Paddington Reservoir

About

The Paddington Reservoir is a heritage-listed public park located at 255a Oxford Street in the inner eastern Sydney suburb of Paddington. It was designed by Edward Bell and built from 1864 to 1866 and operated as a water reservoir which accepted water from the Botany Swamps pumping station for supply to parts of Sydney between 1866 and 1899. In the twentieth century the site variously functioned as a service station and storage and mechanical workshop site. In 2006 work commenced to convert the site into a sunken garden and park. It is also known as Walter Read Reserve; Paddington Reservoir Gardens; Reservoir Gardens. The property is owned by City of Sydney. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

This suburb, which took its name from the London borough, lies in what were once paddocks adjacent to Victoria Barracks. It was the first of the early Sydney suburbs that was not self-sufficient – its inhabitants, unlike those of Balmain or Newtown, where work was available in local industries, had to go away each day to their places of employment. Development of the eastern suburbs of Edgecliff, Double Bay, Point Piper and Woollahra surrounded this area with wealthy people's homes so this small hilly suburb lost all hope of harbour views.

The area developed after a road was constructed to link up with a pilot station that was to be built at Watsons Bay ( Old South Head Road ). John Palmer, the settlement's commissary, refused to allow people to cross his land grant (' Woolloomooloo '), so the road had to follow a roundabout way through Paddington to bypass his 40 hectares (100 acres). Only a handful of workers lived in the area, and it was not until 1838, when it was decided to build a new military barracks in Paddington, that life came to the area.

From 1848 when Victoria Barracks had been opened (designed by Lt.-Col. George Barney ) and homes for the soldiers and their families had been erected, Paddington began to assume a real identity. The (barracks site) land was sandy – in fact a huge sandhill was located on the western side of the Greens Road area, and the foundation trenches had to be dug very deep, to locate firm stone for the foundations. Stone was mostly quarried in the area: the stonemasons were free settlers who had worked on erection of the Customs House at what was then Semi- Circular Quay.

Once the soldiers and their families moved here, shopkeepers followed. Builders moved into the area and put up 3,800 houses between 1860 and 1890. These terraces give today's Paddington its air of individuality. The first school in the area was opened in the Presbyterian manse in Oxford Street, built in 1845.

It is hard to imagine that in 1822 the mansion Juniper Hall (the opposite southern corner of Oxford Street from the Reservoir site) stood alone, without the many neighbours it has today. Set in a flagged garden, it had attic windows that gave panoramic views to Rushcutters Bay and Botany Bay. Juniper Hall was built for Robert Cooper, distiller and emancipist merchant, who with partners James Underwood and Francis Ewen Forbes, had received 40 hectares (100 acres) from Governor Brisbane in c. 1818, covering the whole of north Paddington, and they agreed to erect 3 mansions and a distillery there. A distillery was built at the foot of Cascade Street near Taylor Square and Cooper bought out his partners, and only Juniper Hall was erected. The Coopers were part of the social scene of their day and entertained many notables of that time. After they left the house it was renamed Ormond House to dissociate itself from the gin image and passed through many hands, gradually becoming smothered by the building of small shops in front of the house. Latterly it has been restored by the National Trust and has had a variety of uses.

Today few of the area's original working class residents remain, as the suburb's proximity to the city has made it popular with business and professional people who prefer inner-city living in this historic area. The shopping centre, concentrated on the north side of Oxford Street, has also changed from one serving local needs to one of cafes, speciality shops and boutiques. Much of this is related to the changing population and the Village Bazaar, or Paddington Markets. The bazaar, which has operated since the mid-1970s, draws visitors from all over the city and has contributed to Paddington's development as one of Sydney's favourite tourist spots, along with Bondi Beach and The Rocks.

The plan for Paddington Reservoir began with the creation of the Botany Swamps water scheme in 1859. This water scheme, developed by Edward Bell and Will Wadsworth proposed a number of reservoirs at critical points around the city. Construction of the Paddington Reservoir was completed by 1866 and connected to the Botany Swamps pumping station. This offered a new source of water to elevated suburbs of Sydney which had up until then had only been serviced by wells and a water-cart service.

The original reservoir was built in two stages: the western chamber in 1866 and the eastern chamber in 1878. Each measured approximately 33 by 31 metres (108 by 102 ft). However, due to its limited elevation, only the top two metres (five feet) of water from the reservoir could be provided to buildings in excess of one storey. In order to reduce the load on the Botany Swamps pumping station, a further pumping station at the Crown Street Reservoir was commenced in 1875 which also assisted in the delivery of water to the Paddington Reservoir.

In 1877 a second chamber was added to the Paddington Reservoir, dubbed the eastern chamber (with the original chamber being the western chamber ) this increased the storage of the facility to meet the demands of the rapidly expanding city. In 1899 the facility was decommissioned following the completion of the larger and further elevated Centennial Park Reservoir.

The reservoir was decommissioned in 1899, used for storage and garaging for the Sydney Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage (Water Board) from 1914, dewatered c. 1920 and used as a mechanical workshop associated with a service station on Oxford Street. Drawings held by the Council of South Sydney show modifications to the structure in 1925 to accommodate the removal of a number of internal columns.

