Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens

Royal_Exhibition_Building_Aerial_View.jpg
Melb_Royal_Exhibition_-_East_Side.jpg

Name of Building

Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens

Town or City, Country where the building was originally established

Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Date the building was designed and/or first built

1880 (Date of Construction)

1880 (Melbourne International Exhibition)

Between 1880-1888 (Steel pipe was tied to bottom arches to prevent column spreading.)

1888 (Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition)

2004 (Date of inscription into becoming a UNESCO heritage site.)

Name of Architect, Builder, or Primary Patron Responsible

Joseph Reed (1823-1890) (Architect)
David Mitchell (1829-1916) (Builder)

Culturally Specific Time Period

Colonial era, Australia

Geo-Location

-37.804643061009244, 144.97163808607027

Materials

Timber, Slate, Brick, and Steel.

Size and/or Scale of Building

Ground floor as a space of 6,400 m^2.

Architectural Type

Public

Formal Style

Roman/ Byzantine/ Italian

Building Description


The Royal Exhibition Building is large and primarily rectangular. The anterior side of the building is the most compressed. A large vault towers above the entrance doors. Two dome-like structures jut out from the top of the vault, giving it a castle-like appearance. The large dome stands proudly on the building. Two massive wings stretch both sides of the building, housing massive corridors. Inside the corridors are various pillars, designs, and works of art. Most of the building’s design language takes inspiration from Roman, Byzantine, and Italian structures. The posterior side of the building houses a smaller, shorter corridor that faces out toward another building. The primary color of the building is white with blueish-green domes and roofing, giving it a striking look.

This building's primary purpose is to exhibit the various scientific, artistic, and educational displays during the two primary international exhibitions held there. Though the building itself was also designed to be displayed. It was made to show off Australia on the world stage.

Image source

Image 1: Royal_Exhibition_Building_Aerial_View (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Royal_Exhibition_Building_Aerial_View.jpg)
Image 2: Melb_Royal_Exhibition_-_East_Side(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Melb_Royal_Exhibition_-_East_Side.jpg)

Creative Commons or other copyright information

image 1: Creative Commons

Student First and Last Name

Jayce Johnson

Bibliographic references for the item

1. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1131/

2. https://www.utas.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/446684/MelbExhibitionBuilding.pdf

3. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/reed-joseph-4459

4. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mitchell-david-4209

5. https://museumspaces.com.au/media/7551/museum_spaces_reb_operations_manual_august_2018.pdf

Citation

Joseph Reed (1823-1890) (Architect) and David Mitchell (1829-1916) (Builder), “Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens,” World Architecture, accessed June 28, 2026, https://worldarchitecture.artinterp2.org/items/show/22.

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