It was designed by William Wardell in the Italianate style, and modelled to some extent on Queen Victoria's Osborne House residence, to which it bears a strong resemblance.

[2] Eventually a building supervised by the chief architect of the Public Works Department, William Wardell, in a grand Italianate manner, was built between 1871 and 1876.

Government House design was supervised by William Wardell, Inspector General of the Public Works Department, with drawings by John James Clark,[5] in the Victorian period Italianate style, and is reminiscent of Queen Victoria's summer residence on the Isle of Wight, Osborne House.

The building reflects the optimism of the period, with an economy still growing fast twenty years after the Victorian gold rush.

[6] William Guilfoyle, curator of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, further refined the original garden design with "many fine mature trees, including conifers, Australian rainforest species and deciduous trees, which are characteristic of the era and which also reflect Guilfoyle’s personal taste.