Treasury Hotel Brisbane

The Treasury Hotel stands out for its facade of massive, rough-hewn sandstone blocks quarried at Woogaroo. It occupies an entire city block, designed in the Italian Renaissance style with a heavy, fortress-like appearance meant to project absolute financial security. When it opened in eighteen eighty-nine, this building functioned as the primary administrative heart of the Queensland government. Public servants worked in offices here while the basement held the state's gold reserves inside a vault protected by iron doors and thick granite walls.