GOVERNMENT HOUSE, MELBOURNE

Government House, Melbourne is the office and official residence of the Governor of Victoria. The current Governor of Victoria is Her Excellency The Honourable Linda Dessau AM. The House is set next to the Royal Botanic Gardens and surrounded by Kings Domain in Melbourne. It was the official residence of the Governor-General of Australia from 1901 to 1930. It is the largest Government House in the former British Empire and is almost double the size of the Viceregal Lodge, the former residence of the Lords-Lieutenant of Ireland.

Government House was designed by William Wardell, Inspector General of the Public Works Department, in the Victorian Period Italianate style, and is reminiscent of Queen Victoria's summer residence on the Isle of Wight, Osborne House. The building reflects the extravagant style of the period with a booming economy due to the Victorian gold rush. The main building consists of three parts: The south wing with its extravagant single storey State Ballroom, a grand staircase hall entrance to the three storey State rooms and two storey vice-regal apartments to the north. Rising from the building is a 145-foot belvedere tower.

The mews - a paved area surrounded on three sides by stables, coach houses and staff living quarters is nearby. The garden was designed by John Sayce in 1873 and is thought to be the "most intact 19th century mansion garden remaining in Melbourne" by the Victorian Heritage Register. William Guilfoyle, curator of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, further refined the original garden design with "many fine mature trees, including conifers, Australian rainforest species and deciduous trees, which are characteristic of the era and which also reflect Guilfoyle’s personal taste."

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.