Rowe Street is a narrow

laneway An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane), or a path, walk, or av ...

in the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Originally, Rowe Street ran between

Castlereagh Street Castlereagh Street is a major street located in the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. The street runs north-to-south, in a One-way traffic, one way direction only. Description Castlereagh Street's northern terminu ...

and

Pitt Street Pitt Street is a major street in the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. The street runs through the entire city centre from Circular Quay in the north to Waterloo, although today's street is in two disjointed sect ...

, parallel to

Martin Place Martin Place is a pedestrian mall in the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. Martin Place has been described as the "civic heart" of Sydney.

. However, it now runs east–west off Pitt Street. Rowe Street was named in honour of

Thomas Rowe Thomas Rowe (20 July 1829 – 14 January 1899) was a British-born architect, builder and goldminer who became one of Australia's leading architects of the Victorian era. He was also a politician, who was the first Mayor of Manly. Early life ...

, a prominent

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

in New South Wales.

History

Rowe Street was a centre for Sydney's bohemian life from the late 19th century until the 1970s, described in 1931 as "the primrose path of dalliance"–furthermore it may have been the birthplace of Sydney's famous push movement. The precinct included the original Theatre Royal, the Playbox Theatre, art studios and galleries, restaurants, cafés and coffee shops, many well-known fashion, clothing, interior design and jewellery shops, and Rowe Street Records, one of the first specialist import record stores in Australia. In 1956

Mervyn Horton Mervyn Emrys Rosser Horton (27 July 1917 – 1 February 1983) was an Australian art editor, art collector and philanthropist. Early life Horton was born at L’Aiglon 278 Glebe Point Road Glebe, New South Wales, six years after his parents had ...

the gay editor, art collector and philanthropist opened Galleria Espresso an espresso bar and art gallery at 27 Rowe Street.Queer Places
Retrieved 17 July 2023. Most of the Rowe Street precinct, including the palatial

Hotel Australia The Hotel Australia was a former hotel in Melbourne, Australia. The hotel was built in 1939 on the site of the former Cafe Australia (which had opened in 1916), and was demolished in 1989. Designed by Leslie M. Perrott, the Hotel Australia was ...

, was demolished in the early 1970s to make way for the

MLC Centre 25 Martin Place (formerly and still commonly known as the MLC Centre) is a skyscraper in Sydney, Australia. Originally named the "MLC Centre" after MLC Limited, and still commonly referred to by that name, in 2021 the name was removed by its o ...

, a monolithic modernist edifice designed by controversial Sydney architect

Harry Seidler Harry Seidler (25 June 19239 March 2006) was an Austrian-born Australian architect who is considered to be one of the leading exponents of Modernism's methodology in Australia and the first architect to fully express the principles of the Bauh ...

. A small section remains today as link from Pitt street to Lees Circuit and the entrance to the shopping Centre and food court, below the

. The only remaining building from this era is the Sydney Club on the corner of Pitt and Rowe Streets (previously known as the Millions Club).

References

External links

CC-By-SA A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work". A CC license is used when an author wants to give other people the right to share, use, and bui ...

] {{Streets of Sydney Australia Streets in Sydney Sydney central business district

History

See also

References

External links