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Sydney City Council

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Creating agencies

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Building applications inspection and approval

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Items in this series (41)

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Boxes in this Series (31)

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Controlled series (7)

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Building Application Registers [Municipal Council of Sydney / City of Sydney]

Description

Unique IDAS-0122Start dateBetween 2nd January 1907 and 31st December 1993Start date qualifiercircaFormatVolume - Leather Bound Loose PapersShort descriptionThis series consists of volumes used to register applications for Sydney City Council's approval to undertake building activity within its boundaries. Responsibility for supervision of building activity has rested with Council since the passing of the City of Sydney Improvement Act 1879.DescriptionThis series consists of volumes used to register applications for Sydney City Council's approval to undertake building activity within its boundaries. Responsibility for supervision of building activity has rested with Council since the passing of the City of Sydney Improvement Act 1879.

The registers were created by the following agencies:
- City Architect and Building Surveyors Department I (AG-0078) for the period 02/01/1907 to 31/08/1928
- City Engineering and Building Surveyors Department (AG-0061) for the period 31/08/1928 to 01/06/1936
- City Architect and Building Surveyors Department II (AG-0016) for the period 01/06/1936 to 25/10/1971
- Planning and Building Department (AG-0008) for the period 25/10/1971 to 31/12/1992
- City Development (AG-0135) for the period 01/01/1993 to 31/12/1993

The registers for 1879 to 1906 were destroyed by the City Building Surveyor's Department in 1952 due to shortage of storage space. (See AS-0138, 1281/51, A-00478842). The registers survive from 1907 onwards.

The applications were recorded in these volumes and thereby given an annual single number. The first volume of the registers records the date the application was lodged, the name of the applicant and description of the building work, details of the fee paid and the account number. There is also a 'remarks' column in which such things as alterations to the proposed building work or corrections were made. Each entry from 1907 to 1913 was initalled by a senior officer of the department, often by R H Brodrick, the City Building Surveyor.

Approval of the building application was recorded on the plans submitted, not in the register. A card index established in 1907, based on the street address of the property, provides access to the registers. These are known as the 'street cards' (AS-0710 and AS-0533) and they consist of a card (or several cards) for each property. One side of the cards records building applications in chronological order.

Prior to 1909, the plans were returned to the applicant and Council kept a written description of what it had approved. From 1909 however, applicants were required to lodge two sets of plans with Council, one of which Council retained.

The basic format and information recorded in the registers does not vary significantly. By 1929, the information generally recorded includes the following: number of sheets and whether an engineering drawing is included, date lodged, application number, location (address of building), description of work, name of applicant, estimate of cost, fee paid and account number, audit checks, approval with date, and 'remarks', which usually shows date of completion and is stamped 'completed'. These details are recorded on one sheet only, but by 1939 a single entry is recorded across two pages.

From 1908, files for building applications were raised, although the files for the years 1908 to 1940 were destroyed in 1952 (See AS-0138, 1281/51, A-00478842). They are controlled by the registers with the same BA annual single number as the plans. The street cards, from this date, provide access to the files, the plans, and the registers. There is no evidence in the registers of the establishment of the file series.

In 1968 the South Sydney Municipal Council was established, incorporating a large part of the territory of Sydney City Council. A substantial body of records relating to that territory was passed to the new Council including a number of building application plans and files. Registers were not passed over. South Sydney Muncipal Council staff created new registers following the system operating in the City Building Surveyor's Department at the time. When South Sydney Municipal Council was abolished in December 1981, the South Sydney registers were passed to the Sydney City Council's Planning Department where they were maintained separately until December 1984.

In 1981, the control of building applications (and development applications) was computerised. The manual registers were replaced by what was known as the DABA (development application building application) system. The computer system records the same information as the registers. The manual registers were maintained in tandem with the computer system until August 1982. The South Sydney area building applications were not logged into the computer system until 1985. After the DABA system was running satisfactorily, the data in the registers back to 1971 was entered into the computer system. While computer printouts and screen inquiry have superseded the registers, the street cards were still used and maintained until 1994. In 1996 they were microfilmed and the originals moved to Archives.

