Anthony Hordern's Palace Emporium
Sydney's universal provider filled an entire city block and promised everything from a needle to an anchor; after the store closed, the palace became a famous hole in the ground.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Officially Gone
- Peak stage
- general availability
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
A vast department store complex at Brickfield Hill in central Sydney.
The six-storey emporium employed thousands and combined retail departments, services, dining and employee facilities under one landmark dome.
Existence timeline
Fire destroys the company's existing Brickfield Hill premises.
A much larger universal store reaches the public.
Thousands of employees serve customers across the complex.
Anthony Hordern ends trading at Brickfield Hill.
The empty building receives intermittent uses while plans stall.
The emporium makes way for World Square redevelopment.
Why it ended
The store closed in 1973; temporary uses ended and the building was demolished in 1987 for the delayed World Square project.
Last confirmed trace
State Library photographic albums, catalogues, façade fragments and the transplanted Hordern tree emblem survive.
What it left behind
Its disappearance marks Sydney's shift from locally dominant department stores to late-century corporate redevelopment.
How we classified it
The archive unit reached normal public release or operation and is no longer obtainable in its original public form.
Verified normal public availability maps to 100 under Arrival Score V1.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.