Bent Street, Bridge Street, Young Street and Farrer Place meet in the colonial government / commercial precinct east of Wynyard, between Circular Quay and Macquarie Street. Bridge Street’s sandstone office wall — especially the former Lands Department (Barnet, stages from the late 1870s) and the neighbouring former Education / Agriculture building (Bridge Street stage from 1881; Bent Street stage from 1928) — still sets the civic character of the block. Closing the Bent–Young intersection created the triangular plaza now called Farrer Place, named in 1935 for wheat breeder William Farrer (1845–1906) when Agriculture occupied the southern façade (the stone still reads “Dept of Agriculture” on that front).
Earlier street names for parts of the triangle included Fountain Street and Raphael Street / Place before the Farrer dedication. Late-twentieth-century towers (Governor Phillip / Governor Macquarie, entry from Farrer Place) and the Museum of Sydney on the First Government House archaeological site sit immediately north toward Bridge Street. Keep Capella Sydney (Education building hotel reuse) distinct from the Lands building next door.
Photographs in this large set sample façades, palms and plaza life around Farrer Place and the Bent–Bridge–Young edges — caption by building and street.
