The old State Library Building is situated immediately opposite Queens Gardens

Queens Gardens, Brisbane

Queens Gardens is located on a city block between George Street, Elizabeth Street and William Street in the Brisbane central business district...

 in William Street, Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

The building was originally constructed for the Queensland Museum

Queensland Museum

The Queensland Museum is the state museum of Queensland. The museum currently operates four separate campuses; at South Brisbane, Ipswich, Toowoomba and Townsville.The museum is funded by the State Government of Queensland.-History:...

, which stayed in the building for 20 years (1879-1899).

The building then housed the State Library of Queensland

State Library of Queensland

The State Library of Queensland is a large public library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the state government. Its legislative basis is provided by the Queensland Libraries Act 1988...

 for 88 years (1899-1988), as well as an Art gallery

Art gallery

An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...

.

In the late 1950s, an extension, with a distinctive tiled mural

Mural

A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...

, was built onto the building to give more space.