Brisbane, Where I Live, Part 4.

My sister who lives in New York has been here for business and a social
visit, so my blogging has fallen behind. Denise has just left for the airport
where she is flying off to Melbourne to continue her business venture.
I can now finalize my last post on Brisbane.

The City Hall was once the tallest building in Brisbane. Brisbane's first town
hall was built in 1864 but the foundation stone for this building was laid in
July 1920 by Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), and the
Brisbane City Hall was opened in 1930. The Brisbane City Hall has an imposing
Clock Tower, based on the design of the St Mark's Campanile in Venice, Italy.
The four clock faces on each side of the tower are the largest in Australia.
The Clock has Westminster Chimes, which sound on the quarter hour.
The clock (4.8 metres diameter) and tower (91.5 metres high) have recently
been restored.
The three-storey building holds a circular concert hall, with impressive
gallery seating, and great acoustics. Above the clocks is an observation
platform, open to the public and accessible by lift. For many years this
afforded spectacular views of Brisbane, but since the relaxation of height
limits for surrounding buildings in the late 1960s, the view is now somewhat restricted.

At the front entrance of the City Hall is a imposing statue of King George V.

In 1863 that plans for a new Parliament House were finally selected from
an Australia-wide design competition, and 1864 the first foundation stone
for the building was laid. The George Street frontage was completed in 1868
in French Renaissance style with its roof made of Mount Isa copper.
The colonnades were built in 1878 and construction on the Alice Street
frontage commenced in 1887. Most of the building's ornamental fittings such
as lighting, plasterwork, ornamental glass, tiles, balusters and marble
mantelpieces were imported from England.
Parliament House was originally lit by gas however, it was one of the earliest
Brisbane buildings to use electricity. In 1883, the Government Printer's
steam engines supplied the electricity.
By 1892, electricity was installed throughout the building.

The Old Museum was originally called the Exhibition Building and Concert
Hall. It was built in 1891 for the Queensland National Agricultural and
Industrial Association after Brisbane's first exhibition building, which had
occupied the land, was destroyed by fire in 1887.
The building in now entered in the Queensland Heritage Register.
In 1899, the Exhibition Hall became home to the Queensland Museum, with
the museum remaining in the building until the museum's relocation to the
Queensland Cultural Centre in 1986. During the Queensland Museum's
86 years in the building, other parts of the building were used as a Concert
Hall and an Art Gallery. Because of the Queensland Museum's long occupancy
of the building, the building is now known as the Old Museum.
The Old Museum building was, until recently, home to the Queensland Youth
Orchestras, which regularly hold concerts in the building.
The building is currently undergoing restorative renovations.