107–109 Bathurst Street, Sydney is a heritage-listed former bank building and now KFC fast food restaurant located at 107–109 Bathurst Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The property is privately owned. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
History The following historical outline provides and analysis of the development of the site on the corner of George and Bathurst Streets, Sydney (485 George and 107–109 Bathurst Streets). The thematic framework of this development relates to its associations with the growth of Sydney to an international commercial and banking centre, the context of its location in Sydney's civic precinct, and more recent associations with the cinema entertainment strip in George Street. An analysis of the development of the fabric of the former bank building is provided to assist the historical understanding of the place.
The historical outline relies on research at Westpac Historical Services, the Land Titles Office, the Mitchell Librarian, the University of New South Wales architecture Library, a 1989 Conservation Management Plan, and a 1996 archaeological report.
Aboriginal communities of Sydney
The name "Eora people" was given to the coastal Indigenous community around Sydney, and the central Sydney area is now referred to as "Eora Country". The traditional owners of the Sydney City area are the Cadigal band. Their land south of Port Jackson stretches from South Head to Petersham. Following the 1788 European occupation of Sydney, the Cadigal were alienated from their lands, and many died in smallpox epidemics in the early years of European settlement. However, descendants of the Cadigal continue to live in Sydney.
There appears to be no pictorial or written records of the Cadigal in the vicinity of the site, and it is unclear whether any archaeological evidence of pre-contact occupation remains either under the road system or in the Sydney Square precinct. The adjoining building allotments have been excavated to bedrock, as has much of the city block. However, the 1996 Higginbotham report does identify potential archaeological localities nearby on Kent Street. There are no known land claims over the site.
Overview of the development of Sydney and the site, 1788 to the 1980s
Early buildings site immediately to the south of the Sydney's Old Burial Ground, were remote from the early settlement at Sydney Cove, when Governor Bligh assumed control of the colony in 1806, only five sites were leased south of the Burial Ground. In addition to this there were several unauthorized cottages along George Street in this area. During the 1820s the town of Sydney extended southwards, with commercial activities along the shores of Darling Harbour. Bathurst Street became an access route to this area from the wharves. The St Andrew's Cathedral site was consolidated by closing York Street at Druitt Street. Kent Street was extended to Liverpool Street, forming the current city block bounded by George, Bathurst, Kent and Liverpool Streets. By the 1830s evidence of permanent settlement on allotments in the area extended along George Street to Broadway, and on Bathurst Street from Darling Harbour to the Hyde Park area. Construction of the St Andrew's Cathedral building on the opposite corner of George and Bathurst Streets recommenced in 1837, and street frontages were developed with a mix of residential, retail, commercial and entertainment uses.
The building booms of the 1860s, 1870s and 1880s in Sydney followed the discovery of gold, the expansion of rural export industries, advancements in industrial and communications technology, and continuing immigration into Sydney. Sydney's CBD and suburbs rebuilt and expanded, and by the 1890s rural recession, commercial expansion of the CBD had displaced most other activities. The economic recovery of the late 1890s saw a further expansion of commercial activities in the CBD until World War I from 1914 to 1918. The 1901 to 1920s saw another boom in activity, to become the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Second World War in the 1940s. It was not until the economic recovery of the 1950s that global trade recovered and another wave of industrialization occurred to fuel the long economic boom from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s.
Relaxed investment controls fuelled the corporate rebuilding of the Sydney CBD in the 1960s to 1970s, transforming Sydney into a major financial centre where technology-led business practices reduced the need for face-to-face transactions. A 1970s Bank of New South Wales expansion program saw new head office and chief offices in all States. The introduction of electronic banking in the early 1980s and the rapid transformation of the banking and finance sectors saw the amalgamation of the Bank of NSW and the Commercial Bank of Australia in 1982 to form Westpac.
The development of the city block and Sydney Square precinct
The Sydney Square precinct comprising the Sydney Town Hall and St Andrew's Cathedral, occupies the land bounded by George, Druitt, Kent and Bathurst Streets. The civic precinct was located on the highest point of George Street at the southern end of Sydney Town, with the first foundation stone of St Andrew's Anglican Cathedral laid in 1819, and the establishment of an adjoining cemetery at the same time, to be known later as the Old Burial Ground. During Governor Macquarie's administration, the official plan of 1822 indicates that the town block immediately south of the St Andrew's Cathedral site had been divided into allotments and some dwellings had been built along George and Liverpool Streets. Kent Street came to an end at the Bathurst Street southwards is reflected in a shift in the north–south town grid at this point. By the time St Andrew's Cathedral was completed and consecrated in 1868, the Old Burial Ground had been acquired by government for the permanent site of the Sydney Town Hall. The Town Hall was erected in the 1870s and the completion of both buildings established the civic core of the Sydney Square precinct.
