[1] The building is located near the junction of College and Macquarie street and is set in an historical setting on the eastern fringe of the central business district alongside St Mary's Cathedral, Queen's Square, St James' Church,[2] the Sydney Mint,[3][4] the UNESCO World Heritage Listed Hyde Park Barracks, and Hyde Park.

[1][5] Designed by Vernon in 1908, the building was constructed in stages from 1909 to 1913 to house the Registrar-General's Department, replacing the 1860 Registrar General's Office in Elizabeth Street.

The building was used as the central recording point of births, deaths and marriages in the state and the storage of title deeds for the vast majority of the twentieth century.

[6] A three-storey Neo-Gothic sandstone-faced office building with attic storey and basement, of steel-framed construction with reinforced concrete floor and slate covered steel framed roof.

The initials CH (Colin Hudson, stonemason), are carved into one of the string course bosses at about second-floor level on the western side return wall of the main entrance facing St. Mary's.