Victorian Gold Rush History
GRAPHIC BUILDING ANALYSIS – FITZROY TOWN HALL
HISTORY
The Victorian Gold Rush of the mid-late nineteenth heralded in a new era of prosperity and growth in Melbourne. The first suburb in the flourishing city, Fitzroy was declared a municipality in 1858, a town in 1870. and a city in 1878; the Fitzroy Town Hall was built in accordance with the area’s “increasing stature” (MICHAEL O’BRIEN HEART AND SOUL ETC), intended to represent the growth and progress of the city of Fitzroy after residents demanded a substantial municipal office to house the local government. At the same time, municipal buildings and town halls were being constructed around Melbourne, provoking competition between other growing municipal districts such as Bendigo and Geelong. …show more content…
A mere fourteen years after construction on this initial section was completed, however, the local Fitzroy government commissioned prominent Australian architect George R. Johnson (who had worked on other municipal projects, though the Fitzroy Town Hall proved to be his largest and most important among them) to renovate and extend the building during the building boom in the 1880s. Between 1887 and 1889, a library, municipal offices, a courthouse, and a police station were added to the Town Hall by Johnson and followed the lead of Ellis’ use of the Free Classical style, which Johnson had employed on many of his other building …show more content…
The classical motifs are continued even in this polychromatic, festive space, with green-and-blue Ionic pilasters decorating the space above coffered eaves decorated with floral reliefs and bearing lanterns that flood the floor of the room with light, adding to the extravagance. The room itself is a spectacle, reflecting the prosperity and excitement of the period in which the building was designed, as Melbourne flourished and expanded and became more and more of a cultural and civic hub with the influx of money and people provided by the Gold Rush and continuing settlement; the vivid colours and ornamentation represent and emphasise the pride taken in the city of Fitzroy by its residents and the new
HISTORY
The Victorian Gold Rush of the mid-late nineteenth heralded in a new era of prosperity and growth in Melbourne. The first suburb in the flourishing city, Fitzroy was declared a municipality in 1858, a town in 1870. and a city in 1878; the Fitzroy Town Hall was built in accordance with the area’s “increasing stature” (MICHAEL O’BRIEN HEART AND SOUL ETC), intended to represent the growth and progress of the city of Fitzroy after residents demanded a substantial municipal office to house the local government. At the same time, municipal buildings and town halls were being constructed around Melbourne, provoking competition between other growing municipal districts such as Bendigo and Geelong. …show more content…
A mere fourteen years after construction on this initial section was completed, however, the local Fitzroy government commissioned prominent Australian architect George R. Johnson (who had worked on other municipal projects, though the Fitzroy Town Hall proved to be his largest and most important among them) to renovate and extend the building during the building boom in the 1880s. Between 1887 and 1889, a library, municipal offices, a courthouse, and a police station were added to the Town Hall by Johnson and followed the lead of Ellis’ use of the Free Classical style, which Johnson had employed on many of his other building …show more content…
The classical motifs are continued even in this polychromatic, festive space, with green-and-blue Ionic pilasters decorating the space above coffered eaves decorated with floral reliefs and bearing lanterns that flood the floor of the room with light, adding to the extravagance. The room itself is a spectacle, reflecting the prosperity and excitement of the period in which the building was designed, as Melbourne flourished and expanded and became more and more of a cultural and civic hub with the influx of money and people provided by the Gold Rush and continuing settlement; the vivid colours and ornamentation represent and emphasise the pride taken in the city of Fitzroy by its residents and the new