Lost Buildings - The Garden Palace burns: Changing Sydney Part 6

Possibly not many would recognise or have even heard of this grand building. Actually at 64m it was the tallest building in Sydney passing the 57m high clock tower.

The Garden Palace was a large purpose-built exhibition building constructed to house the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879.

Early on the morning of September 22, 1882 the building was completely destroyed by a 6-hour fire. 

The cruciform shaped structure had halls that stretched 244m x 152m long. At the end of the halls were stone towers 36m high for observation. 

The only remains of the Garden Palace are its carved sandstone gateposts and wrought iron gates, located on the Macquarie Street entrance to the Royal Botanical Gardens.

The only artefact from the International Exhibition to survive the fire was a carved graphite statue of an elephant, from Ceylon, it is on exhibit at the Powerhouse Museum.