The Omnia apartments development is so big and so oddly shaped some locals thought it might fall over.

On the corner of Victoria Street and Darlinghurst Road Potts Point its 100 glamorous apartments are shaped like an hour glass. It’s an identical design to the architect’s own building in Roslyn Street nearby. Its lobby facing Victoria Street s lined in Carrera and black marble with warm, honey-coloured wood designed to be as welcoming as possible.

It incorporates an unusual common area with large suspended sculptures.

The site was once the Crest Hotel, an international destination close to he city, still one of its main attributes.

The Crest contained the gold fish bowl bar and casino, and before that housed the Kings Cross Theatre and then a club where Billy Thorpe performed while teenagers danced to The Stomp, .a radical new dance step which organisers thought would crush the floor. It was also the Kings Cross Picture Palace where youngsters attended Saturday afternoon matinees for threepence in the stalls and sixpence for seats in the lounge which came with a free comic

Burt’s milk bar opposite in Darlinghurst Road was a popular interval spot.

Today the ground floor on Darlinghurst Road contains a chemist, Woolworths and food shops etc.

It has evolved to provide accommodation and amenities for locals and is now a landmark building in the area.

By Andrew Woodhouse

Heritage Solutions