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Lot Essay
'La caserne destinée au logement des convicts, située à l'angle Nord-Est de Hyde Park, est un édifice vaste et bien adapté à sa destination. L'architecture en est simple et élégante, ainsi qu'on peut en prendre une ídée sur notre planche 106. Le corps de logis principal est entouré d'une cour, sur les côtés de laquelle sont les réfectoires, les cuisines, les dépenses et magasins, puis le logement du surintendant, at quelques cachots destinés à la punition des coupables. On voit dans le bâtiment central deux étages inégaux et un galetas surmonté d'une coupole, indépendamment du rez-de-chausée. À chaque étage il y a quatre salles, dont deux grandes et deux petites séparées par une cage d'escalier et un long corridor, placés à angle droit l'un par rapport à l'autre. Toutes les salles sont destinées aux dortoirs des convicts, et peuvent recevoir 1000 personnes en tout. Latéralement à l'entrée principale de cette caserne, il y a des pavillons où se tiennent un constable et un commis. Une nuraille de 10 pieds ½ (anglais) [3m, 2] de hauteur, solidement construite, forme l'enceinte générale ou la cour dont nous avons parlé; elle laisse entre elle et l'édifice principal un espace propre è faciliter le service, ainsi que le rassemblement des condamnés. Il est facheux qu'on n'ait pas donné plus de largeur à cette enceinte.' (L-C. de Saulces de Freycinet, Historique, II, ii, p.839.)
Freycinet's plan, worked up by Olivier, is the earliest surviving pictorial record of this important building. Designed by Francis Greenway, Australia's first architect, it has been restored to its original state and now forms part of the complex owned by the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences.
'The Hyde Park Barracks was Greenway's first project in the heart of the town and his response was to produce a design which was much more than the merely utilitarian dormitory Macquarie had first proposed. It was to be a prominent element in an urban townscape composition having a character of nobility and grandeur lifting it high above its prosaic function. As colonial conditions would not permit him to employ the full vocabulary of Georgian architecture with its classical orders and embellishments, Greenway used plain materials and simple forms combined in harmonious proportions and spatial relationships to produce a masterpiece of civic dignity.' (P. Bridges, Foundations of Identity, Building Early Sydney 1788-1822, Sydney, 1995, p.121.)
The buildings were completed by May 1819, Macquarie taking his family and a party 'to see the convicts sit down to their first dinner' on 4 June. Freycinet's stay in Sydney (19 November-25 December 1819) came soon after its completion and as all Greenway's original drawings are lost, this drawing is the earliest surviving record of the building and one of the earliest, if not the first, known architectural drawings of Australia.
Freycinet's plan, worked up by Olivier, is the earliest surviving pictorial record of this important building. Designed by Francis Greenway, Australia's first architect, it has been restored to its original state and now forms part of the complex owned by the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences.
'The Hyde Park Barracks was Greenway's first project in the heart of the town and his response was to produce a design which was much more than the merely utilitarian dormitory Macquarie had first proposed. It was to be a prominent element in an urban townscape composition having a character of nobility and grandeur lifting it high above its prosaic function. As colonial conditions would not permit him to employ the full vocabulary of Georgian architecture with its classical orders and embellishments, Greenway used plain materials and simple forms combined in harmonious proportions and spatial relationships to produce a masterpiece of civic dignity.' (P. Bridges, Foundations of Identity, Building Early Sydney 1788-1822, Sydney, 1995, p.121.)
The buildings were completed by May 1819, Macquarie taking his family and a party 'to see the convicts sit down to their first dinner' on 4 June. Freycinet's stay in Sydney (19 November-25 December 1819) came soon after its completion and as all Greenway's original drawings are lost, this drawing is the earliest surviving record of the building and one of the earliest, if not the first, known architectural drawings of Australia.