Description of the attraction
The House of Parliament in Melbourne has been the seat of Victoria's main administrative body since 1855. Only in the period from 1901 to 1927 did the Parliament of Australia sit here, which was later moved to Canberra. The building itself, dating back to the 19th century, is one of the finest examples of British civil architecture in the world.
Interestingly, the idea of constructing a building in which parliament could sit was born even before the Victoria colony gained full self-government. This idea came to the head of the then Governor Charles La Trobe, who instructed his subordinates to find a suitable place for this. The place was chosen very well - on a hill from which almost the entire city was visible, because then the height of the buildings did not exceed two floors. The architect was named Charles Pasley, who, as his contemporaries believed, took the City Hall in Leeds, England as a model for his project. Later, another architect, Peter Kerr, made some significant changes to the project.
The construction of the Parliament building began in December 1855 and, by and large, lasted almost 70 years! In 1856, work was completed on the Halls of the Victoria Legislative Assembly and the Victoria Legislative Council. Then these were two separate buildings, between which Bourke Street passed. A library was built in 1869, and 10 years later - the Queen's Hall and lobby. During the gold rush - in the 1880s and 90s - a colonnade and porticoes in the classical style were added to the facade of the building overlooking Spring Street, which gave it a certain monumentality. In 1893, the north wing was completed, and 30 years later, in 1929, lounges were added. In general, the project of the building also included the erection of a dome, but the outbreak of the economic depression prevented the implementation of this idea. Nevertheless, the question of building a dome is still sometimes raised in the government - the last time such a proposal was made was in 1992.
