Downing Centre, Art Nouveau courthouse in Sydney, Australia

The Downing Centre occupies the former Mark Foy's Piazza Store, a corner building on Liverpool Street between Elizabeth and Castlereagh Streets, opposite the south-west corner of Hyde Park. Its cream and yellow facade rises eight storeys, topped by two pyramidal green-roofed towers with gold trim and dormer windows; rows of arched and rectangular windows sit between pilasters, with a cornice below the upper storeys and an awning at street level. Inside are the Local Court, District Court and the Downing Centre Library.

Francis Foy and his brother Mark Jr. bought fifteen properties on the block bounded by Liverpool, Castlereagh, Elizabeth and Goulburn Streets, demolishing existing buildings in 1907. The two-storey Mark Foy's Piazza Store, designed by Arthur Anderson, opened in 1908 with Sydney's first escalator. Spain and Cosh designed major extensions in 1927–1930, creating an eight-storey building. Courts began using upper floors in the 1970s, and the complex was renamed the Downing Centre after Reg Downing and opened by Premier Nick Greiner in 1991.

The name Mark Foy's Piazza Store came from the open arcade of shops inside, and the store's 1908 opening brought Sydney its first escalator, the Escalier Hoquart, along with a car delivery service. The yellow faience bricks on the facade were imported from Bermotoff in Yorkshire and the white glazed bricks from Shaw's Rigg in Glasgow. The building was renamed in 1991 for Reg Downing, a former NSW Attorney General and Minister for Justice.

The Downing Centre occupies the block between Elizabeth and Castlereagh Streets on Liverpool Street, opposite the south-west corner of Hyde Park. A subway entrance on Castlereagh Street links it directly to Museum railway station. Courtrooms sit on the upper floors, so expect security screening at the entrances.

The building's yellow faience bricks were imported from Yorkshire and its white glazed bricks from Glasgow. A chandelier once hung over the mail well; it was later moved to a Brisbane complex and has since returned, hanging above a new stair.