[3][4] The building occupies an entire city block, bounded by Bridge, Loftus, Bent and Young Streets and Farrer Place in the Sydney central business district.

On 24 December 1813, Governor Macquarie approved the plans of building a house and offices for Secretary Campbell designed by architect Daniel Dering Matthew.

Almost all enquiries of government, particularly written ones went to the Colonial Secretary's Office serving as a clearing house and the hub of the administrative functions of the State.

A variety of minor additions and repairs were made to the building however, it was too small and cramped for the offices of the Department of Public Instruction.

In 1901 when the Royal Australian Historical Society was founded met in a number of different venues and was eventually provided with rooms in the Department of Education building in Bridge Street.

McRae latter style is characterised by sandstone structures that looked back to the 17th- and early 18th-century which developed the classical architecture of the Renaissance towards greater extravagance and drama.

Its innovations included greater freedom from the conventions of the orders, much interplay of concave and convex forms, and a preference for the single visual sweep.

In this building a new syllabus was formed based on the New Education theory which interrelated subjects and stressed the importance of individual learning.

The role of the Department offered advice for farmers for sound management practices, maintained quality control and was also responsible for agricultural education.

[3][4] The Department of Education Building occupies a complete city block, its four handsomely detailed sandstone elevations being designed to dominate this area.

The northern elevation makes an important contribution to Bridge Street, the monumental simplicity being articulated by the central porch with its broken pediment, a sequence of arched openings and judiciously ornamented balconies and friezes, which are topped by a lofty parapet.

The design can be attributed to the Government Architect of the day, George McRae, who as a young man was responsible for the Queen Victoria Building.

His later work is characterised by imposing sandstone structures in what may be termed an Edwardian Baroque style, similar to major government buildings being erected in Britain at that time.

[1] Mc Rae intended that the completed buildings would form a quadrangle around a formal garden, and the second, or southern portion, was designed and constructed c. 1928-30 to plans prepared by architects John Reid and Son.

These largely followed the formula devised by McRae, but with additional openings to the parapet, and a set back top floor, whose rendered finish somewhat compromised the original intent.

A very obvious prototype is William Young's War Office, Whitehall of 1898–1906, or in a more general sense the vast civic group at Cardiff, Wales (1897–1906).

The exceptions were the imposing entry lobbies and related stairs, the finely wrought Minister's office, (or Board Room), and the top floor exhibition galleries.

Here the external language of pillars and pilasters, was combined with deeply coffered ceilings and panelled doors and some exuberant detail: plaster, timber and marble were used to enrich these special areas.

The external design is highly disciplined and uses a limited palette of materials such as the yellow block sandstone which originally came from quarries in Pyrmont, Ultimo, the Sydney central business district, Paddington, Bondi and Maroubra, metal framed windows, copper-clad skylights.

The building was refurbished in April 1996 and to provide a high standard of modern office accommodation for its occupants while retaining the features of the early 1900s.

The external design is highly disciplined, and uses a limited palette of materials: Sydney sandstone, metal framed windows, copper-clad skylights.

It makes a major contribution to this part of Sydney, visually linking with other imposing sandstone government buildings and enhancing a number of important city vistas.

[1][5] Department of Education building was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria.

As a "flagship" for the State's education system 1915–1990 the building has been long associated with key policy makers, teachers and pupils.

The William Wilkins Art Gallery on Level 7, 35 Bridge Street has been a venue for exhibitions of works in Painting, Drawing, Printmaking, Photo media and Sculpture.