When Sydney City Council was split in 1989 to create two Councils, Sydney City Council and South Sydney City Council, the DABA system was split geographically. South Sydney received information from the DABA system for their area back to 1971. Sydney City Council did not retain this information in their system.

In 1994, Archives requested a hard copy laser printout of the registers from 1980 to 1993 which have been retained in this series. These only cover applications lodged for the City of Sydney area, not the areas transferred to South Sydney City Council in 1989.

In 1992, when Sydney City Council changed to a new geographic information system (PLANES), South Sydney City Council decided to go to a different system with a company called Datamation. (Sydney City Council had been maintaining South Sydney City Council's computerised systems under a cross-servicing agreement). They also decided at this time that the information on the DABA system only needed to be kept for 7 years, and dumped the computer record prior to 1985. This means that an electronic record of building applications for the area that was part of South Sydney City Council from 1989 to 2004 exists from 1985 only, whereas for the areas that stayed within the boundaries of the City of Sydney it exists back to 1971.Relationship summaryPRECEDED BY: Newtown Building Register AS-1067 (by 31/12/1949)
PRECEDED BY: Redfern Building Registers AS-1064 (by 31/12/1949)
PRECEDED BY: Alexandria Registers of Plans and Specifications AS-1062 (by 31/12/1949)
PRECEDED BY: South Sydney Municipal Council Building Application Registers AS-0309 (14/3/1984)
PRECEDED BY: Glebe Building Registers AS-1065 (by 31/12/1949)
PRECEDED BY: Waterloo Building Registers AS-1063 (by 31/12/1949)
RELATED TO: Building applications inspection and approval AY-0028 (02/01/1907 to 31/12/1993) LanguageEnglish (eng)

Item

Building Application Register Printouts 1993

Building Application Register Printouts 1992

Building Application Register Printouts 1991

Building Application Register Printouts 1990

Building Application Register Printouts 1989

Building Application Register Printouts 1988

Building Application Register Printouts 1987

Building Application Register Printouts 1986

Building Application Register Printouts 1985

Building Application Register Printouts 1984

Building Application Register Printouts 1983

Building Application Register Printouts 1982

Building Application Register Printouts 1980

Building Application Register 953/1980 - 1159/1982

Building Application Register 417/1978 - 952/1980#n#

Building Application Register 624/1975 - 416/1978#n#

Building Application Register 1377/1972 - 623/1975#n#

Building Application Register 672/1970 - 1376/1972#n#

Building Application Register 1298/1968 - 671/1970#n#

Building Application Register 113/1967 - 1297/1968#n#

Building Application Register 1008/1965 - 112/1967#n#

Building Application Register 177/1964 - 1017/1965#n#

Building Application Register 2139/1962 - 176/1964#n#

Series

Glebe Planning Street Cards

Old Planning Street Cards

Planning Street Cards

Building Application Registers [South Sydney Municipal Council]

Building Inspectors' Cards

Building Application (BA) Plans [Municipal Council of Sydney / City of Sydney]

Central Activity Files

Building Application Files [Municipal Council of Sydney / City of Sydney]

Access

Public access statusOpen to public accessPublic access noteAccess is by microfilm copy when possible.

Identification and Arrangement

Source system ID122System of arrangementAnnual single number

Digitisation

Digitisation statusNot digitised

Data Quality

Authenticity & integrityThese are the original Building Application Registers from Sydney City Council. The record has been held in the Council’s custody and has a high level of authenticity. Users should be aware that this is an historical record and the language used within the record was the language of the time it was captured, and may not reflect current community values or expectations.

Relationships

OrganisationSydney City CouncilPreceding seriesWaterloo Building RegistersGlebe Building RegistersBuilding Application Registers [South Sydney Municipal Council]Alexandria Registers of Plans and SpecificationsRedfern Building RegistersBuilding Register [Newtown Municipal Council]Creating agenciesCity DevelopmentCity Architect and Building Surveyor's Department ICity Engineering and Building Surveyor's DepartmentCity Architect and Building Surveyor's Department IIPlanning and Building DepartmentRelated activitiesBuilding applications inspection and approval

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Building Application Registers [Municipal Council of Sydney / City of Sydney]