Sydney Open 2010

Overview

Everyone knows there are secret Sydneys. Not just waterfront apartments and gothic mansions of state, but quieter faces — the back rooms, offices, tunnels and storehouses that make the city function, or once did. Stone, glass, brick, old, new — scattered, strange buildings around the city that make you think. Sydney Open throws back the veil for a weekend, letting Sydneysiders peek behind the scenes. There are focus tours of individual properties over the whole weekend, while on Sunday there is a city-wide wander – from Pyrmont in the west, east to Macquarie Street, south as far as Broadway and north to the flat expanse of Barangaroo.

Have a look at sandstone wonders — the 1920 flatiron-style Radisson Plaza Hotel Sydney, or the ornate, colonial faux-italiante Department of Education and Chief Secretary’s Buildings. Radio 2SER's newish studios are open, as is the environmentally-friendly workplace6 — which also happens to house Google's Australian headquarters. The stunningly staircased National Mutual Building, antenna-capped AWA Building and some looming Martin Place banks round out the twentieth-century offerings. There's a look at the site-to-be of Sydney's Central Park and the mysterious Judge's House behind the George Street Cinemas. So get the map, get nosy and get a look behind the curtain.

Image by Jason7825.