The ex-reservoir was sold to Paddington Municipal Council in 1934 for £ 3,750. The Water Board leased the eastern chamber of the facility and continued to use it for motor vehicle and general storage until the late 1950s. The western chamber was leased to a commercial motor garage operator in 1934 which led to the construction of a ramped entry from Oxford Street into the western chamber. The roof has been used as a grassed public reserve since the 1930s. Seats and steps were built in the mid-1930s and it was then known as Reservoir Gardens. The Walter Read Reserve was established on the roof in 1953. It was named after Walter Farley Read (1894–1955), an alderman and mayor of the Paddington Municipal Council.

The site was classified by the National Trust of Australia (NSW) in 1985 and in that year an interim conservation order was placed over the property. In 1987 a permanent conservation order under the Heritage Act was placed on the site. In July 1990 part of the roof of the western chamber of the former-reservoir, still used as a motor vehicle service station, collapsed. This collapse in 1990 and a further collapse occurred as a result of corrosion of steel structure placed in 1926 to allow vehicle movement in the underground reservoir chambers. This caused the closure of the reserve atop the roof, and the service station below. For some years the site was disused. Council subsequently commissioned structural engineering assessments, a plan of management and a conservation management plan by Tanner Architects.

When Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects and JMD Design were commissioned in 2006 to convert the reservoir to an urban park, the general expectation was that the site would be capped off and a brand new arrangement be built on top. However the architects were captivated by the possibilities of revealing the 19th century structures as a ruin through which the public could wander, taking in the dramatic spaces. The concept for the project was embodied in the existing artefact. An accessible sunken garden and pond, surrounded by pre-case concrete boardwalk, has been inserted into the conserved ruin of the western chamber. The edges of the ruin are contained by concrete up-stands so as to amplify the distinctive curved original brick vaults. A "Victorian" tree-fern garden hints at the era in which the reservoir was built. The eastern chamber has been conserved with new timber columns and a waterproof concrete structure over, stabilising the brickwork and forming the base for the new landscaped park above. Adaptive reuse of this chamber is part of a future stage of works due to funding limitations. The eastern chamber has limited public access due to level changes and hence is not currently open to the public.

In March 2009 after extensive conservation and adaptive reuse works, Paddington Reservoir Gardens (a new public park) was reopened to the public by the City of Sydney Council. The completed project won a number of awards (2009–2011), including the 2011 Urban Land Institute Award for excellence: Asia-Pacific; the 2010 WAN Urban Design Award; the 2010 International Architecture Award by the Chicago Athenaeum and the European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies; the 2010 Australian Institute of Architects Awards for both urban design and heritage architecture; the Lloyd Rees Award for Urban Design and the Greenway Award for Heritage (projects), both from AIA, NSW Chapter and the 2010 Energy Australia / National Trust Heritage Award – Adaptive Reuse (Corporate/Government).

This suburb, which took its name from the London borough, lies in what were once paddocks adjacent to Victoria Barracks. It was the first of the early Sydney suburbs that was not self-sufficient – its inhabitants, unlike those of Balmain or Newtown, where work was available in local industries, had to go away each day to their places of employment. Development of the eastern suburbs of Edgecliff, Double Bay, Point Piper and Woollahra surrounded this area with wealthy people's homes so this small hilly suburb lost all hope of harbour views.

The area developed after a road was constructed to link up with a pilot station that was to be built at Watsons Bay ( Old South Head Road ). John Palmer, the settlement's commissary, refused to allow people to cross his land grant (' Woolloomooloo '), so the road had to follow a roundabout way through Paddington to bypass his 40 hectares (100 acres). Only a handful of workers lived in the area, and it was not until 1838, when it was decided to build a new military barracks in Paddington, that life came to the area.

From 1848 when Victoria Barracks had been opened (designed by Lt.-Col. George Barney ) and homes for the soldiers and their families had been erected, Paddington began to assume a real identity. The (barracks site) land was sandy – in fact a huge sandhill was located on the western side of the Greens Road area, and the foundation trenches had to be dug very deep, to locate firm stone for the foundations. Stone was mostly quarried in the area: the stonemasons were free settlers who had worked on erection of the Customs House at what was then Semi- Circular Quay.

Once the soldiers and their families moved here, shopkeepers followed. Builders moved into the area and put up 3,800 houses between 1860 and 1890. These terraces give today's Paddington its air of individuality. The first school in the area was opened in the Presbyterian manse in Oxford Street, built in 1845.

It is hard to imagine that in 1822 the mansion Juniper Hall (the opposite southern corner of Oxford Street from the Reservoir site) stood alone, without the many neighbours it has today. Set in a flagged garden, it had attic windows that gave panoramic views to Rushcutters Bay and Botany Bay. Juniper Hall was built for Robert Cooper, distiller and emancipist merchant, who with partners James Underwood and Francis Ewen Forbes, had received 40 hectares (100 acres) from Governor Brisbane in c. 1818, covering the whole of north Paddington, and they agreed to erect 3 mansions and a distillery there. A distillery was built at the foot of Cascade Street near Taylor Square and Cooper bought out his partners, and only Juniper Hall was erected. The Coopers were part of the social scene of their day and entertained many notables of that time. After they left the house it was renamed Ormond House to dissociate itself from the gin image and passed through many hands, gradually becoming smothered by the building of small shops in front of the house. Latterly it has been restored by the National Trust and has had a variety of uses.