Moore Stairs

[1][2] By the 1860s, the difficulty of getting between the Tarpeian Way [the path along the top of the escarpment, now part of the Royal Botanic Garden] and the quay had "been the subject of loud complaint" for a number of years.

[3] An alternate design was then drawn up and again signed by Bell, with the material changing to a basalt, known as Melbourne bluestone, which was more hard-wearing than the soft Sydney sandstone.

[2] The stairs today are this second design–consisting of a single straight flight with an intermediate landing–although they have undergone several restorations and the width of the space either side has been increased.

Under the archways earth closets and a urinal were installed, and eventually, removed[2][8] – after neighbour and former litigant Mr. Talbot complained they were a "criminal nuisance".

They are listed on the NSW Heritage register with the statement of significance that they provide "...a thin vista of Circular Quay in an otherwise impenetrable wall of buildings.