When the British settled in Sydney in the late 18th century, the land currently occupied by Haymarket was a swampland. In the early 1800s, dams were built to channel fresh water for flour mills. In 1818, Surgeon John Harris purchased the acreage. As the city grew during the next several decades, the Harris’ Ultimo Estate was leased out for commercial, industrial and working-class residential development. In 1908, the City Council condemned and claimed the properties, demolished the buildings and hired R. H. Broderick to create two markets with an Edwardian Functionalist design. They were collectively called Paddy’s Market. In the early 1990s, this historic marketplace was converted into a shopping mall named Market City and The Peak Apartments residential tower was added.
