As iconic in its time as the Opera House, this beautiful colonnaded sandstone Victorian palazzo (built 1874) was once Sydney’s General Post Office. It has since been gutted, stabbed with office towers and transformed into swanky shops, restaurants and bars, along with a hotel. Inspired by Italian Renaissance palaces, architect James Barnet caused a minor fracas by basing the faces carved on the sandstone facade on local identities. Queen Victoria dominates the central white-marble statuary, surrounded by allegorical figures.
Under a staircase in the basement there is a small historical display and a pipe housing the dribbling remnants of the Tank Stream.