Luxury property developer Crown Group is working collaboratively with Sydney City Council to restore a historical Sydney laneway.
Crown Group’s vision is to reactivate the laneway as a pedestrian and boutique thoroughfare linking King Street with Kent Street and Clarence Street in Sydney.
Skittle Lane provides an alternative entry option into Crown Group’s latest development, Sydney by Crown, and the laneway’s restoration formed part of the group’s Development Application and Approval.
Crown Group is required to implement a strategy to protect Skittle Lane’s historical significance and develop a public realm design aimed at reactivating the lanway.
Skittle Lane was originally built between 1865 and 1880 and is paved using trachyte blocks, a natural material quarried in Bowral and used in prominent buildings in Sydney as well as for heavy duty road surfaces.
The trachyte used to pave Skittle Lane has historical significance as it highlights the industrial and commercial usage of the laneway to service the surrounding warehouses and premises in the nineteenth century.
“In cases such as these, Crown Group works collaboratively with Council and other interested stakeholders in order to preserve, restore and promote items of heritage significance,” said a Crown spokesperson.
“This assures the public the opportunity to be able to appreciate and reflect on a site’s past and previous uses whilst Sydney retains the significance of its past.”
Skittle Lane hosted a public art installation in 2011 as part of the City of Sydney's Laneway art program.
Photo: Skittle Lane was transformed in the City of Sydney's 2011/12 Laneway Art program by a work titled peri(pheral)scopes by Adriano Pupilli, Heidi Axelsen and Hugo Moline.