Revisiting My Time with Central Station

Towards the end of last year, I shared an article about my experience with conservation works at Central Station during the beginning of my career. I thought I might enlighten readers on what works were involved at the time, and my role. ?

In the early to mid-1990s, I joined the NSW Department of Public Works, specifically to document the repair of sandstone degradation at Central Station. At that stage, no conservation works had ever been carried out on the building since its original construction in 1906. Arguably, Central Station is the biggest sandstone pile in NSW. We all know the building and appreciate its landmark qualities as one of Sydney’s most iconic buildings, along with Sydney Town Hall, the Queen Victoria Building (QVB), St Andrews Cathedral, St Mary’s etc. I have been fortunate enough to assist in the conservation works of these other examples, but Central Station was the project that would have the most influence for my career. Central Station is pivotal to the entire railway network in NSW.

My usual method of working on heritage buildings is to start from the top and work down. ?With a few assistants we started on the roof of the building – closely looking at the parapets, taking notes, sketching, measuring and documenting. In this fashion, we worked our way down to the basement of the building, including the fa?ades. There is a fascinating network of tunnels under Central Station. Few people realise that the building was deliberately designed with a passive ventilation system with ingenious swan neck air intakes at every level. This is integrated with air intakes through the parapets of the building. It keeps the interiors cool in summer and conserves the heat (fireplaces in winter).

?For three years, we worked out the entire strategy for repair and sandstone conservation. This was between 1994 and 1996. I was a lot younger and more agile then. Today, climbing up onto roofs is something that I avoid.

Back in those days, because we were a State agency (Dept. of Public Works), we did not even have to prepare a DA. We had a budget of $12 million and simply moved from a sketch strategy for the conservation works to full documentation and then onto construction without any official approval for the project. The project included the return of the trams to Central Station, the cutting in of two escalators – one each at the eastern and western ends of the concourse, full sandstone fa?ade conservation, seismic bracing of all facades, extensive signage, way finding and the opening up of all 9 shops along Eddie Avenue, which had been locked up for 40 years, prior to the project commencing.

The project became career-defining for me. Prior to it, I had worked for Howard Tanner on the Haymarket Library in George Street and Sydney Town Hall. Those two projects also entailed sandstone conservation. After the Central Station project, I went on to conserve many other sandstone projects, including those mentioned above. In 1996, my own practice had been established. I steered the direction of my practice towards heritage. In 2025, as I write this, Heritage 21 remains a conservation-oriented architectural practice.

Looking back, I realise how pivotal Central Station was in terms of my career. I met and worked with the late, famous master mason – George Proudman and became enraptured with the arcane, ancient masonic tradition, going all the way back to the Greeks, prior to the birth of Christ.

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Paul Rappoport

Conservation Architect and Heritage Planner

25 February 2025

Image references:

Central Station, Sydney, Map, Address, Platforms, Parking, Hotel & Food, 2018, Photo, 1400 x 1000, Sydney Point.

Chan, Richie. Central railway station, also known as Sydney Terminal, in Sydney, Australia, 2019, stock photo, 46.9cm x 31.3 cm, Dreamstime.

Rappoport Heritage Consultants, Sydney/ Central Railway Station – Conservation Management Plan. Sydney, Australia. 2011.