[3] The sandstone building was clad at the lower levels in trachyte from Loveridge and Hudson's quarries at Mount Gibraltar, Bowral, and was richly caparisoned internally with Caleula marble.

[1] Wales House consisted of twelve floors including the basement at Pitt Street Entrance plus sub-basement.

The basement, ground and first floors were heavily rusticated, also the projecting bays which terminated the Pitt and O'Connell Street, facades.

The entablature consisted of an architrave "frieze and cornice projecting 1.2 metres and supported by a massive reinforced concrete cantilever.

The curved junction of the Pitt and O'Connell Street facades was surmounted by an ornate circular tower, raising three storeys above roof level, topped by a copper clad dome and lantern with flagpole.

[1] A central light court was incorporated within the base of the triangular site resulting in a distinct, narr-v-shape plan arrangement.

The court provided natural light and ventilation for the full height of the interior of the building down to the basement lettable offices.

They show considerable effort was expanded to create interiors which expressed the modernity prosperity and optimism of "John Fairfax and Sons".

The grand central staircase of marble, banistered with wrought metal, at the midway landing where the stairs divide and rise in two wings' (date unknown).

As at 20 May 2009, the site of the building has a 99-year association from 1856 to 1955 with the publication of Australia's oldest surviving newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald.

The building, with its rounded corner treatment on the prominent narrow-vee site provides a good and clearly visible element in the townscape.

The building is a large and powerful reminder both of the success and prosperity of the publisher-owners, John Fairfax & Sons, and of the dominant role of newspapers in society at that time, before the advent of the electronic media.

It reflects an image consistent with the perceived role of The Sydney Morning Herald - conservative, substantial, influential and responsible.