Historic Images of Sydney's Catholic Cathedrals : 14

We continue our series of historic photographs commemorating the bi-centenary of Saint Mary's Cathedral (1821-2021).

In our previous articles, we posted photographs illustrating the stages of the construction of the present Saint Mary's Cathedral :

1871              1882             1883             1886

1887              1890             1892             1895

1896               1901             1902            1905

1910

When the Cathedral was commenced 1867-68, a definite footprint of the building was laid-out, extending from Prince Albert Road southward to where the remnant of Old Saint Mary's remained.  Step by step, the cathedral was constructed until in 1900 it was raised to its completed state on the 1868 footprint.  

The photograph was taken circa 1914 looking across from Hyde Park and it shews the remnant of Old Saint Mary's adjacent to the present Cathedral.  From the angle of this photograph, it is possible to see the blank stone wall to the right of the Crossing Tower, which marked the limit of construction reached some years before.

The photograph appears to shew the small tower of the old Cathedral without its roof covering, the timber structure of the roof is visible.  After this time, the beautiful old stone remnant of Old Saint Mary's was demolished to make way for the continuation of construction of the present building.

The stone walls of old Saint Mary's were taken down with great care and stored in another area of the Cathedral precinct.  It was announced that the stonework would be reconstructed to form the facade of a new Cathedral Hall.  But for reasons that are not clear, that hall was not constructed and those hallowed stones were subsequently dispersed : a terrible outcome.  Research has not yet revealed what happened to them.

The 1914 photograph above may be compared with the previously-published image circa 1882, shewing the Cathedral in a less complete state.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

AMDG

NOTES

The photographs in this series are taken from a variety of sources, some in online Archival collections, some from books, some original images in the editor's collection.  They are presented here in a "modernised" digital form, and with as much detail of the structure of the Cathedrals enhanced in order to make them more accessible to a new generation of Australian Catholics.  The original images on which the digital renderings are based are held in the Special Collections of the State Library of NSW.  Please do not reproduce these unique images without permission.