Alexandria

Once an industrial heartland, Alexandria is rapidly becoming a fascinating place to live, with micro-breweries, art galleries, specialist providores, and a bakery famed for its artisan loaves and pastries. There’s even a popular café-restaurant-garden centre, with a resident pig, and sheep, and chickens.

Alexandria hasn’t yet lost its industrial edge, with a number of factories and warehouses still in use. Yet little by little, this uber-convenient suburb – only four kilometres from Sydney’s central business district - is evolving into a flourishing art, design and décor precinct. Many industrial premises have already been converted into retail and residential space, yet Alexandria maintains an attractively rough ambience.

The district is blessed with the green expanse of massive 42-hectare Sydney Park to the west, and popular Alexandria Park with an array of sporting facilities a little further north. Children’s playgrounds, sporting ovals, and bike paths can be found in this city-edge enclave with its engaged community.

VARIED HOUSING

Streets of surprisingly large single-storey terraces, paperbark-lined avenues of gracious double-storey terraces clad with decorative iron lace trimmings, the occasional Federation bungalow, converted warehouses, and rows of soaring apartment blocks, complete with light-filled windows and sweeping views, make up the built fabric of Alexandria.

MOVING AROUND

Frequent bus services to the city centre and the eastern suburbs run through Alexandria, and bike paths – many connecting with nearby Green Square station, criss-cross the suburb.