Parliament House Tour
Time: 9.45 am - 12.00 noon
Location: Spring St, East Melbourne VIC 3002
Cost: $18.00 per person, to secure a booking pay through the Solomon Symposium.
Tour Details: Tour participants are required to arrive by 9.45 am sharp, so as to allow time for the group to complete the security screening procedures. To allow for faster security screening, bags should not be taken into the building where possible. Items such as knives, scissors and nail files are not permitted in Parliament House and will be temporarily held by Parliament House security during the visit.
Parliament House is a working building, and we would appreciate if you would ensure the group enters the building quietly and behaves in an orderly manner during the tour. Eating and drinking is not permitted whilst in the building.
About our Tour:
We are hopeful that the tour guides may have found material pertaining to both V.L and Elias Solomon for us.
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, MELBOURNE
The most ostentatious civic building planned for Melbourne must have been Parliament House. A competition run in 1853 for the design of the building proved unsuccessful when both the winner ‘s and runner-up designs were set aside. Eventually the firm of Kerr & Knight were chosen and the final design is credited to the classicist, Peter Kerr.
Actual building was carried out in four separate stages, the Council and Assembly Chambers were built in 1856. The Council Chamber is considered particularly splendid. The craftsmanship of the stonework in the spandrels and Corinthian capitals is very much admired.
The Library was the next section built and with the Council Chamber, is one of the most admired areas of the building. It is a vast room two storeys in height with a gallery encircling the walls half way up. This mezzanine is supported on clusters of columns which are carried through both levels. Magnificent book-lined walls are enhanced by the exotic confection of panelled plaster ceilings. Stage three consisted of the Vestibule and Queens Hall, where Members of Parliament receive visitors.
The Facade and surmounting dome were to have been the final stage of Parliament House but construction was delayed because no satisfactory facing stone could be found. Stawell freestone was finally selected to the dissatisfaction of the contractor who ultimately resigned. A new builder, John Pidgon completed the west facade in 1892. Here a long sweep of steps leads up from Spring Street to the main entrance. Massive Doric columns run the Height of the building and are surmounted by a heavily embossed entablature. Above this at the north and south ends the attic is decorated with cloying allegorical reliefs representing Australia. The rest of the ambitious design for the facade and dome was dropped and Parliament house remains incomplete.
The last work undertaken in the nineteenth century saw the partial completion of the North Wing (1893), in effect a basement level. And there the building stood, still unfinished. Certain modifications were made. The most took place during World War 1 when Prime Minister Billy Hughes (the Federal Parliament occupied Parliament House from 1901 until 1927, with the Parliament of Victoria residing in the Exhibition Buildings) erected a tin and wooden hut on top of the North Wing in order to have quarters where the press could not find him. It was called `Billy Hughes' Hideaway'.
In 1929 refreshment rooms were added. When the Federal Parliament moved to Canberra in 1927, it left a 50,000 pounds sterling gift to the Parliament of Victoria as a thank-you gesture for its stay in Melbourne. This was used to finance the construction of the north-east corner of Parliament House as refreshment rooms.This was the last major construction work of Parliament House, Melbourne.
Parliament House continues to serve the State of Victoria.
Time: 9.45 am - 12.00 noon
Location: Spring St, East Melbourne VIC 3002
Cost: $18.00 per person, to secure a booking pay through the Solomon Symposium.
Tour Details: Tour participants are required to arrive by 9.45 am sharp, so as to allow time for the group to complete the security screening procedures. To allow for faster security screening, bags should not be taken into the building where possible. Items such as knives, scissors and nail files are not permitted in Parliament House and will be temporarily held by Parliament House security during the visit.
Parliament House is a working building, and we would appreciate if you would ensure the group enters the building quietly and behaves in an orderly manner during the tour. Eating and drinking is not permitted whilst in the building.
About our Tour:
We are hopeful that the tour guides may have found material pertaining to both V.L and Elias Solomon for us.
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, MELBOURNE
The most ostentatious civic building planned for Melbourne must have been Parliament House. A competition run in 1853 for the design of the building proved unsuccessful when both the winner ‘s and runner-up designs were set aside. Eventually the firm of Kerr & Knight were chosen and the final design is credited to the classicist, Peter Kerr.
Actual building was carried out in four separate stages, the Council and Assembly Chambers were built in 1856. The Council Chamber is considered particularly splendid. The craftsmanship of the stonework in the spandrels and Corinthian capitals is very much admired.
The Library was the next section built and with the Council Chamber, is one of the most admired areas of the building. It is a vast room two storeys in height with a gallery encircling the walls half way up. This mezzanine is supported on clusters of columns which are carried through both levels. Magnificent book-lined walls are enhanced by the exotic confection of panelled plaster ceilings. Stage three consisted of the Vestibule and Queens Hall, where Members of Parliament receive visitors.
The Facade and surmounting dome were to have been the final stage of Parliament House but construction was delayed because no satisfactory facing stone could be found. Stawell freestone was finally selected to the dissatisfaction of the contractor who ultimately resigned. A new builder, John Pidgon completed the west facade in 1892. Here a long sweep of steps leads up from Spring Street to the main entrance. Massive Doric columns run the Height of the building and are surmounted by a heavily embossed entablature. Above this at the north and south ends the attic is decorated with cloying allegorical reliefs representing Australia. The rest of the ambitious design for the facade and dome was dropped and Parliament house remains incomplete.
The last work undertaken in the nineteenth century saw the partial completion of the North Wing (1893), in effect a basement level. And there the building stood, still unfinished. Certain modifications were made. The most took place during World War 1 when Prime Minister Billy Hughes (the Federal Parliament occupied Parliament House from 1901 until 1927, with the Parliament of Victoria residing in the Exhibition Buildings) erected a tin and wooden hut on top of the North Wing in order to have quarters where the press could not find him. It was called `Billy Hughes' Hideaway'.
In 1929 refreshment rooms were added. When the Federal Parliament moved to Canberra in 1927, it left a 50,000 pounds sterling gift to the Parliament of Victoria as a thank-you gesture for its stay in Melbourne. This was used to finance the construction of the north-east corner of Parliament House as refreshment rooms.This was the last major construction work of Parliament House, Melbourne.
Parliament House continues to serve the State of Victoria.