Hobart Town Hall fine architecture 1866.

When Hobart Town Hall had its 150th birthday, spouse and I sailed on the Spirit of Tasmania, from Melbourne to Devonport, to join in the celeb­rations. Joe lay on the bunk, seasick, for the ent­ire journey – I went to a concert, a film and a restaurant on the ship, and had a great trip. After he rejoined the human race, we drove to Hobart, to inspect the Town Hall and other significant 19th century architecture. Thank you for Municipal Magnificence by Peter Free­man, a great book docum­enting the history of Town Hall and its place in the City’s life.

Henry Hunter (1832-1892) was born in Nottingham, younger son of architect Walter Hunter. Educated at a parish school in Wolver­ham­pton, he studied at the Nottingham School of Design. Henry and his siblings migrated to South Australia in 1848 with the parents and, after their parents died, to Hobart. Next Henry went to the Bendigo goldfields and then back to Tasmania to work in the timber trade. He moved to Hobart to work in a shop but in 1856, encouraged by the Catholic Bishop Robert Willson, he began to practise as an architect. Hunter was one of the few Roman Catholic professional men in Hobart.

The architect’s admiration for Augustus Pugin, leader of the English Goth­ic revival movement, influenced his work in the many chur­ches he designed around Tasmania. The architect for the new St David’s Cathedral was George Bodley, a British leader of Gothic Revival in church architecture. So in Hobart itself, Hunter became the supervising architect for St David's Cathedral.

Hunter's commission came in Sept 1860 when Bishop Willson laid the foundation stone of St Mary's Cathedral Hobart, adapted from British architect-Melbourne resident William Wardell's design . Bishop Murphy opened the cathedral in 1866, but the con­struction was faulty - the pillars of the central tower moved, and stone fell from the ar­ch­es. Hunter examined the work and recommended that the cathedral be rebuilt. A public meeting in Feb 1876 decided that the central tower, aisles & walls be demolished and rebuilt according to the original plan. Hunt­er, now Hobart's Town’s most successful arch­itect, supervised the demolition and later laid the stone for the cathedral’s new incarnation.

   Long gallery, Town Hall  

By 1862, Hunter was very busy. He designed and built Derwent & Tamar Assurance Offices, Masonic Hall, Australian Mutual Provident Society's Building, and Hobart Museum. He planned wards and offices for the General Hospital, designed schools for the Board of Education, warehouses, Marine Office and Elwick race-course grandstand.

And now, his master piece!  The Municipality of Hobart held the early Council meetings in temporary premises and the streets defining the site of the Town Hall were completed following demolition of the old Government House in 1858. Henry Hunter prepared plans and was awarded an hon­our in a compet­it­ion conducted by the Hobart Municipal Council for their new home. His Gothic design was acclaimed as “a fine composition of unusual breadth and unity of line” yet his first plan was not accepted. I am assuming that Gothic architecture was either too Catholic for the good public servants, or was too old-fashioned for a new, modern city. 

So Hunter was given 6 months to submit a new Italianate model, this time based on the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. Construction on Hobart Town Hall created part of the now-historic Macquarie St stretch of sandstone. The found­at­ion stone was laid in April 1864, a day that was de­c­l­ar­ed a public holiday and celebrated with a parade. It was completed two years later in Sept 1866, complete with its large windows and symmetrical portico with columns. Once again the day was celebrated with another public holiday and a gala ball.

From the start, the Town Hall was designed to house the City’s coun­cil chambers, police offices,  municipal court and State Lib­rary of Tasmania. And the organ has been in use since 1870. In 1871 a stone wall was erected around the boundary, with trees obtained from the Botanical Gardens for landscaping.These facilities remained in use for c50 years after the town hall first opened.

Macquarie Manor was originally built as a home for surg­eon Dr Richard Bright. In 1870 Dr Bright commissioned Henry Hunter to design and oversee the construction of a residence perfect for a gentleman. It was!

On a visit to Queensland, Hunter formed a partnership with his son and a former pupil, and settled at Brisbane in 1888. Although spec­ial­is­ing in domestic architecture, his firm did design some larger Queensland institutions. Henry was still in Brisbane when he died, in 1892. 

By 1925 the state of the Town Hall’s prominent portico had degener­ated to the point it was declared unsafe and major restoration work was re­quired. Only then were the building's famous chandeliers instal­led in the ballroom,  each having 84 gas jets that were imported from the UK.

On the Convict Trail

Henry Hunter had left behind one of the nation's oldest council build­ings, in Australia's second oldest city. Today Hobart’s Town Hall is an ideal venue for exhibitions, balls, concerts, large meetings, citizenship ceremonies and cocktail func­t­ions. The main hall now seats 600 and the gallery seats 675 more. On The Convict Trail is excellent.