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Laboratory and ladies' reading room in the Sydney School of Arts June 1879

From the collections of the
State Library of New South Wales
[TN115]
(Illustrated Sydney News 14 June 1879 p 4)

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Arthouse Hotel The School of Arts movement
Subjects
Chemistry Libraries Schools of Arts
Organisation
Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts

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State Library of New South Wales

The School of Arts movement

During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, about 140 schools of arts or mechanics' institutes were established in Sydney by volunteers. They were independent community organisations, assisted by a small government subsidy, and they thrived as centres of local community life. Today, their legacy in Sydney is more than just the surviving buildings. Out of these humble voluntary operations developed the local public library, the modern community or neighbourhood centre, and formal systems of adult and technical education.

Arthouse Hotel

Built as the library, hall and rooms for the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, and long a centre of cultural life in Sydney, the Arthouse Hotel was converted into a pub in the 1990s.

Chemistry

Libraries

Schools of Arts

Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts

full record ยป

The oldest School of Arts in Sydney was founded to provide further education for working people and has done so since its inception in 1833.