NRS-22508 | Dilapidation Books relating to the Eastern Suburbs Railway

This series consists of field books containing a survey of properties adjoining the Eastern Suburbs Railway. The survey was done before the construction of the railway, as evidence of the state of each property at the time, in case claims of damage due to construction should be submitted at a later date. Information recorded consists of a detailed description of the interior and exterior of each property, with small black and white photographs attached. Information about the owner and type of business was included. The detailed descriptions of the interiors is of considerable historic interest. Each book has a table of contents at the front with details of address, date of survey, name of surveyor or architect, and photograph for each property. Properties surveyed in the city include the Queen Victoria Building, the Town Hall, the Commonwealth Bank, 'The Block' where Dymocks is situated, Sydney Hospital, and the former Australia Hotel.Items [1] to [12] provide an index to the books. The series is arranged by locality then item numbers imposed. Custody History From 1955 until 2000 the State Rail Authority of New South Wales maintained an 'in house archives' consisting of the archival records of the Authority, its predecessor agencies and the private railway companies taken over by the government. The date ranges of the records were from 1849 until 2000. When the decision was made to close the 'State Rail Archives' the parts of the collection that were required as State archives were transferred to the State Records Authority of NSW. Those record series were incorporated into the State Records series system of archives control and were re-numbered. This series was formerly part of the State Rail Archives collection where it was identified as series R356. It may have been viewed in the State Rail Archives as series R356 and could have been previously cited as such in notes by researchers at State Rail Archives or in publications or unpublished works.