Mark Foys was a department store in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, founded by Francis Foy and his brother Mark Foy (1865–1950) and named after their father Mark Foy (Senior).

The store started trading from its Liverpool Street

Liverpool Street, Sydney

Liverpool Street is an important east-west thoroughfare of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Liverpool Street is in the southern portion of the Sydney central business district and forms the southern boundary of Hyde Park...

 premises in 1909. The store had Australia's first escalator

Escalator

An escalator is a moving staircase – a conveyor transport device for carrying people between floors of a building. The device consists of a motor-driven chain of individual, linked steps that move up or down on tracks, allowing the step treads to remain horizontal.Escalators are used around the...

. In 1964 Mark Foys opened a store in Eastwood (NSW) followed in 1966 at Burwood (NSW).

In 1980, when it ceased trading after going into receivership

Receivership

In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...

, the City Piazza building briefly became "Grace Bros Piazza" until 1982. The natural shift of the retailing hub further north of the CBD, around Pitt Street Mall, led to its closure. The building is now used as a complex of courthouses known as the Downing Centre

Downing Centre, Sydney

The Downing Centre is a major courthouse complex in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It features Local Courts, the District Court of New South Wales and a law library known as the Downing Centre Library....

. However, its former role is preserved in the ornate tilework on the facade and surroundings.

The Mark Foys warehouse is a heritage brownstone

Brownstone

Brownstone is a brown Triassic or Jurassic sandstone which was once a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States to refer to a terraced house clad in this material.-Types:-Apostle Island brownstone:...

 building located in nearby Goulburn Street

Goulburn Street, Sydney

Goulburn Street is a cross street in the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Goulburn Street is in the southern portion of the Sydney central business district and runs from Darling Harbour and Chinatown in the west, to Crown Street in the east at...

, which has been converted into residential apartments known as Sydney Mansions.

Mark Foy also founded the Hydro Majestic Hotel

Hydro Majestic Hotel

The Hydro Majestic Hotel is located in Medlow Bath, New South Wales, Australia. The hotel is located on a clifftop overlooking the Megalong Valley on the western side of the Great Western Highway....

 at Medlow Bath

Medlow Bath, New South Wales

Medlow Bath is an Australian small town located near the highest point of the Blue Mountains, between Katoomba and Blackheath. It has an approximate altitude of 1050m and is located approximately 115 kilometres west north west of Sydney and 5 kilometres north west of Katoomba...

 near Katoomba and Australia's Oldest Open Boat Sailing Club the Sydney Flying Squadron, founded in 1891