The Bendigo Town Hall is an Australian

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

prominently located at the intersection of Bull Street and Hargreaves Street in

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. It is considered one of the finest

Victorian-era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardi ...

Second Empire Second Empire may refer to: * Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783 * Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) * Second French Empire (1852–1870) ** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...

buildings in Australia.

Early history

The original Bendigo Town Hall was designed in 1859 by Bendigo's town clerk, George Avery Fletcher. A council chamber was added in 1866 and a hall for the trading of grain, known as the Corn Exchange, was added in 1871-72. Although the architecture of the additional buildings adhered to that of the original building, the completed building was unpopular with both the citizens and council of the era.

Vahland rebuilding

In a series of major works from 1878 to 1902 the Bendigo Town Hall was transformed by the architect

William Vahland William Charles Vahland (born Carl Wilhelm Vahland; 2 October 1828 – 21 July 1915) was a German-trained Australian architect who, after migrating to Bendigo in 1854 and becoming an Australian citizen on 20 July 1857, became known as the ...

who was given the task of converting the hall into something worthy of Bendigo's leading position as the "City of Gold". His work included extensive new offices, enlargement of the main hall and council chambers, the introduction of an interior decorative scheme, a clock tower and mansard roof. The exterior facades were also remodelled in the classical style. Vahland commissioned Otto Waschatz, who had just decorated the Royal Palace in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, to design the hall's interior which featured decorative plaster adorned with 22-carat gold leaf, reflecting the opulence of the "city built on gold". The end result, completed in 1885, was one of Vahland's most significant works and has been considered the finest "boom style" building of its kind in Victoria. BendigoTownHall2

Present day

In 2003, the Bendigo Town Hall was returned to its 19th-century splendour after an extensive restoration and renovation program including plasterworks, murals and gold leaf worked by artists and artisans. The council of the

City of Greater Bendigo The City of Greater Bendigo is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central part of the state. It covers an area of and, in June 2021, had a population of 123,632. It includes the city of Bendigo and the towns of Axe ...

meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Bendigo Town Hall offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities.

References

{{coord, -36.75879, 144.28246, format=dms, type:landmark_region:AU-VIC, display=title Town halls in Victoria (Australia) Victorian architecture in Victoria (Australia) Second Empire architecture in Australia Bendigo Buildings and structures in Bendigo 1885 establishments in Australia