South Melbourne Town Hall History

A delicate thread encircles our neighbourhood. From the days of being a gathering place of song, ceremony and celebration for members of the East Kulin nation, to an orphanage, a site of refuge for abandoned young people; from a grand monument of self-conscious civic splendor and municipal administration, to a place that dances with the youthful music-making of the country’s most brilliant young musicians. Now, going forward, their music-making will be joined by a rich throng of cultural and community voices, making it a gathering place of song and celebration once again: the sound of South Melbourne!

1851

  • Gold discovered in Ballarat; Victorian population: 77,345.

1855

  • District of Emerald Hill proclaimed.

29 June,
1855

  • First Emerald Hill Council elected.

1855

  • Orphan Asylum opens on site of current Town Hall.

1860

  • Prahran Town Hall opens.

1861

  • Victorian population: 538,628.

1863

  • Emerald Hill proclaimed a Borough.

1870

  • Melbourne Town Hall opens.

1872

  • Emerald Hill proclaimed a Town.

1874

  • Fitzroy Town Hall opens.

1875

  • North Melbourne Town Hall opens.

1875

  • Legislation proclaimed in the Colony’s Parliament for the Orphanage to be relocated in order to build a new Town Hall on the site.

1878

  • Council holds a design competition for its new Town Hall, electing architect Charles Webb to undertake the project (budget £22,000), and building commences. Charles Webb had designed Melbourne’s first St Paul’s Church, the Windsor Hotel, Royal Arcade and many other Melbourne gold rush buildings.

1879

  • South Melbourne Town Hall opens.
  • The building houses expanded Council offices, a public hall (for hosting balls and receptions, concerts and theatrical entertainments), a Mechanics Institute, Police, court, post and telegraph offices and Council chambers. The local volunteer fire brigade is co-located until 1891, when the space becomes a Council garage, workshop and store. The Mechanics Institute occupies a suite of rooms on the west wing of the Town Hall, and includes a reading room, club room, chess room, smoking room, women’s conversation room, library and lecture room

1883

  • Emerald Hill becomes a city, and changes its name to South Melbourne.

1898

  • The Town Hall hosts a meeting in support of the Federation Bill Referendum.

1905

  • The Jubilee Memorial Fountain is unveiled in the Town Hall forecourt (to commemorate South Melbourne’s 50th anniversary, and honour the Victorian contribution to the Boer War).

1911

  • The post office is re-located across the road (to current Emerald Hill Library building).

1918

  • Space is provided to Baby Health Centre.

1927

  • The Police Station is relocated across the road to current site.

1938

  • Reconstruction and renovation of the complex is completed (budget: £20,000).

1954

  • The first Citizenship Ceremony is conducted in Town Hall.

Early
1960s

  • The social work department and maternal and child health facilities are relocated out of the Town Hall.

Mid
1960s

  • The former Court House and Police Station space is let to the Commonwealth Bank.

1974

  • The Town Hall is included in the Victorian Historic Buildings register.

1983

  • The Main Hall is redecorated.

1994-
95

  • The Victorian Government amalgamates more than 200 Councils, with South Melbourne, Port Melbourne and St Kilda brought together into City of Port Phillip. The new City of Port Phillip inherits three grand-scale Victorian-era town halls at South Melbourne, St Kilda and Port Melbourne.

1997

  • Following the relocation of civic functions to St Kilda Town Hall, ANAM is granted a 20-year lease to occupy 54% of the building that was left vacant.

Early
2002

  • Restoration of the Town Hall’s exteriors is undertaken, reinstating much of the building’s original ochre coloured skim coat, and reconstructing original mansard roofs, iron cresting and decorative parapet urns. The mansard roof reconstructions and completion of works to the clock tower receive a large grant from Heritage Victoria.

2017

  • ANAM signs a new 15 year lease.

2018

  • A roof failure leads to the collapse of a major roof beam in the ANAM office area, bringing down the roof (narrowly missing two ANAM staff at their desks) and the sprinkler system flooding large parts of the building’s west wing, leading to the evacuation and temporary relocation of all tenants.

2019

  • The building is declared safe, and is re-occupied by most tenants.

2020

  • Engineering investigation of the building uncovers serious structural issues, predominantly in the roof structures. The building is again declared un-safe, leading to the evacuation and temporary relocation of remaining tenants during Victorian COVID lockdowns.

2020/
21

  • ANAM develops a proposal to restore and renew the entire Town Hall building, in harmony with City of Port Phillip’s plans to correct the structural challenges uncovered in the building.

2022

  • City of Port Phillip Council invites the community to comment on ANAM’s proposal.