The boom periods of the 1850s–1860s and the 1970s-1880s saw the infilling of all street frontages in the area with retail and commercial buildings, services infrastructure including water and sewerage and gas, and paving to roads and footpaths. The form of Sydney's civic precinct did not significantly alter after this period, but the city block bounded by George St, Bathurst St, Kent St and Liverpool St saw continual alteration as the commercial importance of this area grew and allotments were redeveloped from the 1870s.
With the completion of the new bank building in 1895, Sydney Square was now complete with fine civic buildings: at its southern edge of the square by the Bank of NSW building, and at the northern end by the 1894-1897 stylistically similar but much larger Romanesque Revival-styled Queen Victoria Markets building. The significance of this setting is recognised by its listing in the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate as a whole precinct group of buildings.
Amalgamation of internal sites of the city block in the 1920s following the closure of the timberyard of Goodlet & Smith, saw the construction of the Regent Theatre adjoining the former Bank building, and the Trocadero Hall with frontages to George Street. However, the onset of the 1930s Depression and World War II meant that little physical change occurred until the 1950s.
Summary of site chronology The following timeline gives an overview of the site chronology: 1807Plan of the Town of Sydney in NSW. Most land north of the Old Burial Ground had been leased, but only five leases exist to the south. George Street extends to Broadway, but Bathurst Street had not been formed. 1822Plan of the Town and Suburbs of Sydney. During Governor Macquarie's time, Bathurst Street extends from Kent Street to Pitt Street. The block formed by Bathurst, Kent, Liverpool and George Streets has been subdivided into allotments. Several buildings are located along the western alignment of George Street. 1820sKent Street is extended to Liverpool Street to form the city block formed by Bathurst, Kent, Liverpool and George Streets. 1823A 10 1/4 perch () allotment on the corner of George and Bathurst Streets is leased to Mary Claver. 1831Map of the Town of Sydney. The land is granted to Mary Cleever by Governor Darling. Some detached cottages are indicated further along George and Bathurst Streets as Sydney spread southwards. 1844Mary Cleever sold the property to Anne Norton and Peter Coyle. 1853The land is transferred to James and David Dickson. 1861The Kangaroo Hotel operates as a two-storey building on the George and Bathurst Streets corner, in a row of two storey terraces on George Street. A rear lane from Bathurst Street provides rear access. 1870sThe properties were leased to Alexander Yeend in 1971 and John Bowen in 1873, and continues to operate as the Kangaroo Hotel. 1877The Kangaroo Hotel and two adjoining properties on George Street (previously 481-485 George St) were purchased by the Bank of NSW. 1883-1884The three properties are extended an additional floor, forming a three-storey bank building on the corner of Bathurst and George Street, and adjoining retail premises, in Victorian Regency style. The two upper floors of the bank premises provide accommodation for the resident manager. The bank retains a rear courtyard and attached outbuildings. Architects Backhouse and Lough. 1894–1895The 1884 development is demolished and rebuilt in Commercial Romanesque Revival style to form a larger three-storey bank premises with basement. The building now extends in part to the rear lane off Bathurst Street. Architect Varney Parkes of Parkes & Alderson.
Early occupation of the site, 1820–1877
The site on the corner of George and Bathurst Streets was leased in 1823 to Mary Cleever, who subsequently purchased the land in 1831. The property was sold in 1844 to Ann Norton and Peter Coyle, and again in 1855 to James and David Dickson. The Kangaroo Hotel was established around 1860 on the corner site and operated by Elizabeth Love until 1863. The Sands Directory identifies the corner address as 471 George Street until a renumbering in 1880. In 1864 James Collins was identified as the hotel's operator, transferring the licence to Charles Reynolds from 1865 to 1867. In 1868 Alexander Yeend took over operations as publican until sale of the property to the Bank of NSW in 1877.
Although earlier plans show smaller detached buildings on the George/Bathurst Streets corner site and along George Street, the 1865 Trigonometrical Survey of the City of Sydney clearly indicates a row of 6 two-storey shops with rear outbuildings extending along George Street from the corner, and with right-of-way access from Bathurst Street. The right-of-way also provided access to properties at 103 and 107 Bathurst Street and to the Metropolitan Fire Brigade building at 105 Bathurst Street.
Early development of the site by the Bank of NSW, prior to the existing building, 1877–1894
In 1877, the Bank of NSW purchased 485 and 487 George Street from David Dickson for and operated from the two-storey building a year later. William C. Hill was the first resident Manager of the Bank of NSW Bathurst Street branch, from 1878 until 1887. The Bank's strategic acquisition of the Kangaroo Hotel on the south-west corner of George and Bathurst Streets in 1877, was a response to the increasing trading and commercial activities in the mid-city, a claim to civic prominence, and a demonstration of the role that banks played as a cornerstone of Victorian society. In 1883-4 the whole building was extended and re-clad to a design by architects Backhouse and Lough. In 1887 R. N. Sheridan took over as resident Manager until 1919. The original bank building was demolished in 1894 to provide for larger premises over both lots.
Development of the site by the Bank of NSW, 1895–1980