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Ultimo Sewage Pumping Station
The Ultimo Sewage Pumping Station is a heritage-listed sewerage pumping station located at William Henry Street in the inner city Sydney suburb of Ultimo in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. As a result of the construction of an elevated roadway along William Henry Street, the pumping station now fronts Pyrmont Street, with vehicles being required to enter via Quarry Street, then turning right into Pyrmont Street.
The pumping station was designed and built by the New South Wales Department of Public Works from 1899 to 1902. It is also known as Sewage Pumping Station 1, SPS 1, SPS 0001 and The Controlling Station. The property is owned by Sydney Water, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 18 November 1999.
In 1859 Sydney's sewerage system consisted of five outfall sewers which drained to Sydney Harbour. By the 1870s, the harbour had become grossly polluted (especially with the nearby abattoir at Glebe Island) and there were outbreaks of Enteric Fever (typhoid) throughout the period 1870s–1890s. As a result, the NSW Government created the Sydney City and Suburban Health Board to investigate an alternative means of disposing of the City's sewage. This led to the construction of two gravitation sewers in 1889 by the Public Works Department: a northern sewer being the Bondi Ocean Outfall Sewer and a southern sewer draining to a sewage farm at Botany Bay. Low-lying areas around the harbour which could not gravitate to the new outfall sewers continued to drain to the old City Council Harbour sewers. Low level pumping stations were therefore needed to collect the sewage from such areas and pump it by means of additional sewers known as rising mains, to the main gravitation system. The first comprehensive low level sewerage system began at the end of the 19th century when the Public Works Department built a network of twenty low level pumping stations around the foreshores of the inner harbour and handed them over to the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage in 1904. SP0001 was the first and largest of these twenty stations and originally took the sewage from the City area in the Haymarket and on the south-western side of Darling Harbour. It was also the controlling station from which 17 of the other stations were manually controlled, although this function ceased about 1918. At least two of the early stations received their DC power from the Rushcutters Bay Tramway Powerhouse, near SP0018. Although called SPS No 1, the first SPS was the 1894 emergency Shone Ejector at St Peters (coal fired electricity) followed by the Double Bay Compressed Air Ejector Station (electricity from Rushcutters Bay) and the coal fired steam driven Marrickville Pumping Station (later SPS 271). Overall, greater Sydney now has over 600 low level sewage pumping stations.
The pumping station consists of two parts: a superstructure comprising a rectangular two-storey loadbearing brick building; and a substructure constructed of concrete which houses machinery and sewage chambers. Architecturally, the building was designed in a restrained version of the Federation Free Style, exploiting the contrasts of surface and colour inherent in good brickwork and sandstone. Classical elements are evident in the symmetrical facade, the round-arched door openings and the echoes of balustrading in the parapets. Externally there are two principal elevations.
The front of the building addresses William Henry Street and is a symmetrical composition of face brick with sandstone dressings in three bays, the centre one treated as a breakfront accommodating as entrance porch. There are projecting sandstone string courses at first floor level, window sill level and transom level. The parapet has a row of vertical recessed panels on each side of a raised and panelled centre section, giving the breakfront the character of a triumphal arch. The entry bay has a round arch with bullnosed intrados and moulded stone imposts at window transom level. The entrance consists of a pair of original four panel timber doors with fanlight. The Pyrmont Street facade is divided up into three bays, all treated differently to reflect functions within the building. The south bay continues the front facade treatment and is dominated by the entrance lobby which is expressed by a bold frontispiece of rock faced ashlar sandstone above a sandstone plinth.
The frontispiece is penetrated by a Florentine-arched doorway having rock faced voussoirs and a smooth-tooled intrados. The centre bay expresses the former controlling room above and a store room below. The north bay is dominated by a ground floor arch, which is of brick and matches the arch over the William Henry Street entrance. Internally, the ground floor comprises a lobby accessed from Pyrmont Street and containing stairs which provide access the offices above and machinery chamber below. The remainder of this floor consists of storage and loading bay. The first floor comprised three spaces. On the south there was an office, in the middle was a controlling room and to the north there were a lavatory and store room. To the north there is vacant land (formerly the A.M.L.&F.; Wool Warehouse); to the west is another vacant block of land (formerly another woolstore); and to the south is the modern William Henry Bridge (which is higher and greatly enlarged by comparison with the former overbridge that was there when SP001 was erected - in 1900 the footpath of William Henry Street was about level with the upper floor of the Station. Across the road is the Powerhouse Museum (formerly the Ultimo Tramway Power House).
The exterior of the building is substantially intact. Much of the original plant and equipment has been replaced.
The pumping station is substantially intact. Two pair of wrought iron gates have been removed from the arched entrances. Its function as the controlling station for the other 17 stations ceased c. 1918 and the switchboards have been removed from the first floor office. The single storey garage wing attached to the south elevation is an intrusive addition. Most of the mechanical and electrical components were upgraded during the 1970s. Direct current was replaced by alternating current in c. 1918, and it was supplied by the City Council of Sydney Electricity Department which was the forerunner of the Sydney County Council.
