George Street North Pissoir, Dawes Point
Heritage Impact Statement
Heritage Advice
City of Sydney Council
Dawes Point, Sydney
Gadigal Country
Located on George Street North within the state significant Millers Point and Dawes Point Village Precinct is a cast iron pissoir, the last remaining of its kind in the City of Sydney.
pissoir
/piːˈswɑː,ˈpɪswɑː,French piswaʀ/
noun
a public urinal.
The pissoir or ‘Cast Iron Urinal’ is listed as a heritage item of local significance on the Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2012. GML recently prepared a Heritage Impact Statement (HIS) for City of Sydney Council for conservation works to the pissoir.
The history of the pissoir in Sydney goes back to the late 19th century. In 1879, there are records of public complaints to Council of ‘insufficient closet accommodation, and unwholesome condition of such accommodation, as is provided in various parts of the City’. In response to the need for public amenities, the Council installed a number of public toilets.
In December 1911, the Council placed an order for a cast iron urinal with BG Plummer & Co, Sydney merchants, importers and manufacturer’s agents for British and American firms. The subject pissoir bears the casting mark of ‘James Allan Snr & Son Elmbank Foundry Glasgow’. The floral design on the Pissoir panels is identical to a urinal at the SS Great Britain exhibition site in Bristol, England, designed and manufactured by James Allen Snr & Son.
GML believes that James Allan Snr & Son Elmbank Foundry provided designs and prototypes of cast iron panels which were shipped from England. In Sydney, BG Plummer likely made moulds and cast replicas of the James Allan Foundry designs for use throughout the Sydney Council area.
The subject pissoir was constructed originally within the park at Observatory Hill. In 1971, this Observatory Park pissoir was dismantled and removed to a council workshop. It was repaired—including the reconstruction of new cast iron panels—and relocated at George Street North, Dawes Point. Since that time, the pissoir has undergone various modifications.
Pissoir at the SS Great Britain exhibition site in Bristol, England.
The HIS assessed the impact of proposed conservation and repair works to the pissoir in accordance with Burra Charter principles. Specifications for proposed conservation works were prepared by OHM Consultants. Reconstruction works are proposed to be undertaken offsite to severely deteriorated panels. The proposed works entail conservation of original panels with ‘BG Plummer & Co Sydney’ cast markings and retention of the City of Sydney and Wagga Iron Foundry insignia, added as part of the 1990 repair works. The new panel would be fabricated as like-for-like (with date stamps and insignia of fabricator).
GML assessed that the proposed conservation works to the Dawes Point pissoir, despite the loss of some original fabric, would result in positive heritage impacts to the heritage item, and to the Millers Point and Dawes Point Village Precinct. The proposed conservation works would result in the longevity of the Dawes Point pissoir.
Cast iron urinal, Observatory Hill Park Millers Point, circa 1973. Photo courtesy City of Sydney Archives.
