This request, reiterated from time to time, was finally granted in October 1945. West Ryde has a busy commercial centre based around Victoria Road and the railway station. The beginnings of a commercial centre here followed the opening of the railway in 1886 and the subdivision of the Meriam Hill Estate on the eastern side of the railway in 1888. The railway hotel was built on the corner of Victoria and Ryedale Roads in 1892 and a handful of shops established themselves nearby in the following decade. West Ryde's shopping centre was transformed in the 1950s, on the initiative of Bill Graf, a developer with an eye on the rapidly developing residential area just to the west. It was here that the Dundas Valley Estate was emerging as the largest Housing Commission project in Sydney. In a period of three years, more than 40 new shops were built, as well as six banks, two restaurants, a service station and a new post office. Ryde Pumping Station The Ryde Pumping Station is a significant piece of infrastructure located in West Ryde. The Sydney Water Board had taken over the water supply for Sydney from the City Council in 1888. Almost immediately, a temporary pumping station was established at North Sydney. It was dismantled in 1892 when supply became available from a new station built in West Ryde that same year. By 1908 the station had switched to steam turbines, a first for the Board and possibly for Australia. The present Ryde Pumping Station was built on adjacent land and opened in September 1921. The old station ceased operating in 1930, its remaining plant was auctioned and the pump house was used as a store. The building was demolished in 1961. The Ryde Pumping Station, now fully electrically operated, supplies water to many Northern Sydney suburbs. It is the largest water pumping station in Australia. Heritage listings West Ryde has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: 135 Marsden Road: Riverview House, West Ryde Victoria Road: Ryde Pumping Station Commercial areas West Ryde is home to a commercial area, close to West Ryde railway station and the Sydney Water Station, that pumps water to most of Northern Sydney. West Ryde Marketplace is a medium-sized shopping centre featuring a Woolworths supermarket, specialty shops and West Ryde Public Library. Since the new centre opened in 2005, it diverted many people from the ageing Top Ryde