The Buildings in Carlton Gardens
The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens are rare survivors from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century series of international exhibitions, also known as 'expositions' or 'world's fairs'.
The Royal Exhibition Building, with its surrounding gardens have uniquely maintained their original function: hosting exhibitions and displays through to the present day.
Most World's Fairs were housed in temporary buildings, as they were generally only open for a few months. Yet the merchants and politicians who planned the 1880-81 Melbourne International Exhibition required the architect, Joseph Reed, to design a permanent Exhibition Hall, with many temporary annexes. This 'Great Hall' incorporated many of the architectural features typical of exhibition buildings: a dome, great portal entries, fanlight windows and a cruciform floor-plan.
The new building was set within carefully-designed gardens. It was integrated axially with the garden layout and a wide avenue linked it with the central business district. The bluestone base of the fence that marked the boundaries of the exhibition site in 1880 can still be seen.
The Buildings
In 1879-80 the main exhibition hall stood with two brick annexes to its east and west. There was also a series of temporary halls of timber and corrugated iron. These were dismantled at the end of the exhibitions and reused for a variety of purposes.
The brick annexes were used at the 1888-1889 Centennial International Exhibition as machinery halls. In 1901, the western annexe was converted to accommodate the Parliament of Victoria while the new Federal Parliament met in the State Parliament Building. The western annexe was demolished during the 1960s. The eastern annexe was partly demolished in the 1950s, and the remainder replaced in 1979 by a mirror-fronted Convention Centre.
In 1880 the window and door joinery of the exhibition buildings were painted green. The rendered walls were left unpainted. The combined effects of trams, horse-drawn traffic and industrial pollution gradually discoloured the exterior surface of the building. It was painted for the first time in 1888, and on several subsequent occasions throughout the twentieth century.
The interior colour scheme of 1880 was replaced with a new scheme for the 1888 International Exhibition. This was replaced by a third elaborate scheme in 1901 to celebrate the opening of the first Australian Parliament. In the twentieth century most of the decoration was covered by cream paint. Four 1880 murals representing the Arts and Manufacturers remained however, located prominently in the pendentives of the dome.
In 1992 conservators undertook an investigation of the previous colour schemes. The ceiling had been painted four times, while parts of the ground floor walls had over 25 layers of paint with evidence of an earlier scheme burnt off. Of the three major schemes, the elaborate murals to the lunettes and the crossing of the dome of 1901 had survived in the most complete state. The 1901 scheme was selected for a major conservation and restoration project, completed in 1994. This is the scheme that can be seen now. Further conservation works, undertaken since, enable the building to continue to be used as a major exhibition hall.
Carlton Gardens
The Carlton Gardens are in two parts: an axial garden layout in the southern part of the site and a northern garden that was landscaped after the close of the two great nineteenth century exhibitions. Bound by Victoria, Rathdowne, Carlton and Nicholson Streets at the edge of Melbourne's city centre, the entire block remains intact as originally designated by the Victorian Parliament in 1878.
During the 1880 and 1888 international exhibitions the southern portion of the garden became a pleasure garden, with many attractions. The South Carlton Gardens, as it is now known, continues to be used for parkland and exhibition purposes. It remains essentially as designed by William Sangster and Joseph Reed. The southern entrance to the building, on the city side, is the apex of the design. A level promenade was created along the front of the building, and a semi-circular space has as its centrepiece an ornate fountain. A ceremonial approach is provided by a 24-metre wide avenue, and two other paths form a radiating axis from the fountain. In 1888 another fountain, the Westgarth Fountain, was added.
Temporary exhibition annexes covered the northern portion of this site during the 1880-81 international exhibition. Hodgkinson designed this area to become a complementary landscape to the building, once the temporary pavilions were removed. Parts of this North Garden, essentially the main east-west path and some trees, are remnants of the 1880 and earlier 1855 La Trobe Bateman layout. It was generally restored in line with Hodgkinson's 1882 plan, following the demolition of the temporary annexes after the 1888 Exhibition had finished.
The aesthetic significance of the Carlton Gardens lies in its representation of the nineteenth century Gardenesque style. This includes parterre garden beds, significant avenues including the southern carriage drive and 'Grand Allée', the path system, specimen and clusters of trees, two small lakes and three fountains. The formal, ornamental palace garden, which was the context for the Great Hall of the 'Palace of Industry', is substantially intact.