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The Queen Victoria Building, or QVB, is a grand Victorian building located in the heart of Sydney's CBD. The elaborate neo-Byzantine architecture presents a glittering contrast to the more severe modern buildings around it. Measuring 190 metres long by 30 wide, it fills an entire city block, bounded by George, Market, York and Druitt Streets. It currently serves as a shopping centre. Image File history File links The QVB logo. ...
The Sydney Opera House is one of the most iconic landmarks in the world, and since its opening it has become an international symbol of Sydney Sydney (pronounced ) is the state capital of New South Wales, located on the east coast of Australia. ...
The central business district of Melbourne, Australia. ...
History
 The Queen Victoria Building seen from the southern end The site, originally the first Sydney markets, was selected for the construction of a grand government building, intended to employ skilled craftsmen, out of work during a severe recession. Designed by architect George McRae, it was completed in 1898. First known as the George Street Market, the Queen Victoria Building was designed as a monument to the then long reigning monarch. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x732, 230 KB) Queen Victoria Building, Sydney, July 2005. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x732, 230 KB) Queen Victoria Building, Sydney, July 2005. ...
The building as completed included a concert hall, and coffee shops and showrooms shared the interior arcade with tradesmen such as tailors, mercers, hairdressers and florists. Over the years sometimes drastic changes were made, with the concert hall becoming the municipal library and Sydney City Council offices displacing many of the commercial tenants.
The building steadily deteriorated, and as recently as 1959 it was threatened with demolition. During the 1970s it was restored by AW Edwards, a construction company, and is now home to a wide variety of mostly upmarket boutiques and "brand-name" shops.
Architectural features  The interior, showing the multi-levelled arcades on either side of great lightwells. The dominant feature is the huge Centre Dome, consisting of an interior glass dome and a copper-sheathed exterior, topped by a domed cupola. Many smaller domes in a range of sizes dot the roofline, most notably a pair overtopping each end of the rectangular building.
Stained glass windows, including a cartwheel window depicting the ancient arms of the City of Sydney, admit light into the central area, and the roof itself incorporates arched skylights running lengthways north and south from the central dome. The intricate colonnades, arches, balustrades and cupolas make the exterior a visual feast of Victorian fussiness.
Inside, the building consists of four main shopping floors, the top three pierced by voids protected by decorated cast-iron railings. Much of the tilework, especially under the central dome, is original, and the remainder is in keeping with this style. Underground passageways lead off to Town Hall Station at the southern end, and to a food court at the north. Town Hall is a major underground railway station in inner Sydney, Australia, 1. ...
Interior displays
 A figure of Queen Victoria, wearing her coronation regalia. Two large mechanical clocks, each one featuring dioramas and moving figures, dominate the upper voids, and may be observed from the nearby railings. The Royal Clock, designed by Neil Glasser and made by Thwaites & Reed of Hastings in England, shows scenes of English royalty from King John signing the Magna Carta to the execution of King Charles I. The Great Australian Clock, designed and made by Chris Cook, weighs four tonnes and stands ten metres tall. It includes 33 scenes from Australian history seen from both Aboriginal and European perspectives. An Aboriginal hunter circles the exterior of the clock continuously, representing the neverending passage of time. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (719x1024, 253 KB) The figure of Queen Victoria on her Coronation Day, surrounded by the Imperial Regalia. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (719x1024, 253 KB) The figure of Queen Victoria on her Coronation Day, surrounded by the Imperial Regalia. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (3072x2304, 2217 KB) Summary Taken of the central mosaic on the ground floor of the QVB by myself. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (3072x2304, 2217 KB) Summary Taken of the central mosaic on the ground floor of the QVB by myself. ...
Mosaic is the art of decoration with small pieces of colored glass, stone or other material. ...
Amongst many memorials and historic displays, two large glass cases stand out. The first contains an Imperial Chinese Bridal Carriage made entirely of jade and weighing over two tonnes. It is the only example found outside China. The second is a lifesize figure of Queen Victoria on her Coronation Day in historical costume, and surrounded by the British Crown Jewels of the time. Her enthroned figure rotates slowly, fixing the onlooker with her serene and youthful gaze. Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria) (24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India from January 1, 1877, until her death in 1901. ...
Exterior features
 The statue of Queen Victoria, a gift of the people of Ireland. At the southern end of the building is the Bicentennial Plaza facing the Sydney Town Hall across Druitt Street. It is dominated by a statue of Queen Victoria standing on a light grey stone plinth, the work of Irish sculptor John Hughes. This statue stood outside the Irish Houses of Parliament in Leinster House, Dublin until 1947, and was given to the people of Sydney by the Government of the Republic of Ireland. It was placed in its present site in 1987. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (768x985, 220 KB) The statue of Queen Victoria outside the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (768x985, 220 KB) The statue of Queen Victoria outside the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney. ...
John Hughes (born February 18, 1950 in Lansing, Michigan) is a noted film director, producer and writer, responsible for some of the most successful comedy films of the 1980s and 1990s. ...
Nearby stands a wishing well featuring a bronze sculpture of Queen Victoria's favorite dog "Islay". A recorded message voiced by John Laws urges onlookers to give a donation and make a wish. The tens of thousands of dollars cast into this well benefit deaf and blind children.
Image File history File links Qvb-fountain. ...
Image File history File links Qvb-fountain. ...
John Laws John Laws, CBE (born August 8, 1935) is a prominent and controversial radio presenter in Australia, whose mellifluous voice earned him the nickname Golden Tonsils. Since the 1970s Laws has hosted a hugely successful morning radio program, which mixes music with interviews, opinion, live advertising readings and listener...
External links - QVB official website
- History of the QVB
- The Strand Arcade
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