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Town Hall

Location 30 Gheringhap Street, GEELONG VIC 3220 - Property No B3011 File Number B3011 Level State

[1/1] B3011 Geelong Town Hall

Statement of Significance

One of the oldest surviving public buildings by Joseph Reed and very rare in Victoria as an essay in the Greek Revival, albeit not a thoroughgoing one.
The south facade to Little Malop Street was completed in 1855 and it consists of five giant order Greek Ionic columns set in antis between two flanking pavilions, each with pairs of plain-faced giant order pilasters with Corinthian capitals of the form used in the only fifth century Greek example, the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassai.
Above is a shallow stepped lintel and a frieze which is mainly plain but with sections of Greek fret in the pavilions, then above this again a dentillated cornice and a balustraded parapet which is the major solecism of this facade. The east and south fronts were completed in 1913-1917, the former with a hexastyl ionic portico and in conformity with Reed's design, but the latter diverging from the original facade by projecting the colonnade beyond the pavilions, and with inferior detailing carried out in cement rather than freestone.
Classified: 08/02/1968