Central Square before the building of the railway terminus [with Benevolent Hospital in background]. See 6-person cast iron 'pissoir-style’ public urinal in the foreground.
National Archives of Australia [C4076, HN107]
One of the two urinals that the City Council bought in 1880 for male use, and added to them during the 1880s. One of these early 'pissoirs' could have been still seen in the Rocks area until the late 20th century, when it was taken away for ‘repair’ – and never seen again.
A 1968 photo - City of Sydney Archives [CRS 34/2401/71]
Trams, trains and toilets.
This 1904 lavatory at Railway Square fitted right into the streetscape.
It replaced an older Jennings octagonal 6-person cast iron urinal, now considered ‘out of date as regards convenience and sanitation’. The council’s official take on their handiwork was that ‘the public conveniences have been constructed with the best materials, and with every regard for proper sanitation, ventilation, easy access, lighting, and adequate accommodation. They featured cast ironwork, sandstone surrounds, and pavement lights, glass tiles, and polished Tasmanian blackwood or cedar joinery work and fittings ‘of the highest class’. This style of on-street underground lavatory was built in various city streets in the early twentieth century.
City of Sydney Archives, Vade Mecum, 1930, pp.163-173; CRS 538/298;
Town Clerk’s Annual Report, 1904, pp.188-189)
City of Sydney - Public Conveniences
Plan of underground public toilet at Macquarie Place
City of Sydney Archives [CRS 569/P425]
This 1930s photograph shows the entrance to the Macquarie Place men’s lavatory.
(City of Sydney Archives, CRS 538/009)
The Underground Lavatory at Wynyard in the thirties.
Designed by J. H. Merriman under the supervision of the City Building Surveyor Robert Broderick in 1911, the Wynyard underground convenience was originally designed to be similar to its ‘brother’ in Macquarie Place. The glazed roof and extensive pavement lighting maximised light into underground areas. The shiny ‘white opalite’ glass tiled walls symbolised the early twentieth century’s obsession with sanitary hygiene. (City of Sydney Archives, CRS 569/T1216)
This photograph from the 1930s shows the lavatory’s dome as cone shaped. But the original plans show a spherical dome. No one knows when the design changed – during construction or at a later date. In any case, this photograph shows the survival of this convenience despite the digging up of the park for the underground railway.
(City of Sydney Archives, CRS 538/012)
Demolition of men's underground public toilet at Druitt Street in front of the Queen Victoria Building, 1933
City of Sydney Archives [031\031756] (SRC5345)
1934
City of Sydney Archives [020\020299] (NSCA CRS 538/039, Cleansing Department photographs, 1929-1939)
