Long Description
The Royal Exhibition Building and the surrounding Carlton
Gardens, as the main extant survivors of a Palace of Industry and its
setting, together reflect the global influence of the international
exhibition movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement
showcased technological innovation and change, which helped promote a
rapid increase in industrialization and international trade through the
exchange of knowledge and ideas.
The complex was designed for the great international exhibitions of
1880 and 1888 in Melbourne. The building, designed by Joseph Reed, is
constructed of brick and timber, steel and slate; it combines elements
from the Byzantine, Romanesque, Lombardic and Italian Renaissance
styles. The property is typical of the international exhibition movement
which saw over 50 expositions staged between 1851 and 1915 in venues
including Paris, New York, Vienna, Calcutta, Kingston (Jamaica) and
Santiago (Chile). All shared a common theme and aims: to chart material
and moral progress through displays of industry from all nations.
The scale and grandeur of the building reflects the values and
aspirations attached to industrialization and its international face.
The Building boasts many of the important features that made the
expositions so dramatic and effective, including a dome, a great hall,
giant entry portals, versatile display areas, axial planning, and
complementary gardens and viewing areas. Unlike many international
exhibitions, the Building was conceived as a permanent structure that
would have a future role in the cultural activities of the growing city
of Melbourne.
Despite the great impact of the international exhibition movement
worldwide and the impressive nature of the many buildings designed and
built to hold these displays, few remain. Even fewer retain their
authenticity in terms of original location and condition. The Royal
Exhibition Building, in its original setting of the Carlton Gardens, is
one of the rare survivors. It has added rarity as the only substantially
intact example in the world of a Great Hall from a major international
exhibition.
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 19th century exhibitions. Bounded 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. 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 m wide
avenue, and two other paths form a radiating axis from the fountain. In
1888 another fountain, the Westgarth Fountain, was added.
The aesthetic significance of the Carlton Gardens lies in its
representation of the 19th-century Gardenesque style. This includes
parterre garden beds, significant avenues including the southern
carriage drive and Grande Allée, the path system, specimens 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.
Source: UNESCO/CLT/WHC
Historical Description
The history of the buildings and gardens is closely linked to
the history and development of the international exhibition movement – a
phenomena that spread across all continents. Although the first great
exhibition took place in 1851, in the Crystal Palace in London, the idea
of celebrating manufactured goods had been in being for almost a
century, with national exhibitions in England then France and elsewhere
in Europe.
The difference between these small celebrations and promotions and
the great exhibitions that followed was of scale and classification. The
great exhibition movement, as it came to be known, espoused the 19th
century passion for discovery and creation, but above all for
classification. Classification – as exemplified in museums and botanical
collections – demonstrated man’s control over his surroundings. Great
exhibitions were a way of both celebrating the industry that emerged
from the Industrial Revolution, and showing man’s domination over it in
an international context.
Over 50 exhibitions were held between 1851 and 1915, each different
yet sharing common theme and aims – to chart material and moral progress
within a world context, through displaying the industry of all nations.
Venues included Paris, New York, Vienna, Calcutta, Kingston, Jamaica
and Santiago, Chile. Most had display ‘palaces’ specially constructed,
often from manufactured iron components stretching technology to the
limit.
By the 1870s a form for the overall layout had come to be established
which consisted of clusters of history-domes, national pavilions and
viewing platforms surrounding a ‘Palace of Industry’ all set within
landscape grounds. And a network of contacts has been set up with
‘commissioners’ observing and suggesting improvements for the next
event.
By around 1900 the slowing of national economies, combined with
peoples’ realisation that manufacturing did not always improve the
quality of life, led, outside the United States, to exhibitions begun to
lose their appeal.
The Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne is thus an example from
the mid-point of the movement. It did not appear out of nowhere: a first
small exhibition building had been built in 1854, and others followed
larger in scale, usually precursors to international exhibitions
elsewhere. The two international exhibitions of 1880 and 1888 took place
at a time when Melbourne was booming.
Unlike many other exhibition buildings, Melbourne’s has survived
still on its original plot and surrounded by gardens. However there have
been significant changes to the extended complex of buildings and
gardens. The east and west annexes of the exhibition building were
removed in the 1960s and 1970s (one of the halls being reconstructed
off-site as a tram museum). The major recent change has been the
building of the new Melbourne Museum in the north garden.
The uses of the building have been diverse since it was built. Until
1901 it was used for exhibitions. It then became part of the parliament
until 1919 when it was used a fever hospital during the First World War.
Between then and 1975 it served as stores and offices, and as troop
accommodation and as a ballroom. The new direction for the building
started in 1975 when was officially listed on the Register of the
National Estate.
The adjective Royal was added to the building in 1980.
Source: Advisory Body Evaluation
