The Royal Exhibition Building is a World Heritage-listed building, located in Melbourne, Australia.
It was built in 1879 as part of the international exhibition movement. This movement presented over 50 exhibitions between 1851-1915, spread all over the world.
The building is surrounded by the Carlton Gardens and takes up around 26 hectares. The site was built in order to host the International Exhibition in 1880-1881. Afterwards, it hosted the even larger Centennial International Exhibition in 1888, and the opening of the first Parliament of Australia in 1901.
The Exhibition Building symbolises the pride and money Victoria had throughout the 1870s. The main building known as the Great Hall did not get damaged during the 20th century. However, smaller sections and wings of the building were subject to fire and destructions.
The site received restorations during the 1990s. Then in 2004 it became the first building in Australia to be awarded UNESCO World Heritage status. It was one of the last remaining major 19th-century exhibition buildings in the world.
The Royal Exhibition Building is the world’s most complete surviving site from the International Exhibition movement. It is located next to the Melbourne Museum and is the biggest item in Museum Victoria’s collection. The building nowadays hosts various exhibitions and events.
Design and Construction of the Royal Exhibition Building
Architect Joseph Reed designed the Royal Exhibition Building. Additionally, he also designed the Melbourne Town Hall, State Library of Victoria and the Baroque style gardens. The Royal Exhibition Building was the biggest design created by Reed.
Accordingly, the design was inspired by many sources. It was composed of brick, steel, slate and timber. Styles such as, Italian Renaissance, Romanesque and Lombardic were used during the building process. Inspiration for the dome was drawn of the Florence Cathedral. While the pavilions were influenced by the style of Rundbogenstil and several buildings from Normandy and Paris.
The Royal Exhibition Building was built by David Mitchell, who also built St Patrick’s Cathedral and Scots’ Church. He was also a member of the Royal Agricultural Society Council and the Builders and Contractor’s association.
Victorian governor George Bowen laid the foundation stone on the 19th of February in 1879. The building was completed in just 18 months of building, opening on October 1, 1880, as the Melbourne International Exhibition. The building included a Great Hall (12,000 square meters), adjoining lower extensions and many temporary galleries in between.
Royal Exhibition Building History: 1880-1901
Two major events were hosted in the building in the 1880s. The Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880 and the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition in 1888, celebrating a century of European settlement in Australia.
The most significant event that was held in the building was the opening of the first Parliament of Australia on 9 May 1901. Followed by the inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia on January 1st.
The Federal Parliament moved into the Victorian State Parliament House, after the official opening, and the Victorian Parliament moved into the Exhibition Building and stayed there for the next 26 years.
The Countess of Hopetoun (wife of the Governor-General), announced the winners of the competition to design the Australian National Flag, on the 3rd of September 1901. On this day, a large flag was spread out and flown over the dome of the Royal Exhibition Building.
Royal Exhibition Building History: 1901-1979
The Australian federal International Exhibition was hosted in the building, in 1902. After this year the building was used multiple times for different purposes. The building was used as an influenza hospital during the Spanish flu epidemic in 1919.
In the 1950s the building was earmarked for replacement by office blocks. Members of the Melbourne City Council put this to the vote in 1948. Eventually, it was decided not to destroy the building. However, one of the wings of the building, used to house the Melbourne Aquarium, burnt down in 1953.
The Royal Exhibition Building was also the venue for the 1956 Summer Olympics, hosting the weightlifting, wrestling, fencing and basketball part of the competitions. The building remained a venue for weekly dances in the 1940s and 1950s. Additionally, it also held boat shows, car shows and other home and building industry shows.
In the 1970s, the western annex was demolished. The last remaining annex, the grand ballroom was destroyed in 1979. However, it was replaced by a new building, providing more exhibition space, covered in mirror glass.
Princess Alexandra unveiled a plaque when she was visiting Victoria in 1980, which memorialised both the opening of the new mirror-glass, and the centenary of the building. She also unveiled another plaque honouring the bestowal of the title “royal” on the building by the Queen.
Royal Exhibition Building History: 1980-present
People were not happy with the demolition of the ballroom. The outcry over the ballroom demolition, and the appointment of new Trustees and a new Chair in 1983 led to the building being seen as important for providing modern space for exhibitions.
Alan Willingham undertook the first conservation assessment of the building in 1987. This led to the Great Hall being progressively renovated over the following decades. Premier of Victoria, Jeff Kennett, proposed in 1996, the location and construction of Melbourne’s State Museum in the carpark to the north. This involved the annexes from the 1960s to be destroyed.
The location of the Melbourne Museum was fiercely opposed by the Victorian State Labor Party, some local community members and the Melbourne City Council, because it was so close to the Exhibition Building site. A campaign was started against the museums development.
This campaign then led to John Brumbly (State opposition leader) proposing the nomination of the building for World Heritage listing. This listing did not progress until the election of the Victorian State Labor Party as new government in 1999.
The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens was granted listing as the World Heritage Site, on July 2004, making it the first building in Australia to be granted this status. This listing states that “The Royal Exhibition Building is the only major nineteenth-century exhibition building in Australia” and that “It is one of the few major nineteenth-century exhibition buildings to survive worldwide.”
Current use of the Royal Exhibition Building
The building was also used as a COVID-19 mass vaccination centre, by St Vincent’s Hospital.
The Royal Exhibition Building is nowadays being used as an exam hall for the University of Melbourne, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Nossal High School, Melbourne High School and many more.
The building is no longer Melbourne’s largest commercial exhibition centre. The largest is now the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, located in Southbank to the south of the CBD.
If you would like to learn more about the history of Melbourne and visit the city’s iconic attractions, join us on a Go West Tour.
Written by: Jessica Senden – Marketing Intern @gowest.com.au