Sirius
WHAT
Brutalist
WHERE
The Rocks
WHEN
1978
Sirius is a 79-unit public housing apartment block located in The Rocks, Sydney. It was built to house local residents displaced by The Rocks redevelopment. It has been recommended for State Heritage Listing for its connection to the Green Ban movement and for being a fine example of Brutalist architecture.
Save Our Sirius Foundation which has been campaigning for Sirius and finding ways to celebrate the building and its residents since the government announced plans for its demolition.
Heritage NSW unanimously recommended Sirius be heritage listed in 2016, and it was supported by an international heritage watchdog in August 2017. The state government, though, decided against granting it heritage status in October the same year.
The then Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said in a statement on her Facebook page, “While I’m pleased that this brutalist building will be retained, I’m extremely disappointed that the public asset – purpose built to house people on low incomes – has been sold for market housing after its tenants were evicted from their homes.”
The last resident of the building’s 79 units vacated in January of 2018, leaving it empty for the first time in almost 40 years. It is now being redeveloped into luxury apartments.
