Valentine Street, running off George Street in Sydney’s Haymarket, is currently more urban alleyway than street.
I walk down it almost every day on my way from our apartment in Thomas Street to the Haymarket Light Rail stop. The following is an image dating from 1910, It was then a very deprived area, with poor quality residential terraces. Note the tram running along George Street in the background.
Street urchins in Valentine Street. (Source – City of Sydney Archives.)
Slum housing which was demolished in 1911. Source – City of Sydney Archives,
This short street was originally known as Valentine Alley. It was not connected to Thomas Street until 1910, when it was extended to provide better access to The Haymarket’s Paddy’s Market. ‘The new thoroughfare is expected to prove an immense boon to persons having business to transact at the new fruit, vegetable, and fish markets. (Daily Telegraph, June 24, 1910)
HEART AND SOUL
The landmark at the bottom of the above photo, just across George Street, is Christ Church St Laurence, completed in 1845. This ‘high Anglican’ church has a fine peal of bells, gorgeous stained glass windows and carved pew ends featuring flora and fauna. More importantly, it has a long history of caring for the disadvantaged.
Here is the church today, with the Central Railway Clock Tower rising behind it. The clock tower was built in 1921. I so love this view.
Twin towers.
In 1911 the terraces on the left of Valentine Street were demolished and replaced by The Sutton Forest Meat Company. The business closed in the 1960s.
The building featured art-deco influences, in particular the facade’s cream and green ceramic tiles. A fire in 1985 gutted the building, which at one point housed the well known Malaya Restaurant.
VALENTINE STREET – THE FUTURE
Today, huge changes are coming. Here is an artist’s impression of a 31 storey hotel and retail complex under construction on the Sutton Forest Meat Company site. There will be a range of dining and entertainment venues, which will truly revitalize Valentine Street. Fortunately the historic facade will remain.
Source – Architecture AND
URBAN CULTURE
Just across the street from the new development is a highly popular, ‘hole-in-the-wall’ coffee shop called Outta Coffee. It is famous not just for coffee, but for the trendy green tea drink called matcha, served as matcha lattes. There is always a line-up of patrons. The Haymarket area is one of the most culturally diverse in the city, reflected in Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Thai cafes and restaurants.
Will Outta coffee survive the gentrification of Valentine Street? I hope so, but maybe not. Like any other big city, Sydney is always reinventing itself..
BY THE WAY, TO HEAR THE BELLS OF CHRIST CHURCH ST LAURENCE, CLICK HERE.
