North Melbourne Town Hall

North Melbourne Town Hall is the former town hall of the Town of North Melbourne (originally the Town of Hotham) in Victoria, Australia. It was listed on the former Register of the National Estate on 21 March 1978 and on the Victorian Heritage Register on 11 March 2010.[1][2]

North Melbourne Town Hall

It was built in 1876 as the town hall for the Town of North Melbourne, and operated in that capacity until the municipality amalgamated into the City of Melbourne in 1905. It thereafter continued to serve as a venue for public meetings and was used for various community purposes. It now houses Arts House, a contemporary arts space, and the North Melbourne Library.[1]

It is located on the corner of Errol and Queensberry Streets.[3]

History

The Town Hall, built in 1876, was designed by Architect George Raymond Johnson, in the Italianate with Second Empire elements style of Victorian architecture.[4] He also designed the Collingwood, Daylesford, Fitzroy, Kilmore, Maryborough and Northcote Town Halls.

A cast-iron drinking fountain, donated by Hotham mayor, Thomas Henderson, on the footpath nearby the hall features an ornamental kangaroo and is registered by the National Trust of Victoria.[5]

The Town of North Melbourne amalgamated into the City of Melbourne in 1905, and the town hall thereafter became the "North Melbourne municipal buildings", with only a skeleton municipal staff remaining.[6] It continued to be used for public meetings, although the Melbourne council imposed significant restrictions on Sunday gatherings and imposed an expensive deposit in 1906, resulting in local complaints.[7][8] It was leased to the Department of Defence as offices from 1918 to 1922, with the Railways Department also occupying a section of the building from around 1920 to 1922.[9][10] It reopened to the public in December 1922.[11]

The former town hall has housed Arts House, an arts organisation run by the City of Melbourne, since 1996. The building serves as both administrative offices for the organisation and a contemporary arts space. It also continues to house the North Melbourne Library in the northern section of the building.[12][1]

See also

References
  1. "FORMER NORTH MELBOURNE TOWN HALL AND MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS". Victorian Heritage Database. Heritage Council of Victoria. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  2. "Town Hall Complex (former), Errol St, North Melbourne, VIC, Australia". Australian Heritage Database. Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  3. "THE HOTHAM TOWN HALL". The Advocate. Melbourne. 1 July 1876. p. 16. Retrieved 11 March 2020 – via Trove.
  4. "Melbourne".
  5. "Sketched with Pencil". Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil. Victoria, Australia. 4 August 1877. p. 70. Retrieved 11 March 2020 – via Trove.
  6. "THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF ANNEXATION". North Melbourne Courier And West Melbourne Advertiser. Vol. IX, no. 516. Victoria, Australia. 10 November 1905. p. 2. Retrieved 22 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "Items of News". Standard. Vol. XXI, no. 26. Victoria, Australia. 30 June 1906. p. 2. Retrieved 22 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "SEND OFF". North Melbourne Courier And West Melbourne Advertiser. Vol. X, no. 548. Victoria, Australia. 29 June 1906. p. 3. Retrieved 22 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. "Melbourne News". Portland Guardian. Vol. LXXV, no. 7279. Victoria, Australia. 5 August 1918. p. 3 (EVENING). Retrieved 22 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. "ITEMS OF INTEREST". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 23, 820. Victoria, Australia. 8 December 1922. p. 15. Retrieved 22 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. "NORTH MELBOURNE TOWN HALL". The Age. No. 21, 122. Victoria, Australia. 11 December 1922. p. 8. Retrieved 22 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. "About Us". Arts House. Retrieved 22 December 2022.

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