Industrial Cathedral

Industrial Cathedral
"Industrial Cathedral" charcoal on paper 131 x 131 cm Jane Bennett. Finalist in 1998 Dobell Drawing Prize Art Gallery of NSW Finalist 1998 Blake Prize Winner 1998 Hunter's Hill Open Art Prize

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Sydney, NSW, Australia
I'm an Industrial Heritage Artist who paints "en plein air".If it's damaged, derelict, doomed and about to disappear, I'll be there to paint it.

Sunday 7 August 2011

A Tale of two Pyrmont Hotels - 'The Terminus and the Point'

Plein air painting of the Terminus Hotel and the Point Hotel corner of John Street and Harris Street Pyrmont painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
A Tale of two Pyrmont Hotels -
'The Terminus and the Point' 2010-2011
oil on canvas 31 x 61cm
Sold : Private Collection Sydney
Enquiries about similar paintings

I started painting this in 2010, but they started to dig up the pavement.
Again.
What a surprise.
As well as the construction of new buildings and demolition of the old ones, there has been what seems like endless removal and replacement of the cobblestones. Pyrmont is famous for its golden sandstone, but there must be genuine gold deposits underneath as they've been digging up the streets of Pyrmont as long as I can remember.
I had painted the Point hotel but had trouble seeing the Terminus from my chosen angle. Rather than repaint it I put it on the backburner and resumed last month.
By this time, the Point was under new management and had been repainted and renovated. I decided to keep the 'Point' as it had appeared when I started the painting rather than update it. You'd get dizzy keeping up with its changes anyway.
I've lost count of all its colour changes - it's gone through the entire Dulux Weathershield chart over the past 3 decades.
When I first saw it in 1981 as the 'Royal Pacific' it was a rather shopsoiled white with a royal blue trim.
It's much more chic now, in keeping with its new surroundings. Inside and out.
When the block down the road has been redeveloped by Lendlease to be one of the final buildings of the Jackson's Landing Precinct, the Point won't look out of place to its upmarket new customers.
The Terminus hasn't changed much throughout the years since it was abandoned, except that some of the ivy has died.
The network of dead vine tendrils twining over the sunburnt brick facade look like a rotting veil of Belgian lace.
It enhances the "Miss Havisham of Harris St" aura clinging to the Terminus.
Quite a contrast in style.
The striding legs of the Anzac Bridge at the top of John st link the past and the future together like a giant clothes peg.
See more about the Terminus Hotel at My Pyrmont page in this blog

Related posts
Recently sold Pyrmont paintings at Workplace 6
Terminus Redux
Wrong side of the tracks
Pretty vacant
To the point

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