State Library Victoria

The State Library Victoria anchors the block with an octagonal reading room topped by a massive reinforced concrete dome. When it opened in eighteen fifty-six, the library functioned as a colonial intellectual outpost. Sir Redmond Barry, the man who founded the institution, insisted that the doors remain open to everyone, regardless of social status or wealth. He kept a personal collection of books here, and today, visitors still sit at the same radiating timber desks he originally commissioned for the space.