Slip off George Street into Palings Lane and the CBD drops its voice. The restaurants and bars feel new; the name is not. The lane led through to the Palings music warehouse on Ash Street the 1880s building associated with W.H. Paling & Co., the firm that sold Sydney its pianos and sheet music when a colonial drawing-room was incomplete without both.
William Henry Paling (1825–1895) arrived from the Netherlands in 1853, taught, concertised, and built a retail empire that hopped from Wynyard Square timber sheds to Barrack Street, a George Street showroom, an Ash Street premises in 1880, and finally the long-running George Street flagship. Upper rooms of the music warehouses traditionally housed teachers of music and dance, and artists’ studios — a vertical village of practice rooms above the shop floor. The lane still points at that story even when the fit-out is all polished concrete and natural wine.
Ash Street itself is one of those short CBD spines that collected clubs, parties and back-of-house addresses (including, for a stretch, Liberal Party headquarters). Walk Palings Lane as a music-history shortcut between George and Ash — then cross-link the other lost-and-found laneways on this blog when you want the wider fine-grain map.
Palings Lane & Ash Street - Laneways - Sydney - NSW
The Elegant Complex Of Up Market Restaurants, Pools, Bars And Spas On George Street Is Entered Through Narrow Palings Lane, Which Despite Its Very Contemporary Feeling, Has Been on Or Close To Here For A Long Time. It Was Named Because It Led Through To The Large 1880's Palings Building In Ash Street. W H Paling Was A Musical entrepreneur Who Imported & Eventually Manufactured Pianos And Sheet Music. Upper Floor Rooms Were Rented Out To Teachers Of Music And Dance, & As Artist's Studios. Ash Street Also Housed The Headquarters Of The Liberal Party Of Australia For Many Years
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