Street-corner view of the whole building: buff terracotta, rising piers, setbacks and the Grace canopy sign at street level. Overcast, neutral light. Portrait format.

Grace Building

77-79 York Street, Sydney

Morrow & Gordon. 1928 to 1930. Art Deco.

Size
64 m, 12 floors
Material
Concrete frame in cream glazed terracotta, picked out in green
Status
State Heritage Register, 1999. Now The Grace Hotel

The Grace Bros department-store family bought this corner in 1926 and modelled their showpiece on Chicago’s Tribune Tower. Their letterhead called the address on the Harbour Bridge Highway, but York Street never became the shopping street they hoped for, and, with the Depression, the building never lived up to expectations. The Army requisitioned it in 1942 and United States Army services used it until 1943. It is often described as General Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters, which a detailed history of the building disputes. The Commonwealth kept it for decades after. Its style is disputed: the heritage text calls it Sydney’s finest skyscraper Gothic, and others call it Art Deco. It’s here for its setbacks and its date, and you can argue with that.

Read about Art Deco in Sydney

Sources

  1. The history of the Grace Building, Sydney (Ross, 2024), John W. Ross, hosted on shazbeige.com
  2. Grace Building, Sydney, Wikipedia
  3. Grace Building, State Library of NSW
  4. Grace Building, Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat