By Brian Robins and Alex McDonald
HERITAGE-LISTED properties in the city and inner west are facing demolition to make way for the CBD Metro, thanks in part to changes last year to the state's planning controls, making it easier for properties to be removed from the list.
The preliminary environmental assessment for the metro has identified a heritage-listed building on the corner of Pitt and Park streets, with a McDonald's outlet as occupant, that needs to come down.
A resident since 1954 ... Doug Taylor, 79, outside the Elizabeth Street apartment block.Credit: Edwina Pickles
Another building, a National Trust-listed apartment block in Elizabeth Street, is expected to be taken over and demolished.
Planners for the CBD Metro have also identified a War War I memorial at Pyrmont that will need to be relocated.
The most extensive impact on heritage-listed properties will be felt in Rozelle, where a number of buildings on the corner of Victoria Road and Darling Street will be affected.
The York Buildings, the Mechanics Institute, Rozelle Public School and St Paul's Estate have been identified by Sydney Metro as being affected. Each of these buildings is listed on heritage registers.
The Elizabeth Street apartment building, No. 7, is the only remaining residential block in the CBD that was built between the two world wars.
The 10-storey building was designed by the well-known architect Emil Sodersten. Its interior design was done by Marion Hall Best, who had significant influence in the postwar period.
It is on the National Trust register and an application to join Sydney Council's heritage register is pending. This building is needed for the Martin Place station.
For the Barangaroo/Wynyard station, the Moretons Hotel and St Philip's Anglican Church on Jamison Street will be affected, according to the preliminary environmental assessment.
"Most of the stations, apart from Central, will require some property resumptions," a Sydney Metro spokeswoman, Anne Purcell, said.
"Our point of interest is for entry and exit points, below ground, and post-construction, the future of the above-ground space is still to be decided," she said.