The Strand Arcade

Exterior of The Strand, Pitt Street end

The Strand Arcade is a Victorian-style shopping arcade in Sydney, New South Wales. The Strand Arcade is located in the heart of the Sydney central business district, between Pitt Street Mall and George Street.

History

Designed by English architect John Spencer, The Strand was built in 1891 and opened on 1 April 1892,[1] as the fifth and last of the arcades built in Sydney in the Victorian era. It is the only one remaining in its original form today.

The Arcade was originally known as the 'City Arcade' and sometimes as 'Arcade Street'. In 1891 it was named after the famous London Street that links the City of London and the City of Westminster. The Strand was London's smartest theatre, hotel and shopping street in the early 1900s.

The arcade became run down as time went by. Restoration work was carried out in the 1970s, but a fire broke out on the morning of 25 May 1976. The arcade was partly destroyed. Restoration began again and the arcade, now back to its original grandeur, re-opened in 1977.[2]

During demolition of the adjacent Coles store in King Street, where there had been a link into the Strand, building inspectors deemed the structure unsafe after the fire. Fortunately they found a shipwright who had somes Australian red cedar logs which were purchased. This enabled the shop fronts to be an exact replica of the original internal shopping facades (unlike the Queen Victoria Building, which had to resort to painted timber shop fronts due to a lack of cedar).

Today

The Strand Arcade is a celebration of leading local craftsmanship, housing Australian designer labels such as Alex Perry, Manning Cartell, Lover, Dion Lee, Jac+ Jack, Scanlan Theodore, LIFEwithBIRD, Aje, Megan Park and Skin and Threds to name afew. It has also been home to iconic Sydney favourite stores for decades including Strand Hatters, The Nut Shop, Haigh's Chocolates, Raphael Jewellers and Victoria Buckley Jewellery. It has been restored extensively and is a major element in the Pitt Street Mall precinct and Australian retail landscape.

References

  1. ↑ "THE STRAND.". The Sydney Morning Herald (16,858). New South Wales, Australia. 2 April 1892. p. 5. Retrieved 27 October 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ About-Strand Retrieved 4 April 2011
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Coordinates: 33°52′10″S 151°12′27″E / 33.8694°S 151.2076°E / -33.8694; 151.2076

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