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Ultimo Sewage Pumping Station
The Ultimo Sewage Pumping Station is a heritage-listed sewerage pumping station located at William Henry Street in the inner city Sydney suburb of Ultimo in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. As a result of the construction of an elevated roadway along William Henry Street, the pumping station now fronts Pyrmont Street, with vehicles being required to enter via Quarry Street, then turning right into Pyrmont Street.
The pumping station was designed and built by the New South Wales Department of Public Works from 1899 to 1902. It is also known as Sewage Pumping Station 1, SPS 1, SPS 0001 and The Controlling Station. The property is owned by Sydney Water, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 18 November 1999.
In 1859 Sydney's sewerage system consisted of five outfall sewers which drained to Sydney Harbour. By the 1870s, the harbour had become grossly polluted (especially with the nearby abattoir at Glebe Island) and there were outbreaks of Enteric Fever (typhoid) throughout the period 1870s–1890s. As a result, the NSW Government created the Sydney City and Suburban Health Board to investigate an alternative means of disposing of the City's sewage. This led to the construction of two gravitation sewers in 1889 by the Public Works Department: a northern sewer being the Bondi Ocean Outfall Sewer and a southern sewer draining to a sewage farm at Botany Bay. Low-lying areas around the harbour which could not gravitate to the new outfall sewers continued to drain to the old City Council Harbour sewers. Low level pumping stations were therefore needed to collect the sewage from such areas and pump it by means of additional sewers known as rising mains, to the main gravitation system. The first comprehensive low level sewerage system began at the end of the 19th century when the Public Works Department built a network of twenty low level pumping stations around the foreshores of the inner harbour and handed them over to the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage in 1904. SP0001 was the first and largest of these twenty stations and originally took the sewage from the City area in the Haymarket and on the south-western side of Darling Harbour. It was also the controlling station from which 17 of the other stations were manually controlled, although this function ceased about 1918. At least two of the early stations received their DC power from the Rushcutters Bay Tramway Powerhouse, near SP0018. Although called SPS No 1, the first SPS was the 1894 emergency Shone Ejector at St Peters (coal fired electricity) followed by the Double Bay Compressed Air Ejector Station (electricity from Rushcutters Bay) and the coal fired steam driven Marrickville Pumping Station (later SPS 271). Overall, greater Sydney now has over 600 low level sewage pumping stations.
The pumping station consists of two parts: a superstructure comprising a rectangular two-storey loadbearing brick building; and a substructure constructed of concrete which houses machinery and sewage chambers. Architecturally, the building was designed in a restrained version of the Federation Free Style, exploiting the contrasts of surface and colour inherent in good brickwork and sandstone. Classical elements are evident in the symmetrical facade, the round-arched door openings and the echoes of balustrading in the parapets. Externally there are two principal elevations.
The front of the building addresses William Henry Street and is a symmetrical composition of face brick with sandstone dressings in three bays, the centre one treated as a breakfront accommodating as entrance porch. There are projecting sandstone string courses at first floor level, window sill level and transom level. The parapet has a row of vertical recessed panels on each side of a raised and panelled centre section, giving the breakfront the character of a triumphal arch. The entry bay has a round arch with bullnosed intrados and moulded stone imposts at window transom level. The entrance consists of a pair of original four panel timber doors with fanlight. The Pyrmont Street facade is divided up into three bays, all treated differently to reflect functions within the building. The south bay continues the front facade treatment and is dominated by the entrance lobby which is expressed by a bold frontispiece of rock faced ashlar sandstone above a sandstone plinth.
The frontispiece is penetrated by a Florentine-arched doorway having rock faced voussoirs and a smooth-tooled intrados. The centre bay expresses the former controlling room above and a store room below. The north bay is dominated by a ground floor arch, which is of brick and matches the arch over the William Henry Street entrance. Internally, the ground floor comprises a lobby accessed from Pyrmont Street and containing stairs which provide access the offices above and machinery chamber below. The remainder of this floor consists of storage and loading bay. The first floor comprised three spaces. On the south there was an office, in the middle was a controlling room and to the north there were a lavatory and store room. To the north there is vacant land (formerly the A.M.L.&F.; Wool Warehouse); to the west is another vacant block of land (formerly another woolstore); and to the south is the modern William Henry Bridge (which is higher and greatly enlarged by comparison with the former overbridge that was there when SP001 was erected - in 1900 the footpath of William Henry Street was about level with the upper floor of the Station. Across the road is the Powerhouse Museum (formerly the Ultimo Tramway Power House).
The exterior of the building is substantially intact. Much of the original plant and equipment has been replaced.
The pumping station is substantially intact. Two pair of wrought iron gates have been removed from the arched entrances. Its function as the controlling station for the other 17 stations ceased c. 1918 and the switchboards have been removed from the first floor office. The single storey garage wing attached to the south elevation is an intrusive addition. Most of the mechanical and electrical components were upgraded during the 1970s. Direct current was replaced by alternating current in c. 1918, and it was supplied by the City Council of Sydney Electricity Department which was the forerunner of the Sydney County Council.