Paddington
is a bustling, cosmopolitan suburb in
the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, Australia.
It is one of the most historically rich,
culturally vibrant and recognisable suburbs
in the city of Sydney. The suburb is located
roughly 3km from the central business
district, lying on the arterial route
of Oxford Street, Sydney. The suburb is
famous today for its plethora of boutique
and chain fashion stores, as well as many
good cafés and fine restaurants
which line the roads. The suburb is also
well known for its beautiful Victorian
terrace houses, which although were slums
for much of the post-WWII period, are
now a highly sought-after commodity. The
suburb of Paddington is located approximately
3km east from Sydney city's centre. The
suburb is located primarily on the northern
slope down of a ridgeline, the top of
which Oxford Street now runs along. The
suburb is characterised by a mesmerising
and often bewildering array of interconnecting
streets and laneways, some too narrow
for many of today's cars.
These
streets contrast to some other much wider
avenues, such as Paddington Street or
Windsor Street. Paddington is bordered
to the West by Darlinghurst, the East
by Centennial Park and Woollahra, the
North by Edgecliff and Kings Cross and
the South by Moore Park. Paddington is
also a part of the Municipality of Woollahra
Local Government Area and of the City
of Sydney LGA. The population of Paddington,
as of the 2001 census, was 11, 817 people
(ABS, 2001). The area has a high level
of foreign ancestry, with only 25% of
people in the 2001 census identifying
that their parents were born in Australia.
In contrast, 67% had parents who were
born in North-West European nations, such
as England and Ireland. 70% of people
in the suburb live in the typical Victorian
terrace house, with the majority of the
rest living in apartments. The suburb
is a high-wealth area, with 40% of families
indicating they earned more than $2000
per week. In the early 1820s, entrepreneur,
ex-convict and gin distiller Robert Cooper
set to build a grand Georgian estate at
the top of Paddington's ridgeline, affording
him excellent views of the area. Robert
Cooper gave a name to the area he set
his home in, choosing to name the suburb
after a borough in London, also called
Paddington. He named the estate Juniper
Hall, and it is to this day Paddington's
oldest home. Paddington's first cottages
were built around the still-standing Victoria
Barracks, which was at the time a major
army base. In the latter part of the 19th
Century, many terrace houses were constructed
to house the city's burgeoning working
population, and an emerging middle-class.
Over time, these houses filled up almost
every parcel of land in the suburb, eventually
causing the suburb to become an overpopulated
slum. The unfashionable nature of the
suburb continued until the mid-1960s,
when gentrification took hold. It was
in this time that suburb's affinity with
the homosexual population of Sydney began
to become more plain, as its inner-city
location (and proximity to Darlinghurst
and Kings Cross and trendy vibe proved
attractive for a niche group in Australia.
The suburb is now a fine example of unplanned
restoration and renewal, with its favourable
location and heritage charm pushing real-estate
prices ever higher. The old boot-repair
and linen shops have given way to designer
fashion outlets and gourmet food. The
suburb also features, since 1973, a thriving
bohemian market which takes place every
Saturday in Paddington Uniting Church.
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