hour resumption proposal was rushed in by the Lord Mayor,' while the foundations of the . bank were actually 'being laid, under .which £350.000 would have been paid for the necessary land, portion of which not needed on each side

was to be leased out, substantially reducing the' actual cost. A fierce debate in the City Council, however, has-'re-sulted, in the defeat of- the project by two votes, and nowj the Government having refused to move in the matter for fear of antagonising country interests, which are very sensitive owing to the adoption of the great harbour bridge scheme, the bank building will 'go on and dash for ever hopes for this great improvement scheme.

As.a matter of fact the nature of the change in the.city buildings is such that such a • wide thoroughfare would have been of great aesthetic as well as practical benefit. It is an oft-repeated truth that the main streets simply grew along the bullock tracks that straggled down to the cove which we now know as Circular Quay, and with the low structures that bordered them they appeared sufficiently wide and imposing. Every increase in height., however, has had the apparent effect of narrowing them, and now, with the erection of 150 ft. buildings which are ' springing up with' amazing rapidity such thoroughfares as Pitt Street are assuming the . appearance of great tunnels with a ribbon of sky far above.