Millers Point from Observatory Hill

Some of the houses in this area are amongst the oldest in Sydney. They have been owned by the government as public housing, but, controversially, the government has evicted long term residents and is selling the properties. People are being rehoused elsewhere. What is clear though, is that what were once 'slums" are now highly desirable, multi-million dollar properties, and the poor are no longer welcome.....

NB - I do not know whether the houses in this photo are amongst those being sold.

Stepping Up

Recently I showed this block of public housing flats, Sirius, in The Rocks - from the other side. This is the block from the walkway of the Sydney harbour Bridge. This aspect shows the roof terraces which are an integral part of the design.

See the previous entry by clicking here.

Sydney Architecture Walk 3: Sirius and Green Bans

Sirius is a public housing development in The Rocks. It was built in 1979, after the decade long Green Ban protection of The Rocks. It was symbolic of the fact that public housing was there to stay, right in the centre of an area potentially ripe for development for the very rich. Although concrete, and an example of 'brutalism', the rooftops all have private or community terraces. The wanted to use architect, Tao Gofers, from the government architect's office wanted to use white cement, to echo the Opera House across the water, but there was no budget for it. It is designed to allow plants to grow over it. Fifteen metres on the other side is the approach to the Harbour Bridge, so the vegetation helps baffle noise. This is an extremely popular place to live.

The 'Green Bans' were a coalition of the Rocks Residents' Action Group, and the union called the Builders Labourers' Federation who combined to prevent demolition of the historic Rocks precinct with its low-income housing. I have blogged about Green Bans before: see here. More about Green Bans here.

More here about Sirius here.