The Palisade Hotel is a weird sight. Just steps away from the harbour and bridge, it testifies to one of those urbanistic failures every city knows: at the time it was built, it was surely expected other similar buildings would come and balance its size and shape. This never happened, so it is now left freestanding on a dull corner of Hickson Street. Dull? Not so dull, the firemen are here! Oh they're only here to change a light bulb on a nearby street lamp. As for the Leaning Tower of Pisa effect, it's just a matter of framing - as you would have guessed.
6 comments:
C'est un bâtiment très intéressant.
Nathalie, tu as des très belles photos dans ton blog. J'ai surtout aimé la photo du vitral il-y-a deux jours.
Salut d'un lecteur chilien.
Good catch Nathalie.
And I like the Pisa effect, it's adding an extra layer of weirdness on top of the incongruous name and location, (love the crane too!)which makes this pic really special.
Indeed a weird building
This is one of the traditional workign class pubs of Sydney, located opposite the most historic docks / wharves area - now gentrified into being completely unrecognisable. This was ahard working / hard drinking wharfie zone until relatively recently - in an area known as "The Hungry Mile" for the men who used to walk along the mile looking for day hire work duing the Depression.
Great perspective, nathalie!
Sixty years ago, Nathalie, it was still a largely working class area, but the old "Hungry Mile" image had long since disappeared, due largely to the efforts of a C.P. Union leader Jim Healey, who helped turn the wharfies into a united well-paid closed shop organisation which meant its members were extremely well paid, even by Australian standards.
A few elderly working remnants still hang on, but where once, as a youngster, I'd wander until night time, watching ships unload, or thinking about old buildings' history, nowadays every conceivable potential entry point window carries heavy bars, and razor wire is strung along many a high fence.
Still, the standard of the coffee is way ahead of the chicory substitutes of that period.
Un des premiers hotels que j'ai pratiqués à Sydney, il y a une quinzaine d'années ! A l'époque, pas cher et de bon goût, tout refait à neuf, avec salle de bains commune, et une vue imprenable sur le quartier des "Rocks".
Souvenirs, souvenirs... Merci Nathalie d'avoir titillé ma mémoire !
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