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Government Building Plans I

Description

Unique IDAS-0968Start dateBetween 1st January 1912 and 1st January 1979Start date qualifiercircaFormatPlanDescriptionThis series contains copies of building plans submitted to Council as "courtesy" plans by the NSW and Commonwealth Governments.

Council has been responsible for approval of building plans since the City of Sydney Improvement Act of 1879 but the Colonial (later the NSW State) Government and the Commonwealth Government could not be compelled by Council to submit plans for approval.

On 22 March 1927 Council passed the following resolution: "That with regard to the erection of buildings in the City for the Federal Government, the Federal authorities be approached with a request that all such plans be submitted to the Council's officers for approval, similarly as is done by the State Government, so that the Council's officers may have the opportunity of reporting on the plans in case alterations are required to meet traffic, health or other requirements".

The Commonwealth Department of Works and Railways, who were responsible for most of the Commonwealth's buildings, did not accede to this request, arguing that their policy was to respect building regulations, and to provide copies of plans would be too costly.

Council then requested that the plans be made available to them for a limited period so that Council could make its own copies. A conference between the City Architect and Building Surveyor, and the Works Director in NSW was held, and the Commonwealth agreed to "supply to the Council a copy of the ground plan, together with a section of those new works or alterations of works which will affect the street alignment". This was agreed to at a meeting of Council on 6 September 1927.

It is not clear where the plans submitted by the State Government that were referred to in the initial resolution of Council were kept. They may have been submitted as building applications although there do not appear to be plans for State Government buildings in CRS 126, Building Application Plans, 1909+.

From 1927, a number of Commonwealth and NSW State Government plans were submitted to Council. The plans were numbered with a "G" (for Government") prefix as G1, G2, G3 etc. The practice of submitting plans on a regular basis seems to have ceased around 1979. This may have had something to do with the passing of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.

Some institutions, in particular, the University of Sydney, submitted plans as building approval applications and also as courtesy plans. At present, the State government is required to submit development applications to Council, but not building applications, and the Commonwealth is not required to submit anything.

Following the cessation of the 'G prefix' series, courtesy plans are still occasionally lodged with Council by Government departments, either as courtesy copies or because the plans refer to projects jointly managed. These later plans have been assigned a different records series (CRS 1001, Government Plans II).

Others courtesy plans were incorporated into the Building Application Plans numerical system when they were received by the Council, and can now be found in CRS 126.
Relationship summaryCREATED BY: City Development AG-0135 (01/01/1992 to 01/01/1993)
CREATED BY: Planning and Building Department AG-0008 (01/01/1971 to 01/01/1992)
CREATED BY: City Architect and Building Surveyors Department II AG-0016 (01/01/1936 to 01/01/1971)
CREATED BY: City Engineering and Building Surveyors Department AG-0061 (01/01/1928 to 01/01/1936)
CREATED BY: City Architect and Building Surveyors Department I AG-0078 (01/01/1927 to 01/01/1928) RELATED TO: Building applications inspection and approval AY-28 (01/01/1927 to 01/01/1993)
RELATED TO: Construction and maintenance of buildings and structures AY-1 (01/01/1912 to 01/01/1993) LanguageEnglish (eng)

Plan

Glebe Telephone Exchange, St. John Road, Glebe (Scanned)

Housing Flats, Walker Street, Redfern

Housing Flats, Cnr. Nield Avenue and Lawson Street, Paddington

Housing Flats, Cnr. Bay Street and Wentworth Street, Glebe

Commonwealth Bank of Australia Manar Home Unit, 42 Macleay St

Federal Bond Stores, Maritime Services Board of NSW, Day Street

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Haymarket Branch

Newtown Technical School

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Circular Quay

Flats & Cottages, Morehead Street, Redfern

Typical Housing Plans

State Motor Garage, Water Street

Redfern Housing

Glebe Point Road Housing

Hereford Street, Glebe

Redfern Housing Scheme

Erskineville Flats

Camperdown Public School Building

Commonwealth Bank of Australia Garage, Glebe

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, George Street

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, George Street [original + microfilm)

Sydney Boys High School

Rural Bank Lavatory

Series

Government Plans II

Access

Public access statusOpen to public accessPublic access noteAccess Notes:
Restriction Category:

Identification and Arrangement

Source system ID968System of arrangementSingle number, G prefix

Relationships

Creating agenciesCity Architect and Building Surveyor's Department ICity Engineering and Building Surveyor's DepartmentCity Architect and Building Surveyor's Department IIPlanning and Building DepartmentCity DevelopmentRelated activitiesConstruction and maintenance of buildings and structuresBuilding applications inspection and approval

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Government Building Plans I