Government House
Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney
1837-45 Edward Blore and Mortimer Lewis (CA)
Open: Fri-Sun 10:00am-3:00pm, Thu: groups
To build a grand and worthy Government House was the dream of every notable Sydney architect, including Francis Greenway. However, when it was finally commissioned, the design came from the established English architect Edward Blore (1789-1879), as Governor Bourke felt that no colonial architect had sufficient experience to plan such a building.
Blore, working in the romantic Gothic style, produced a mock castle which matched the crenellations of the existing Greenway stables. The new building immediately became the talk of the town and helped establish the romantic Regency style in residential architecture which became popular in the colony over the next twenty years.
The large reception area is a richly decorated two-storey hall with a musicians gallery. Government House reputedly introduced the first modern water closet to Australia. The porte-cochére was added in 1873, and the two front rooms extended about 1900. Although there had been earlier proposals (c.1900) to move the vestigial Governor into more modest premises, it was not until 1996 that this finally occurred under the premiership of Robert Carr.
Information appearing in this section is reproduced from Sydney Architecture, with the kind permission of the author, Graham Jahn, a well-known Sydney architect and former City of Sydney Councillor. Sydney Architecture, rrp $35.00, is available from all good book stores or from the publisher, Watermark Press, Telephone: 02 9818 5677.
