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North Quay retaining wall is a heritage-listed embankment at William Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1889 to 1970s. It is also known as William Street & Queens Wharf Road retaining walls. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. == History == This retaining wall was planned in 1888 to endow William Street with some aesthetic distinction to compliment the new Treasury Building being erected opposite the site. The Victoria Bridge end of an old rubble wall along William Street was to be replaced by a porphyry and sandstone wall with an elaborate cast iron railing and a small pissoir built into the wall at the Elizabeth Street end.〔 In November 1888 the contract was awarded to EJ O'Connor, who in the previous year had stabilised the large porphyry retaining wall at Queen Street, Petrie Bight (the Petrie Bight Retaining Wall). Within five months O'Connor was contracted to excavate and reform William Street and build the retaining wall for £1431. By the time Cabinet first met in the new Treasury Building in 1889, the wall, railing and gas lamp in William Street were completed.〔 The marble end post was a gift to Mayor William McNaughton Galloway from the Mayor of Adelaide, who had visited Brisbane whilst the wall was being completed. The railing and the elaborate gas lantern were made by local firm Smith Faulkner & Co (formerly Smith Forrester & Co), who also had provided the cast iron railing for the large retaining wall at Petrie's Bight.〔 By 1890 a cab stand had been established at the Victoria Bridge end of the William Street wall. By the turn of the century the cabs had been supplanted by horse-drawn buses, and a small timber and iron shelter for the convenience of waiting passengers had been erected on the William Street pavement abutting the end railing. This was removed by about 1910.〔 Until 1928 when the Queen Street frontage of the Treasury Building was completed, the William Street frontage was an important focus for official occasions. In January 1901 large crowds congregated in front of the wall to hear Lord Lamington proclaim the Commonwealth of Australia from a balcony of the Treasury Building opposite.〔 In the decades that followed, the wall served more practical purposes. In the twentieth century motorbuses replaced the horse-drawn vehicles lined along William Street, and by the early 1930s a large timber bus timetable sign had been erected against the railing of the retaining wall.〔 In the 1920s or early 1930s, fill under the William Street footpath was excavated to accommodate male toilets built into the wall at the Queens Wharf Road level. Apparently at the same time, a three-metre section of the wall and railing was realigned to accommodate a stairway leading from William Street to the new public conveniences. Probably the entrance to the original pissoir was bricked over at this period also.〔 The decorative masonry and iron wall on the other side of Queens Wharf Road was erected in the 1930s. Plans were prepared in 1934, but the wall was not erected until 1936. It appears to have been intended to, and still does, demark the entrance to the ramp leading to Hayles Wharf, which is leased from the council. Sections of the retaining wall here were extant before this period.〔 As a wartime precaution, the Brisbane City Council erected an air-raid shelter on the Queens Wharf Road frontage of the William Street retaining wall, abutting the Victoria Bridge end, circa early 1940s. Above this a bus shelter, equipped with public telephones and a drinking fountain was erected on the William Street footpath in 1944. This remains a principal stop for buses servicing Brisbane's southern suburbs, but the telephones have been removed.〔 In the early 1970s female toilet accommodation was provided abutting the wall on Queens Wharf Road, and 20 metres of the wall was demolished to make way for the Elizabeth Street off-ramp for the Riverside Expressway.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「North Quay retaining wall」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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