The Former Alexandra Mechanic’s Institute and Free Library – Corner Grant and Perkins Streets, Alexandra

            Located on Grant Street at the intersection of Perkins Street, the former Alexandra Mechanic’s Institute and Free Library, built in 1883, is a beautiful example of a Victorian Free Classical building, and is part of the north eastern Victorian town’s historical centre.  It was originally designed as Alexandra’s Mechanics’ Institute with a billiard room extension added in 1892.  The building has been lovingly restored, and features many features typical of Victorian Free Classical architecture.  The style was ebullient and self confident as it expressed society’s growing prosperity and self confidence, and is mostly represented in civil, commercial and religious buildings, but spread to a certain degree to domestic structures as well.  The parapet concealing the roof, decorative accents along the roofline and windows and doors with accentuated vertical proportions are all typical of the Victorian Free Classical architecture movement. 

The Mechanics' Institute Movement began in British urban industrial cities in the early 1800s to enable men of the lower classes to improve themselves.  A "mechanic" was a person applying skills and technology.  During the Nineteenth Century, most towns in Victoria established a Mechanics' Institute or Athenaeum with a library and meeting hall.  Common objects of the Mechanics' Institute Movement was to spread useful knowledge and provide rational (non alcoholic) recreation for the community.

The former Alexandra Mechanic’s Institute and Free Library is still used for its original literary purpose, and a modern extension, subtly attached to the historic building, doubles the library’s available floor space, allowing for a wider array of benefits.

Alexandra is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located at the junction of the Goulburn Valley Highway (B340) and Maroondah Highway (B360), 26 kilometres west of Eildon.  The town was settled in the late 1860s, with a Post Office opening on 15 March 1867 (known until 24 April 1867) as Redgate. The town was originally known as Redgate, or Red Gate Diggings. The current name either derives from Alexandra of Denmark (Queen’s Consort to King Edward VII of England) when given a stature of her to the shire; or from three men named Alexander (Alesander, McGregor, Alexander Don, and Alexander Luckie) who discovered gold in the area in 1866. Charles Jones born Herefordshire also discovered Gold on the Luckie Mine in 1866. He bought a Hotel with John Henry Osborne and was the proprietor of the New York and London Hotel Grant Street Alexandra. The railway to Alexandra arrived in the town via Yea from Tallarook in 1909, and closed on November 18, 1978. The Rubicon Tramway connected Alexandra with the village of Rubicon, at the junction of the Rubicon and Royston Rivers. Today many tourists pass through Alexandra on their way to the Mount Buller ski resort from Melbourne. The town contains the Timber Tramway and Museum (located at the Alexandra Railway Station), and the National Trust classified post office and law courts. There is a local market on the second Saturday of each month from September to May, an annual art show at Easter, an agricultural show and rose festival in November, and the annual Truck, Rod and Ute Show in June.

Taken in: Australia / Victoria / Alexandra (show map)

Taken on: March 31, 2013

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Camera: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS, f/2.8, 1/500 sec, 6.2mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS
Aperture:	f/2.8
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/500)
Focal Length:	6.2mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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