From a cottage to a condemned house to a colonial mansion to a grand sandstone headquarters to the top floors of skyscrapers, NSW Treasury has moved many times around the city of Sydney over the past 200 years.
In 1824 the first Treasurer William Balcombe operated from the cottage of a former military paymaster located on the corner of Bent and O’Connell Streets. He lived upstairs with his wife and children, while Treasury business was conducted downstairs.
To improve security Treasury moved into the military barracks at Barrack Square where Wynyard Park now stands. Treasury occupied a building on the corner of Margaret and George Streets from May 1827.
Ten years later in 1837 a house was leased at Macquarie Place for the Treasurer, Auditor-General and the Internal Revenue Department. However, being located next to the now putrid Tank Stream (once the source of drinking water) it was considered unhealthy, so in 1839 they shifted to a nearby residence of the former Colonial Secretary located where Loftus Street now runs.
By 1851 a grand sandstone building on Macquarie Street, commissioned by the Colonial Architect Mortimer Lewis had been purpose built for Treasury. Extensions and additions, such as a strong room saw Treasury operate from this building for the next 116 years. The Premier’s office was located in this building and Cabinet meetings were held here. It is now the Intercontinental Hotel.
In 1967 Treasury moved a block up the hill to the stolid high rise State Office Block on the corner of Phillip and Macquarie Streets. This modernist building was for a time Australia’s tallest building.
28 years later in 1995 Treasury occupied Governor Macquarie Tower and then in 2014 moved to its current location at 52 Martin Place.
