Monday 23 January 2012

TRADES HALL BUILDING

The Victorian Trades Hall building is located in the suburb of Carlton, and home to the Victorian Trades Hall Council. It is located on the corner of Lygon Street and Victoria Street, just north of the Melbourne central business district. The original Trades Hall was opened in May 1859 after being built by workers as an organising place for the labour movement in Melbourne.


The workers financed the construction of the building themselves. The hall underwent an upgrade from 1874 to 1925 at the hands of architectural firm Reed & Barnes and it remains one of the most historically important sites in Melbourne today, being classified by the National Trust and included in the Register of Historic Buildings (Victoria). The hall is located across the road from the eight hour day monument which was erected to honour the Victorian workers who won the first 8 hour working day in the world in 1856.


It is the birthplace of organisations like the Victorian Labor Party and Australian Council of Trade Unions. Four flags fly from the roof of the building; the Australian Flag, the Eureka Flag, the Australian Aboriginal flag, and the red flag. Trades Hall is home to many of the Victorian trade unions, left-wing political parties and radical organisations. It also serves as the headquarters of the National Union of Students. The various rooms of the hall can be hired out for functions, meetings or conferences and it is often used for theatrical productions and to display artwork. The hall has a bar which is patronised by trade union members and political activists and a bookshop which sells radical texts. In recent times, as well as being the centre for union activity, the Trades Hall Council has opened the Trades Hall building to many cultural events, plays, and concerts.


This post is part of the Mellow Yellow meme.






16 comments:

  1. Interesting style of building, classical elements. Great history too.

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  2. Columns, arched windows, facade all create a very impressive building for a trades hall! Love the corner perspective in the last photo!

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  3. Hi there - I have just returned from the wild, woolly and less that wonderful world of wireless only internet - so now I'm catching up.

    Such a shift in the way politics seems to run. Today, its distance (and possibly self serving!) – which party would be able to build a building like this today?

    Cheers - Stewart M - Australia

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  4. classic but not really imposing. nice building! My MYM is here.

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  5. this looks like one of our government buildings here, only well-maintained.:p

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  6. An impressive building for a trades hall indeed, Nick, and interesting history. Wonderful captures for the day! Love the colorful cars parked in front - perfect for Mellow Yellow!!

    Sylvia

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  7. Hmm I wonder what trade unionist talk about when they've had a few, sitting round the bar hey Nick. You've given us some great details here.

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  8. Beautiful building, interesting that the Union members self-financed it. (And all those organizations that meet there sound like our kind of people....except that we're old lazy retired people who don't go to meetings any more!)

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  9. I love columns. Ah... old world charm! Thanks for dropping by my nook.

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  10. It's a handsome building and I'm amazed it was financed by the workers themselves.

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  11. A magnificent piece of architecture.

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  12. Fabulous building and interesting history!

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  13. That building is huge and interesting!

    Visiting for Mellow Yellow Monday! Hope you can stop by:)

    http://www.cassandrasminicorner.com/2012/01/lysol-disinfecting-wipes.html

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  14. I do prefer the old architecture, and I love the bottom photo...

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  15. beautiful building, like it :-) Visiting from MYM, hope that you can return the visit too.

    http://www.mommies2ks.com/2012/01/invited-for-a-birthday-party.html

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