Department of Lands Building

The Department of Lands building is a heritage-listed state government administrative building of the Victorian Renaissance Revival architectural style located in Bridge Street in the Sydney central business district of New South Wales, Australia. The large three-storey public building was designed by Colonial Architect James Barnet and built in different stages, with Walter Liberty Vernon and William Edmund Kemp designing various components of the building. The builder was John Young.

The building was initially occupied by the NSW Department of Lands, which has a long association with the public life of New South Wales, especially the rapid expansion of settlement during the later part of the 19th century. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. In the late 1980s, the building was earmarked by the NSW Government as one of the possible sites for conversion into a casino. A permanent conservation order covering the premises was passed by the Heritage Council of New South Wales in order to protect the building from unsympathetic development. The NSW Department of Planning moved out in 2016 and as of 2024 the building was being redeveloped by Singapore developer Pontiac Land Group, together with the nearby Department of Education building, to become a luxury hotel, currently marketed as "the sandstone precinct".

In 1876 when construction of the Lands Department building commenced, the location of the inaugural and temporary Government House was at the junction of what is now known as Bridge and Phillip Streets, a site now occupied by the Museum of Sydney. At that time, Bridge Street ran from George Street to Government House. The Lands Department building was located immediately 'down hill' from Government House and occupied a city block bounded by Bridge, Loftus, Bent and Gresham Streets. The design of the three-storey building, plus basement, provided uninterrupted views from its north-facing verandahs to Port Jackson and Sydney Cove.

For many years the building served as the head office for the highly influential Surveyor General and the Colonial Architect.

The Lands Department Building was designed by the Colonial Architect James Barnet, and was built in two stages. The first stage was between 1876 and 1881; the second stage was between 1888 and 1892 under the supervision of the Colonial Architect Walter Vernon (it was completed two years into Vernon's tenure in this role). The first stage saw the use of reinforced concrete slabs by the builder John Young who was Sydney's first protagonist of ferro-cement construction.

Sometime between 1887 and 1894 the Lands Department Datum Bench Mark Plug was set into position on the front of the building and provided the origin of all levels in NSW under the Survey Co-ordination Act. In 1938, a clock for the tower and a clock system throughout the building to be driven electronically by a pendulum master clock were installed by Prouds Limited. The whole system was Australian made.

In the late 1980s, the building was earmarked by the NSW Government as one of the possible sites for conversion into a casino. A Permanent Conservation Order covering the premises was passed by the NSW Heritage Council in order to protect the building from unsympathetic development.

The NSW Department of Planning and Environment moved from the former Lands Department building in September 2016. Up until now, the NSW Government Department (of Lands) had been in the Bridge Street building since it was completed in 1892. The building will be refurbished into a hotel where the historical features will be retained for visitors to enjoy.