From 1900, City Building Surveyor’s department of council began hiring professional photographers to document ‘old, insanitary and ruinous’ buildings when they were condemned, and usually before they were demolished. This practice continued until 1931. These photographs were intended as a form of evidence in the event of any dispute and to record what was about to be lost. Viewed over 100 years later, these photographs show Sydney’s rapid urban change in the first 2 decades of the 20th century.