Department of Lands building

Department of Lands building
Bridge Street façade of the Department of Lands building
Location in Greater Metropolitan Sydney
General information
Type	Government administration
Architectural style	Victorian Renaissance Revival
Address	22-33 Bridge Street, Sydney, New South Wales
Country	Australia
Coordinates	33°51′50″S 151°12′36″E / 33.863915°S 151.209933°E / -33.863915; 151.209933Coordinates: 33°51′50″S 151°12′36″E / 33.863915°S 151.209933°E / -33.863915; 151.209933
Current tenants	NSW Office of Environment & Heritage
Construction started	1876
Estimated completion	1892
Owner	Government of New South Wales
Height
Roof	Copper dome, 17 metres (55 ft) square to octagon
Dimensions
Other dimensions	Clock tower with copper 'onion' top
Technical details
Structural system	Reinforced concrete slabs
Material	Pyrmont sandstone
Floor count	3
Design and construction
Architect	James Barnet (1876-81) Walter Liberty Vernon (1888-92)
Architecture firm	Colonial Architect of New South Wales
Developer	Government of New South Wales
Main contractor	John Young (1876-81) Waine & Baldwin (1888-90)
Designations	NSW State Heritage Register Register of the National Estate (defunct register)
References

The Department of Lands building is a heritage-listedstate government administrative building of the Victorian Renaissance Revival architectural style located in Bridge Street in the Sydney central business district of New South Wales, Australia. The large three-storey public building was designed by Colonial Architect James Barnet and built in different stages, with Walter Liberty Vernon and William Edmund Kemp designing various components of the building. The builder was John Young.

The building was initially occupied by the NSW Department of Lands, the has a long association with the public life of New South Wales, especially the rapid expansion of settlement during the later part of the 19th century. The building is currently occupied by the NSW Office of Environment & Heritage.

In the late 1980s, the building was earmarked by the NSW Governnment as one of the possible sites for conversion into a casino. A permanent conservation order covering the premises was passed by the Heritage Council of New South Wales in order to protect the building from unsympathetic development.

In 1892 when construction of the Lands Department building commenced, the location of the inaugural and temporary Government House was at the junction of what is now known as Bridge and Phillip Streets, a site now occupied by the Museum of Sydney. At that time, Bridge Street ran from George Street to Government House. The Lands Department building was located immediately 'down hill' from Government House and occupied a city block bounded by Bridge, Loftus, Bent and Gresham Streets. The design of the three-storey building, plus basement, provided uninterrupted views from its north-facing verandahs to Port Jackson and Sydney Cove.