Side Facade of the J.H. Boyd Girl's High School - Southbank, Melbourne
Built between 1884 and 1885 by Henry Robert Bastow (1839–1920), the J.H. Boyd Girls High School, at 207 City Road in the inner Melbourne Southbank precinct, is of architectural significance as one of the most ornamental and distinctive of the Education Department schools of the 19th century in Australia. It was the only Nineteenth Century State School to have a three storey central block, reflecting its prominent location in full view of the railway line from Port Melbourne to Flinders Street. The schools size and style are evidence of the rapid growth in population and wealth in Melbournes suburbs as a result of post-Gold Rush consolidation and prosperity. In 1930, the institution was converted into a Domestic Arts School for girls and named after grazier and philanthropist J.M. Boyd.
The school is built in Neo-Gothic or Tudor Revival style, which was inspired by theorists such as John Ruskin and Pugin. The movement was one of the most distinctive styles to emerge from the Victorian era. Based on the principle of allowing freemasons to express their contribution to a building (as was the case for the guilds that built Gothic buildings in medieval times), these buildings became extensively ornate edifices. The J.H. Boyd Girl's High School with its crenelling and fine brick and stone work is no exception.
At the time of photographing, the interior of the school was being ripped out as it was prepared for its new life as a community centre as part of a large complex of public and private housing. 30 floors of glass and concrete (not at all in keeping with the architecture of the school) will shortly be built directly behind the old building, so I thought I had better take the opportunity of photographing it in its most original condition before it is eclipsed by a modern monstrosity of monsterous proportions!
Henry Robert Bastow became one of the foremost architects of civil and public buildings in Melbourne and was appointed Architect to the State Schools Division of the Public Works Department of Victoria in the 1870s and 1880s. His style was characterised by steeply pitched roof detailing with prominent gables, label moulding round the windows and pointed arched openings. His works include several primary schools designed in the 1870s and 1880s as well as the Melbourne College of Printing & Graphic built in 1882.
Side Facade of the J.H. Boyd Girl's High School - Southbank, Melbourne
Built between 1884 and 1885 by Henry Robert Bastow (1839–1920), the J.H. Boyd Girls High School, at 207 City Road in the inner Melbourne Southbank precinct, is of architectural significance as one of the most ornamental and distinctive of the Education Department schools of the 19th century in Australia. It was the only Nineteenth Century State School to have a three storey central block, reflecting its prominent location in full view of the railway line from Port Melbourne to Flinders Street. The schools size and style are evidence of the rapid growth in population and wealth in Melbournes suburbs as a result of post-Gold Rush consolidation and prosperity. In 1930, the institution was converted into a Domestic Arts School for girls and named after grazier and philanthropist J.M. Boyd.
The school is built in Neo-Gothic or Tudor Revival style, which was inspired by theorists such as John Ruskin and Pugin. The movement was one of the most distinctive styles to emerge from the Victorian era. Based on the principle of allowing freemasons to express their contribution to a building (as was the case for the guilds that built Gothic buildings in medieval times), these buildings became extensively ornate edifices. The J.H. Boyd Girl's High School with its crenelling and fine brick and stone work is no exception.
At the time of photographing, the interior of the school was being ripped out as it was prepared for its new life as a community centre as part of a large complex of public and private housing. 30 floors of glass and concrete (not at all in keeping with the architecture of the school) will shortly be built directly behind the old building, so I thought I had better take the opportunity of photographing it in its most original condition before it is eclipsed by a modern monstrosity of monsterous proportions!
Henry Robert Bastow became one of the foremost architects of civil and public buildings in Melbourne and was appointed Architect to the State Schools Division of the Public Works Department of Victoria in the 1870s and 1880s. His style was characterised by steeply pitched roof detailing with prominent gables, label moulding round the windows and pointed arched openings. His works include several primary schools designed in the 1870s and 1880s as well as the Melbourne College of Printing & Graphic built in 1882.