Built under the direction of the Public Works Department to a design of S.E. Bindley and S.C. Brittingham, the former Bourke Street West Police Station and adjacent Gothic Revival-style buildings at 621-629 Bourke Street are an important relic of 19th-century police administration in the western half of the city. The complex, adjacent to St Augustine's Catholic Church, comprised a cell block, watch-house, police barracks and station. The sergeant's quarters and marshalling yard were constructed during 1887-89 and the cell block, although commenced in 1852, was not completed until 1887. The complex, closed in 1976, is the last remnant of the 19th-century public buildings in the original government reserve bounded by Bourke, King, Collins and Spencer streets.