The Sydney Opera House stairs will be out of action for weeks. Here’s why
It’s not the Sydney Opera House without the Monumental Steps. And so the landmark will be nearly unrecognisable for weeks as its grand entrance is gutted for remediation works.
Tourists hoping to capture a picture of the building in all its glory will be faced with the unsettling sight of the stripped-back stairway to Sydney’s most famous building.
The Sydney Opera House steps stacked in piles on the forecourt. Credit: Nick Moir
But the explanation is simple – the Monumental Steps were overdue for some basic maintenance and cleaning.
“The stairs in a lot of places haven’t been up for 10 to 20 years,” said Daniel Filetti, Sydney Opera House’s director of infrastructure and procurement.
The outer bitumen layer of the Monumental Steps has been removed, leaving gaps across the famous staircase. On Monday morning, cranes continued the work that began over the weekend, removing the treads one by one.
A worker on site assists in the removal of the Monumental Steps.Credit: Nick Moir
While the stairs are out, maintenance crews can assess stormwater drains underneath and complete routine cleaning, as well as waterproofing.
“If you think about all the rainwater that lands on the top of the sails – it all goes down those stairs,” Filetti said, conjuring an image of tonnes of water flowing through the stairway in the 10-plus years since it was last maintained.
Workers will also look to straighten any stair treads that are misaligned and complete other general maintenance.
Despite the imposing size of the grand stairway, the steps are straightforward to remove. They sit on rubber packers, which will be hard-grouted to limit movement and reduce the need for further maintenance.
R. J. Thomson, secretary of the Sydney Opera House executive committee (left), and A. Levy, resident engineer, with the concourse behind them. The Monumental Steps were among the first parts of the project to be completed in 1961.Credit: Frank Albert Charles Burke/Fairfax Media
Work was completed on other segments of the stairway in 2024 and earlier this year, but the current maintenance marks the biggest and most central part of the remediation.
The work could take several weeks, with the official deadline for completion being the Sydney Marathon on August 31. Focus will then turn to the podium at the top of the stairs.
While acting primarily as a functional, but dramatic, gateway to the podium level entry of the Sydney Opera House, the Monumental Steps are both a key aesthetic element and one of the many engineering feats of the building.
The 100-metre-wide stairs drew inspiration from ancient Mayan temples. Architect Jorn Utzon called them a “very important feature for the feeling of being in another world”.
People queue under the concourse to enter the Sydney Opera House in 2003. The long concrete beams that support the monumental steps can be seen overhead.Credit: Jane Dyson
The cavernous concourse that runs below the stairs is supported by 49-metre-long concrete beams, a design innovation of engineer Ove Arup, who dismissed the need for vertical columns and instead proposed the beams.
Those beams have held strong over the decades, supporting the weight of hundreds of thousands of people for events such as Crowded House’s 1996 farewell show or Oprah Winfrey’s 2010 broadcast from the forecourt.
Comments below a popular TikTok showing the gutted stairs recall all the treasures lost to the narrow gaps along the stairway.
“Lost my house keys there at the Crowded House farewell concert in 1996,” one read.
Crowded House’s 1996 farewell concert drew an estimated 150,000 fans.Credit: Rick Stevens
For those hoping to find lost items during the current round of maintenance, it’s probably a little too late for your phone, thanks to the stormwater that runs off the sails.
However, the removable nature of the steps means items can often be retrieved on the day.
“We can pull the stair treads out to do cleaning, and you pick up the odd phone that gets dropped underneath during a concert,” said general manager of building operations, Dean Jakubowski.
“The average is about six to eight phones [lost] when we have a concert out there.”
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