page_title: Manly ferry wharf
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Manly ferry wharf / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Sydney Ferries FAIRLIGHT (1878 - 1912) and BRIGHTON (1883 - 1916) at Manly Wharf
context_page_description: Manly Wharf is a heritage-listed passenger terminal wharf and recreational area located at West Esplanade and serving Manly, a Sydney suburb in the Northern Beaches Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. Since the 1850s, it has served as the Manly embarkation and disembarkation point for the Manly to Sydney ferry service.
  The wharf has been redeveloped a number of times since the first structure was constructed in 1856. New facilities were added in the early 20th century, and it was rebuilt in a modernist style in the early 1940s, the basic form of which remains today. The wharf was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 18 April 2000.
  In addition to passenger services, a cargo service was also run to Manly until the 1928-opening of the Spit Bridge. Following the closure of the cargo service, an amusement park, Manly Fun Pier, was opened on the east wharf in 1931 which closed prior to the 1990 redevelopment of the wharf.
context_section_description: The first wharf was constructed in 1856 on the same site as the present wharf. Lumby (2016) says the date was 1855, and the wharf built by English-born merchant and Manly enthusiast, Henry Gilbert Smith, who envisaged the place as a seaside resort. Smith bought up land in 1853 and eventually acquired an interest in steam ferries serving the locality. As well as building a house known as "Fairlight", Smith was responsible for cottages, a hotel, church, school, pleasure grounds and swimming baths. He also had much to do with planting the first Norfolk Island pines (Araucaria heterophylla) on the ocean front.
  Prior to the construction of the first Spit Bridge in 1928, retired passenger ferries were used as cargo carriers. Following the closure of the cargo service, an amusement park, Manly Fun Pier, was opened on the east wharf. The amusement park closed in 1989 and the two wharf structures were redeveloped in 1990.
  Improvements were made to the wharf in the first half of the 20th century. These were swept away at the end of the inter-war era after the Maritime Services Board decided to construct an "imposing" new wharf during 1938 following several years of local agitation. A fire at the wharf in 1939 precipitated further action.
  The Maritime Services Board engaged gifted young modernist architect Arthur Baldwinson (1908–68), not long after his return from several years working in England, to design major reconstructions of the ferry wharves at Manly and Circular Quay.
  The wharf was built in a modernistic transport idiom with typical stylistic features of era such as play of circular and rectangular geometric terms, bayed facade to the water (marine connotations), wide arc plan at entrance, clock tower with "fins," flat roofing marked by wide fascia board. The current entrance was originally designed as a tram terminus and turning area. The structure was subjected to major alterations to the wharf wings involving a T-shaped clerestorey. The works were completed in 1941.
  Until the mid-1960s, ferries docked at both sides of the wharf. When the Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company introduced hydrofoils to the Manly service in the mid-1960s, a pontoon was attached to the eastern side to allow the hydrofoils to berth without their foils fouling the wharf. This was removed when the hydrofoils were replaced by JetCats in 1991. When the Freshwater class ferries were introduced in the 1980s, the western berth was rebuilt to accommodate their onboard gangways.
  The wharf complex has a number of retail outlets and restaurants. In 2014, plans were lodged to add a second storey to the wharf.
  The wharf was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 18 April 2000.
caption: Manly ferry wharf circa 1890 - 1910 showing paddle-steamer ferries Fairlight (left) and Brighton
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