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Garden Palace Exhibition Building [Sydney]

c1879. Three albumen paper photographs, one with “J. Paine” studio stamp and “J.R. Clarke” publisher’s stamp verso, another is attributed to Charles Bayliss, 9.1 x 12.6cm to 24.1 x 28.7cm. Foxing, minor crinkles and tears to edges.

The Garden Palace is shown from three vantage points: the front entrance with the Macquarie Street gates; from the Royal Botanic Gardens, across Farm Cove (Paine); and from North Sydney, with Sydney Harbour in the foreground, showing the comparative large scale of the Garden Palace against the cityscape (Bayliss).

“Sydney’s Garden Palace [Sydney International Exhibition Building] was a magnificent building with a grandeur that dominated the skyline, stretching from the site of the current State Library of New South Wales to the building that now houses the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.” The Sydney International Exhibition ran for seven months from September 1879. After the exhibition closed, the Garden Palace was used as “office space and storage for various government departments [before it was destroyed by fire in 1882]…No-one knows how the fire started on that fateful September morning, and despite an official enquiry no explanation was ever delivered. One theory blamed the wealthy residents of Macquarie Street, disgruntled at losing their harbour views. Another was that it was burnt to destroy records stored in the basement of the building that contained embarrassing details about the convict heritage of many distinguished families.” Ref: SLNSW.

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Item #CL195-5

Price (AUD): $3,300.00  other currencies