Everything about Potts Point New South Wales totally explained
Potts Point is a small, densely-populated suburb of inner-city
Sydney, in the state of
New South Wales,
Australia. Potts Point is located 3
kilometres east of the
Sydney central business district and is part of the
local government area of the
City of Sydney.
Potts Point sits on a ridge immediately east of
Woolloomooloo, west of
Elizabeth Bay and
Rushcutters Bay and north of
Darlinghurst. The suburb has a roughly trapezoidal shape, and at its greatest extent is no more than 1 kilometre long by 200 metres wide. Potts Point's eastern boundary is Macleay Street. The suburb's other boundaries include Darlinghurst Road to the southeast, William Street to the south, Brougham Street and part of Cowper Road to the west.
Kings Cross and Garden Island
Kings Cross isn't an officially designated suburb of Sydney, but rather a locality encompassed entirely by the suburbs of Potts Point and Elizabeth Bay. Kings Cross is a commercial area that's dominated by bars, restaurants, nightclubs, strip clubs and adult bookstores.
Kings Cross railway station is situated beneath Darlinghurst Road in Potts Point. The
Garden Island facility of the
Royal Australian Navy sits on the north end of Potts Point.
History
Potts Point is named for Joseph Hyde Potts, who was employed by the Bank of New South Wales. He purchased six-and-a-half acres of harbourside land in an area then known as Woolloomooloo Hill - which he renamed Potts Point.
Much of the area that today comprises Potts Point and the adjacent suburb of Elizabeth Bay, originally constituted part of a land grant to
Alexander Macleay, who was the
New South Wales Colonial Secretary from
1826 to
1837, and for whom Macleay Street is named. NSW Judge Advocate,
John Wylde (for whom Wylde Street is named) was another 19th-century public servant who owned land in the area.
19th Century
The area was further subdivided after Macleay's time, and a number of grand
Georgian mansions were built along the high point of the suburb's ridge line. Several of these survive (albeit much hemmed in by later buildings), including 'Rockwall House' and 'Tusculum'. Rockwall House, one of Potts Point's few surviving Georgian mansions, is now overshadowed by modern apartment developments. Tusculum now serves as the headquarters for the NSW chapter of the
Royal Australian Institute of Architects. Most of the other mansions, such as Orwell, have survived only as
street names. The area also boasts many fine
Victorian-era terraces. These are chiefly located along Victoria Street, which bisects Potts Point from north to south, and is widely known for its impressive canopy of
plane trees.
20th Century
Potts Point was the site of some of Australia's earliest apartment buildings, and from the 1920s through to
World War II the area was intensively developed along those lines. As a result, it boasts the highest concentration of
Art Deco architecture in Australia. Amongst the most notable examples are the "Macleay Regis", "Cahors" and "Franconia" apartment buildings in Macleay Street, and what are arguably two of the finest
Streamline Moderne buildings in Australia: the Minerva (or Metro) Theatre and the Minerva Building in Orwell Street. The Metro Theatre (as it was then known) was the site of the first Australian production of the musical
Hair in
1970.
During the
Vietnam War, the Darlinghurst Road precinct (commonly known as
Kings Cross), which straddles Potts Point and Elizabeth Bay, became a popular destination for US military personnel on R&R - due chiefly to its proximity to a major naval facility. Partially as a result of this, the area attracted organised crime syndicates and developed an unsavoury reputation as Australia's drugs and
prostitution capital. Dozens of hotels constructed at the time ensured that "The Cross" remained a tourism mecca well into the
1990s.
21st Century
At the turn of the 21st century, almost all of Potts Point's hotels were acquired by developers attracted by the area's proximity to transportation and amenities. By
2004 most tourist hotels had been converted or rebuilt as high end apartment developments, resulting in a rapid wider gentrification of the area - and increasingly large
gay community - although the continued presence of a number of large backpacker hostels along with dozens of pubs, nightclubs, restaurants and similar venues have confirmed the suburb's role as one of Sydney's leading entertainment precincts.
Sydney City Council has commenced a major
streetscape upgrade centred on Darlinghurst Road and the southern part of Macleay Street, involving footpath-widening, roadside tree-plantings and the installation of new paving,
street furniture and lighting. Plans to force the replacement of historic neon shopfront and awning
signage on
strip clubs and other adult commercial premises in the area with generic signage proved more controversial and have not been implemented.
Transport
Kings Cross railway station is an underground station on the
Eastern Suburbs railway line of the
CityRail network.
Politics
Potts Point has been administered alternately by
South Sydney Council and
Sydney City Council at various periods throughout its history. In
March 2004 it again reverted from management by the former to the latter as a result of a series of local council mergers endorsed by the state government of
New South Wales.
Population
Demographics
The population is 7,165 residents (9,007 including overseas visitors) according to the ABS 2001 Australian census, giving it one of the highest population densities in the country.
Notable Residents
radio producer George CruickshankFurther Information
Get more info on 'Potts Point New South Wales'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://potts_point__new_south_wales.totallyexplained.com">Potts Point, New South Wales Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
)