Museum, Gallery, now Library

August 2021, updated 2025 with new pics.

The Redmond Barry reading room at the State Library is quite grand but feels rather on a budget compared to the amazing Domed Reading Room.

It was completed in 1893, and praised for its fine proportions and fireproof construction (concrete under the Karri timber, and the posts are iron but look like wood), but it has almost no decoration. The design was by (Joseph) Reed Smart & Tappin, but I think maybe the trustees focussed on maximum space, rather than frills.

It was built for the Technical Museum, previously in a different hall, but in 1899 the Natural History collection at Melb Uni, established by professor Frederick McCoy, was moved here, and the hall named after him. There’s a number of great photos showing the display was piles of stuffed animals and skeletons. 😮

A hall to the north and one to the west was built at the same time, leaving space round the edges for more halls, added in the 20s and 30s (the last corners weren’t filled until 1992). They’re all quite restrained, the 1893 north one matching the 1875 south one, both built for the National Gallery, which shared the site until 1968. I’ve included pics of five of them, and the nice doors.

My earliest memories of McCoy Hall are of dioramas with some stuffed animals, not huge numbers like these. I think I read somewhere they got moth eaten over time. Also a big room that was illuminated inside by UV lights displaying rock crystals, it was a bit magical. Old photos @library_vic, contemporary image #adonline.