Cathedral street, Woolloomooloo, lies under the shadow of St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral to its west. The street is named after its location. On the northern side, at the intersection with Sir John Young Crescent, is a large, noble, landmark, three-storey building at 84-104 Cathedral Street, originally known as Cathedral Court. It was built in 1892 at the height of Sydney’s building boom in the exuberant Italianate style and includes Roman arches and columns. It was built as a cohesive group of shops, terraces and is one of the large-scale buildings owned by Ebenezer Vickery.

Ebenezer left school at 16 and was apprenticed to Mr T. Bowden, ironmonger. He retained a long-term interest in the use of iron. In 1849 he joined the mercantile firm of Richard Fawcett. His father concentrated on squatting in 1851 and Ebenezer took over a boot factory in George Street. He expanded this premise to include general merchandise.

What he lacked in formal education he made up with as an entrepreneur. He gradually built up a vast empire by hard work and sound business acumen. He acquired an interest in seven coal-mines; he owned two colliers and a colliery at Mount Keira, was chairman of the South Greta Coal Co. and of the Mount Kembla Coal and Oil Co., and in 1896 took over the Coal Cliff Coal Company. He was one of the largest station-owners and property speculators in the colony: among the runs he held was Munyer near Moree, which in 1884 covered 170,000 acres (68,797 ha) and carried 2,800 cattle and 9,600 sheep. He had much real estate in Sydney and Waverley and was a director of the City Bank of Sydney, the Pacific Fire and Marine Insurance Co., the Perpetual Trustee Co. and the Mutual Assurance Society of Victoria. He also was a member of the general committee of the New South Wales Free Trade Association and chairman of the New South Wales Trade Protection Society.

In 1881 he took his sons Ebenezer and Joseph into partnership and on 31 January 1902 his entire business was incorporated as a public company as E. Vickery and Sons Ltd; it became a proprietary company in May 1937. He had become chairman of the Fitzroy Ironworks Co. in 1864. Fitzroy iron was used the same year in the construction of his new chambers in Pitt Street, the first building in the colony to do so, continuing his apprenticeship interests.

Appointed to the Legislative Council of New South Wales in 1887, he confined his political speeches to social and mining matters.

His Wolloomooloo development in Cathedral Street consisted of ground floor shopfronts, which have since been extensively replaced. Some original cast iron columns, a signature item, remain. On the first and second floors, pairs of windows occur with alternating triangular and semicircular pediments. The parapet incorporates decorative piers. The site plan comprises repetitive terraces which form one length of the triangular city block fronting Cathedral Street and extending to Crown Street at its eastern end. Its original “Cathedral Court” signage remains.

The building is important for its historical association with prominent nineteenth century merchant, squatter, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Ebenezer Vickery (1827-1906), and as a remnant of his once extensive city property holdings. It is considered a rare and outstanding example of its type. Today, its ground floor shop fronts are occupied by design boutiques and consultancies and is part of a rejuvenation of the area.

By Andrew Woodhouse, Heritage Solutions