ON the morning of September 22, 1882, Sydney awoke to a grand and terrible spectacle. Its most flamboyant building, the Garden Palace, was burning to the ground.

The heat was so intense that at 6.05am, windows in Macquarie St cracked and firefighters could do little more than watch the building turn to cinders.

The fire was as magnificent as the palace itself — thunderous crashes, rivers of lead and, when the walls fell away, a terrible vision of flames engulfing a towering bronze statue of Queen Victoria.

By 9am, it was all over and the building that had dominated the city skyline for three years was gone.

media_camera A view of the palace from the Botanic Gardens 1879-1882. Picture: State Library NSW

media_camera A similar view today, where skyscrapers now form the backdrop.

Despite being one of the most captivating buildings Sydney has ever seen, the Garden Palace is largely absent from popular history and most Sydneysiders have never heard of it.

Bigger then the QVB and stretching from the State Library to the Conservatorium of Music in the Botanic Gardens, its towers and 65m-high dome would have dwarfed the buildings around it.

“The size is difficult for most people to conceive and the fact that it was the length of two football fields and in the Botanic Gardens of all places,” said State Library curator Sarah Morley. “A sanctuary within the city of this size was such a luxury.”

Modelled on London’s Crystal Palace, it was purpose-built for the 1879 Sydney International Exhibition and was designed by Colonial Architect James Barnet.

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“It was responsible for bringing the world to Sydney at a time when the colony was prosperous and growing and full of potential. It boosted the economy and encouraged authorities to improve the city’s services and facilities,” Ms Morley said.

“The International Exhibition was ground-breaking in so far as it was the first of its kind to be held in the southern hemisphere.”

media_camera James Barnet designed the building, which was erected at break-neck speed. media_camera Sydney at the time was a sandstone and timber town with few buildings as ornate as the palace.

The Victorian equivalent of a world expo, exhibitions and world fairs were at the height of fashion at the time.

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“The feel in the city would have been similar to that of the Olympics in 2000. It was a very positive thing for Sydney and NSW, an event to be celebrated. The city would have been buzzing and a hive of activity,” Ms Morley said.

For seven months, more than one million people poured into the sprawling complex to marvel at the colony’s prosperity.

media_camera One of the great attractions of the exhibition was to ascend the north tower in Sydney’s first hydraulic lift to enjoy rare elevated harbour views. Picture: National Library Australia

media_camera A panorama of Sydney, looking over Macquarie St, taken from the palace tower by Charles Bayliss. Picture: National Library of Australia

About 20ha of the botanic gardens became a fairground filled with bandstands, stalls, entertainments, eateries and smaller exhibition buildings.

The Garden Palace was the centrepiece and inside, all manner of inventions, technology, art and ideologies were displayed by local and international exhibitors.

Sydney had pulled out all stops to build the palace and had raced against time to beat Melbourne, which was also staging an exhibition.

Up to 2000 men worked on site night and day, using electric light for the first time, to complete the building in just eight months.

media_camera Under the central dome stood a bronze statue of Queen Victoria. Picture: Courtesy State Library NSW media_camera There were 724 classes of goods and produce on exhibition, from huge pieces of machinery to fine porcelain.

The city was plagued by insecurities in the lead-up to the event, with concerns about whether its public transport, accommodation and water supply would be adequate for all the visitors travelling to the infant city.

It was forced to install a line for a steam tram, a first for Sydney and an unpopular idea at the time after previous tram efforts resulted in the death of prominent musician in 1864.

“A steam-powered tramway was installed to transport exhibition goers around the city. After the exhibition, the tramway network was expanded and by 1905-06 the trams were converted to electric traction,” Ms Morley said.

Despite several accidents, it was a great success and the system expanded rapidly through the city and inner suburbs. It became one of the main attractions of the exhibition

media_camera Powered by steam, the tram built for the exhibition pulled double-decker carriages from Redfern to Hunter St in the CBD. Picture: Courtesy State Library NSW

After the exhibition, the palace continued to play a central role in Sydney’s social life.

Balls, lectures, exhibitions and entertainments were hosted in its auditorium; an art gallery and the first technological museum, the forerunner to the Powerhouse, were established.

Government departments also set up office and important records were stored in the basement, the wisdom of which would later be questioned.

That’s because unlike Barnet’s other sturdy designs such as the GPO, the Colonial Secretary’s Office and the Land’s Department building which still stand today, the palace was primarily made of timber, which ensured its complete destruction when it was engulfed by fire.

media_camera Approximately 20 hectares of the Botanic Gardens were handed over for the exhibition, with 6ha covered in buildings. Picture: Courtesy State Library NSW

While arson was generally suspected, the cause of the fire was never determined and remains a mystery to this day

The blaze, which began before 6am, became almost immediately uncontrollable and thousands lined the streets to witness the calamity.

“Very quiet and orderly were the thousands who looked on,” wrote one reporter in the Evening News. “Many were lamenting and regretting the inevitable destruction of what had given so much pleasure to them, and had carried the name and doings of the people of this country into the Empires and most distant countries.”

media_camera “When the fire was raging in its greatest strength, the sun was seen behind the burning palace through the haze of smoke raising above the horizon its crimson disc. The scene was the most imposing, as it was the most pitiful, ever seen in the colonies.” from a news report on September 23, 1882. Painting of the Garden Palace fire by Gibbs Shallard Company, 1882.

The wind carried ash, cinders and fragments of the building far into the suburbs and a house in Potts Point caught fire.

Almost everything inside went up in flames. The fire destroyed the 1881 census, land occupation records, railway surveys, Aboriginal artefacts, artworks and the foundation collection of the Technological and Mining Museum.

A new map of the colony which took years of work was also lost.

media_camera The destruction was terribly complete. Of the valuable contents of the building, scarcely anything was saved. The building was later razed to the ground. Picture: State Libray NSW

Conspiracy theories from dynamite plots, masked men and trains of gunpowder were bandied about afterwards. Wealthy folk were blamed for trying to restore harbour views, destroy convict ancestry or simply get the gardens back.

Whatever the cause, thousands came to view the ruins and police were on site to keep order.

“To lose such a beautiful building that bought such positivity to the city and one that was so new as well would have been quite shocking,” Ms Morley said.

media_camera Measured against today’s landmarks, the building stretched from the Conservatorium, across the Cahill Expressway and in front of the State Library. Picture: State Library NSW

media_camera An aerial view of the Botanical Gardens today. If the palace continued to stand, it would have added to the cultural precinct.

“Some items and artefacts are irreplaceable, however we do know that in true Australian spirit almost before the the coals had cooled Joseph Maiden, first curator of the (Technological) Museum, set about forming another collection of artefacts by approaching people who had donated items in the original Museum collection.”

Today, all that is left of the palace are the carved sandstone gate posts and wrought iron gates on the Macquarie St entrance to the gardens.

A 1940s-era sunken garden and fountain featuring a statue of Cupid marks the former location of the Palace’s dome.