General Post Office (Sydney)

General Post Office
The GPO as viewed from Pitt Street
Alternative names	GPO Sydney Postal Hall The Westin Sydney The GPO Grand (an independent tenant company within the building)
General information
Status	Complete
Architectural style	Victorian Free Classical Victorian Italian Renaissance
Location	No. 1 Martin Place, Sydney, Australia
Current tenants	The Westin Sydney Macquarie Bank GPO Grand (Restaurants and Bars)
Groundbreaking	April 1869 (keystone setting)
Construction started	1866
Completed	1891
Opened	1 September 1874
Renovated	1996 2004
Height
Antenna spire	80 m
Design and construction
Architect	James Barnet
Other designers	1866 John Young 1898 Walter Liberty Vernon
Renovating team
Architect	1999 Buchan Group 1999 Clive Lucas & Stapleton 2004 Clive Lucas & Stapleton

External video

Documentary footage of the deconstruction of the GPO clock tower during WWII, viewable at the Dictionary of Sydney.

The Westin Sydney Macquarie Bank

1866 John Young

1999 Buchan Group 1999 Clive Lucas & Stapleton

The General Post Office (abbreviation GPO, known also as the Sydney GPO, Postal Hall, The Westin Sydney and The GPO Grand) is a landmark building located in Martin Place, Sydney, Australia. The original building was constructed in two stages beginning in 1866 and was designed under the guidance of Colonial Architect James Barnet. Composed primarily of local Sydney sandstone, mined in Pyrmont, the primary load-bearing northern façade has been described as "the finest example of the Victorian Italian Renaissance Style in NSW" and stretches 114 metres along Martin Place, making it one of the largest sandstone buildings in Sydney.

Throughout its twenty five year construction process, the GPO was marred by two major controversies, the first of which related to the selection of bells for the campanile clock and the second, more significantly, to the commission of Italian immigrant sculptor Tomaso Sani's "realistic" depictions of people for the carvings along the Pitt Street arcade. One of its first critics, Frederick Darley (later, the Chief Justice of NSW) "denigrated the carvings as caricatures" and such was the controversy surrounding these works that it led to debates on aesthetics and taste within the New South Wales Legislative Assembly between 1883-1890 in which Barnet was himself called upon to justify and defend his decision. Despite severe criticism and controversy, by the time of its final completion in 1891, the building was hailed as a turning point for the Colony of New South Wales, and historians have since noted the building's significance as a force for driving prosperity and for the Federation of Australia. Its architectural expression and in particular its Pitt Street carvings have since been hailed as "the beginning of art in Australia," as well as its urban significance in the shaping of Sydney's urban grid and the Martin Place precinct.