Back to search results » Back to search page »

FINE ART GALLERY, BALLARAT

Other Name

FINE ART GALLERY

Location

38-48 LYDIARD STREET NORTH BALLARAT CENTRAL, BALLARAT CITY

File Number

FOL/17/1450

Level

Registered

[1/11]
BALLARAT ART GALLERY_Restored
[2/11]
BALLARAT ART GALLERY_Colonial
[3/11]
DIAGRAM 680
[4/11]
BALLARAT ART GALLERY_Colonial
[5/11]
Art Gallery post restoration
[6/11]
Art Gallery post restoration
[7/11]
FINE ART GALLERY SOHE 2008
[8/11]
FINE ART GALLERY SOHE 2008
[9/11]
FINE ART GALLERY SOHE 2008
[10/11]
1 fine art gallery ballarat
[11/11]
fine art gallery ballarat

Statement of Significance

What is significant?

The Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat constructed 1887-90 to the designs of Tappin, Gilbert and Dennehy, a double storey Renaissance Revival building with rusticated pilasters and twin pyramidal pavilions to the ground level, and including an internal stone stairway and Art Nouveau ceiling decoration. It also includes the adjoining double-storey Classical style Bones’ Buildings to the north (built 1886) which features a single-storey verandah, and a multi-storey red brick extension to the 1890 building (designed by Clegg, Morrow and Cameron and constructed in 1927).

How is it significant?

The Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat is of historical and architectural significance to the State of Victoria. It satisfies the following criterion for inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register:

Criterion A: Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history.

Criterion D: Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects

Why is it significant?

The Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat is of historical significance as one of the earliest regional galleries in Australia and a highly successful cultural institution which draws visitors from around Victoria. It holds items of importance to Victoria’s cultural history, including the Eureka flag and collections associated with members of the Lindsay family of artists and writers. [Criterion A]

The Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat is of architectural significance as a fine example of a Renaissance Revival building. It demonstrates the principal characteristics of the Renaissance Revival style including Corinthian columns to the first-floor windows, and parapet with triangular pediment flanked by balustrading. Internally, the grand entrance is emphasized by elements including an impressive stone stairway, Art Nouveau ceiling decoration in the stairwell and a fruit and foliage pattern in the front upstairs gallery. The gallery expanded into the northern Bones’ Buildings in 1987, which stands as a fine Classical building within the highly intact nineteenth century streetscape of Ballarat. [Criterion D]

Group

Recreation and Entertainment