page_title: Treasury Building, Brisbane
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Treasury Building, Brisbane / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Queensland Government Treasury Buildings, Queen Street, Brisbane, ca.1907. Part of the Valentine Series of postcards.
context_page_description: The Treasury Building, also previously known as the New Public Offices, is a heritage-listed former government public administration building located at 21 Queen Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1886 to 1928 for the Queensland Government. On 21 October 1992 the Italian Renaissance style building was added to the Queensland Heritage Register.
  The building is located at North Quay, near the northern end of Victoria Bridge. Although officially fronting on Queen Street, the building occupies an entire city block surrounded by Queen Street, George Street, Elizabeth Street and William Street. The Elizabeth Street frontage is opposite the Queens Gardens. In the 1890s and early 1900s the imposing Treasury Building served as a symbol of self-government and as a focus for celebratory and patriotic displays.
  It is currently occupied by the Treasury Casino owned by Star Entertainment Group.
context_section_description: The Treasury Building was erected in three stages between 1886 and 1928.
  The site at the junction of the George Street and Queen Street had been reserved for government purposes from 1825. It was occupied initially by convict-built officers' quarters and a two-storey military barracks. In 1864 the military moved from the site and the existing buildings were occupied by the Registrar-General, Treasury and Engineer of Harbours. In 1874 a single-storeyed building for the Registrar-General was erected on the corner of George and Queen Streets, anticipating a government re development of what had become known as Treasury Square.
  In 1883 the Queensland Government decided to construct new public offices on Treasury Square. A design competition, for a two-storeyed perimeter block to occupy the entire square, was won by Melbourne architects Grainger and D'Ebro, but their design was never used. The newly-appointed Queensland colonial architect, John James Clark, argued that the site warranted a four-storeyed complex, to be erected in stages as government accommodation was required. Clark's own neo-Italianate design, entered in the competition prior to his appointment as Queensland colonial architect in September 1883, was used.
  Clark is significant in Australian architectural history. He received his training and experience in the architectural office of the Victorian Department of Public Works, and designed major public buildings in Victoria (e.g. the Old Treasury Building in Melbourne), Queensland and Western Australia.
  Documentation for the first stage of the Treasury Building, which fronted William Street and the Brisbane River and returned a short distance down Elizabeth and Queen Streets, was completed by mid-1885, and site preparation followed immediately. Tenders for the main contract were called in April 1886, and Sydney builders Phippard Bros & Co. were successful with a contract price of £94,697/10/-. The principal architect on site was Thomas Pye, who resigned from the colonial architect's office in February 1887 to supervise the construction as a Phippard Bros employee.
  When completed in September 1889, the new centre of government administration in Queensland was occupied by the Premier, Colonial Secretary, Registrar-General (in a purpose-built fire-proof section at the corner of William and Elizabeth Streets), Treasury, Mines, Works, Police and Auditor-General. It was home to the Cabinet and frequently to the Executive Council from late 1889 to 1905. In 1905 the Premier's Department moved into the Executive Building (subsequently known as the Lands Administration Building) in George Street. 
  Stage two, which completed the Elizabeth Street section and continued two-thirds of the way along the George Street frontage, was commenced almost immediately. The documentation and working drawings were prepared by Thomas Pye, re-employed by the colonial architect's office to supervise the project. Tenders were called in April 1890, and the principal contract was let to builder John Jude of Adelaide, with a contract price of £67,000.
  The contract was completed by February 1893 and the new wing was occupied in the middle of that year by the Registrar of Titles, Justice, Works, Public Instruction and the State Savings Bank, for whom a purpose-built banking chamber was included in the design which in all other details replicated stage one. Later in 1893 the courtyard was landscaped with a grass oval surrounded by a gravel carriageway, border planting, and trees.
  The site then consisted of stages one and two of the Treasury Building, and the 1874 office of the Registrar-General.
  In the 1890s and early 1900s the imposing Treasury Building served as a symbol of self-government and as a focus for celebratory and patriotic displays. In 1901, the proclamation of the Federation of Australia was read by the Governor of Queensland Baron Lamington from a balcony on the William Street elevation.
  Owing to the construction around the turn of the century of new offices for the Department of Agriculture and the Executive Building (Land Administr
caption: Treasury Building after Stage 2 with the Registrar-General's building still on the corner of Queen and George Streets, circa 1907. The internal walls facing the internal courtyard can be seen.
exif: {}