Government House | |
---|---|
General information | |
Status | Completed |
Type | Vice-regal residence |
Architectural style | Italianate |
Location | Kings Domain,1 Government House Drive, Melbourne, Victoria |
Country | Australia |
Coordinates | 37°49′41″S144°58′37″E / 37.827939°S 144.976939°E |
Construction started | 1871 |
Completed | 1876 |
Owner | Government of Victoria |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | William Wardell |
Website | |
Government House Garden and Grounds | |
Official name | Government House Complex |
Type | State Registered Place |
Designated | 20 August 1982 |
Reference no. | H1620 [1] |
Heritage Overlay number | HO397 [1] |
Government House is the official residence of the Governor of Victoria, currently Margaret Gardner. It is located in Kings Domain, Melbourne, next to the Royal Botanic Gardens.
Government House was opened in 1876, on land that had originally been set aside in 1841. Previous governors' residences included La Trobe's Cottage (1839–1854), Toorak House (1854–1874), and Bishopscourt (1874–1876). It was designed by William Wardell in the Italianate style, and modelled to some extent on Queen Victoria's Osborne House residence, to which it bears a strong resemblance. Between 1901 and 1930, Government House was used as the official residence of the Governor-General of Australia. This occurred during the period when Canberra was still under construction and Melbourne was designated as the temporary seat of government. Despite Parliament House opening in 1927, the Governor-General did not permanently move to Yarralumla for another three years, at which point Government House was given back to the Victorian government.
A large area of land south of the Yarra River was set aside by Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria, Charles La Trobe, in the early 1840s, with part intended for the Royal Botanic Gardens, and the hilltop area for a Government House. A competition in 1853 produced a winning design by Knight & Kerr in Elizabethan style, but was not proceeded with. In 1857, Ferdinand von Mueller, Director of the Gardens, landscaped the whole area as one parkland. Another competition in 1864 was won by Reed & Barnes in Italianate style, but was also not proceeded with. [2]
Eventually a design was prepared by the Chief Architect of the Public Works Department, William Wardell, in a grand Italianate manner, and this was built between 1871 and 1876. [3] [4]
While La Trobe was Lieutenant-Governor he lived in La Trobe's Cottage. Between 1854 and 1874, Governors lived at Toorak House, in the suburb named after it, then briefly at Bishopscourt in East Melbourne until the present Government House was occupied in 1876.
Between the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901 and 1927, Government House was the official residence of the governor-general of Australia. When the Federal Parliament commenced sitting in Canberra in 1927, the Governor-General stayed at Government House, Canberra at Yarralumla while Parliament was in session, but also continued living at Government House in Melbourne until 1930. During this period Governors of Victoria lived at Stonington mansion. The House has been in continuous use by the Governors of Victoria since 1934.
Government House was designed by William Wardell, Inspector General of the Public Works Department, in the Victorian Period Italianate style, and is reminiscent of Queen Victoria's summer residence on the Isle of Wight, Osborne House. The building reflects the optimism of the period, with an economy still growing fast twenty years after the Victorian gold rush.
The main building consists of three parts: the south wing with its extravagant single storey State Ballroom, the formal State rooms, and smaller dining and drawing rooms to the north. Rising from the building is a 145-foot belvedere tower. The mews — a paved area surrounded on three sides by stables and coach houses is nearby.
The garden was designed by John Sayce in 1873 and is thought to be the "most intact 19th century mansion garden remaining in Melbourne" by the Victorian Heritage Register. [5] William Guilfoyle, curator of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, further refined the original garden design with "many fine mature trees, including conifers, Australian rainforest species and deciduous trees, which are characteristic of the era and which also reflect Guilfoyle’s personal taste.".
Government House, colloquially known as Yarralumla, is the official residence of the governor-general of Australia. It is located in the suburb of Yarralumla, in the City of Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory. The house is set amid 54 hectares of parkland. The house and associated grounds were added to the Commonwealth Heritage List on 22 June 2004.
South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Stonnington local government areas. South Yarra recorded a population of 25,028 at the 2021 census.
Toorak is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km (3.1 mi) south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Toorak recorded a population of 12,817 at the 2021 census.
William Wilkinson Wardell (1823–1899) was a civil engineer and architect, notable not only for his work in Australia, the country to which he emigrated in 1858, but for a successful career as a surveyor and ecclesiastical architect in England and Scotland before his departure.
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The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture with picturesque aesthetics. The resulting style of architecture was essentially of its own time. "The backward look transforms its object," Siegfried Giedion wrote of historicist architectural styles; "every spectator at every period—at every moment, indeed—inevitably transforms the past according to his own nature."
The Carlton Gardens is a World Heritage Site located on the northeastern edge of the Central Business District in the suburb of Carlton, in Melbourne, Australia. A popular picnic and barbecue area, the heritage-listed Carlton Gardens are home to an array of wildlife, including brushtail possums.
The Treasury Gardens consist of 5.8 hectares on the south-eastern side of the Melbourne central business district, East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The gardens are bounded by Wellington Parade, Spring Street, Treasury Place, and by the Fitzroy Gardens across Lansdowne street to the west. They form part of a network of city gardens including Fitzroy Gardens, Carlton Gardens, Flagstaff Gardens and Kings Domain. The gardens are listed on the Australian National Heritage List and the Victorian Heritage Register for their historical, archaeological, social, "aesthetic and scientific (horticultural) importance for its outstanding nineteenth century design, path layout and planting".
La Trobe's Cottage is a historic cottage in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, built in 1839 by the first superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales, Charles La Trobe, and his family.
Kings Domain is an area of parklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It surrounds Government House Reserve, the home of the governors of Victoria, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, and the Shrine Reserve incorporating the Shrine of Remembrance.
William Robert Guilfoyle was an English landscape gardener and botanist in Victoria, Australia, acknowledged as the architect of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne and was responsible for the design of many parks and gardens in Melbourne and regional Victoria.
Melbourne is Australia's second largest city and widely considered to be a garden city, with Victoria being nicknamed "the Garden State". Renowned as one of the most livable cities in the world, there is an abundance of parks, gardens and green belts close to the CBD with a variety of common and rare plant species amid landscaped vistas, pedestrian pathways, and tree-lined avenues, all managed by Parks Victoria.
Mount Macedon is a town 64 kilometres (40 mi) north-west of Melbourne in the Australian state of Victoria. The town is located below the mountain of the same name, which rises to 1,001 metres (3,284 ft) AHD. At the 2016 census, Mount Macedon had a population of 1,335 and is best known for its collection of 19th-century gardens and associated extravagant large homes, which is considered to be one of the most important such collections in Australia.
Stonington is a private residence and former Australian Government House located in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern, at 336 Glenferrie Road. The house was built for John Wagner, a partner in Cobb and Co coaches. Stonington gave its name to the City of Stonnington, a Melbourne municipality.
Toorak House is a mansion located in Melbourne, Australia built in 1849 by well-known Melbourne merchant James Jackson. It is notable for its use as Melbourne's first Government House and having inspired the name for the suburb of Toorak.
Bishopscourt is a large colonial mansion located on Clarendon Street in East Melbourne, Australia.
Bishopscourt, Darling Point is a heritage-listed residence and former archbishop's residence at 11A Greenoaks Avenue, Darling Point, Sydney, Australia. It was designed by J. F. Hilly (1846), Edmund Blacket (1859) and Leslie Wilkinson (1935) and built from 1846 to 1849 by Thomas Woolley (1841); Thomas Sutcliffe Mort. It is also known as Bishopscourt and Greenoaks. Up until December 2015, the property was owned by the Anglican Diocese of Sydney; and is now privately owned. The property was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
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