Market City (Paddy’s Market) Market Buildings 1 & 2 at Haymarket, currently known as Market City and still referred to as Paddy’s Market, is a well known and loved Sydney icon and historic landmark at the south end of Sydney CBD. It holds over 120 years of continued market use, and contemporary social and community associations.
The Market City Buildings are part of a Haymarket market buildings group that consists of six closely co-located market buildings and a corporation office building. Although the functions of some of the original market buildings have changed, for example, integrated as part of the 1980s development for the UTS Campus Library, the buildings are largely externally intact and retain their strong market precinct presence.
The Haymarket markets precinct as mentioned above is comparable to, and contemporary with, other Australian capital city market precincts including the Queen Victoria Markets in Melbourne, Fremantle Markets near Perth, and City Market/Adelaide Central in Adelaide that date from the 1890s to early 1900s. As such, Market City (Paddy’s Market) Market Buildings 1 and 2, are considered to be of representative significance and of State heritage significance to NSW and are rare in their continued use and level of intactness.
Market City (Paddy’s Market) Market Buildings 1 & 2 are of aesthetic significance with a strong streetscape presence for their design and use of stone and face brickwork. They were designed in the Functional Federation architectural expression with Art Nouveau sandstone and brick elements, including the patterning of the bays of the façades, the indentation of the former location of Engine Street, and the landmark turret element on the corner of the Market Building No. 1 building in Haymarket.
