Description

Experience the design and history of Incinerator Gallery. The last remaining Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin-designed incinerator in Victoria, it is a significant historical landmark in Melbourne. Originally commissioned by the City of Essendon in 1929, it was designed to be a state-of-the-art facility that blended with its environment, following Griffin's Prairie School architecture principles. The building was praised for its beauty and functionality but was decommissioned in 1942. After deteriorating over the decades, it briefly served as a community theatre before reopening as the Incinerator Arts Complex in 2004 and later repurposed as the Incinerator Gallery in 2011. It has been recognised for its architectural importance, listed on the Victorian Heritage Register, and remains a key cultural venue in Melbourne's West.

What's On

Visitors will be taken on a guided tour of our site, led by our knowledgeable staff and volunteers. They will learn the early importance of the riverside site to First Peoples, then the site's later history as a rubbish tip and how, in response to local community needs in the 1920s, a beautiful, innovative incinerator was built. The incinerator burned waste, but looked like a residential building, rather than an industrial one. The history tour will conclude with how the site became a contemporary art gallery saved from demolition by community support.

Children's Activities

Our flagship exhibition for the year, The Playground Project will be on display at Incinerator Gallery. There will also be a fantastic free outdoor playground to explore, plus the chance to purchase tickets to the exhibition itself.