A fire destroyed the first church in 1865. William Wardell, a pupil of Pugin, designed the present cathedral from a plan by Archbishop Polding, who gave him a free hand. Polding laid the foundation stone in 1868, and a dedication Mass was held on September 8, 1882. The nave was completed in 1928 and the spires were added in 2000. It is Geometric Decorated Gothic, based closely on Lincoln Cathedral, with a west front loosely based on Notre-Dame de Paris.
It is built of Sydney sandstone with red cedar roof timbers, slate roofing and Oamaru limestone in the altar screen. It is 351 feet (107 m) long, and the spires reach 245 feet (74.6 m).
It became a minor basilica in 1932 and joined the NSW State Heritage Register in 2004. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Sydney.
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