It was designed by architect Sir Roy Grounds, the masterplan for the complex (along with the National Gallery of Victoria) was approved in 1960 and construction began in 1973 following some delays.

[2] The area was a popular venue featuring the Olympia Dancing Place, the Glaciarium Ice-Skating Rink, a Japanese tea house, Snowden Gardens, the Trocadero and the Princes Court with a miniature train and water-chute.

[3] In the book A Place Across the River, Vicki Fairfax described the lot as a "oddly shaped piece of land" considered a sacred public spot by the locals.

[3] After many years of discussion, Roy Grounds was chosen as the architect, and his master plan of a gallery and an adjacent theatre under a tall copper spire was approved in 1960.

[3] The original spire envisaged by Grounds was 115 m (377 ft) tall, and because of its complexity was one of the first structures in Australia to rely on computer-aided-design (CAD).

Actor and film director George Fairfax, having joined the project in 1972, was appointed the first general manager of the building committee and then the trust, a position he held until 1989.

[6][7] After significant public controversy, political inquiry and financial reassessment,[4] the spire was completed by the Minister for the Arts, Norman Lacy, installing the lightning conductor rod at its pinnacle on 20 October 1981.

[8] Once the buildings were nearly complete, and with the death of Grounds in 1981, Academy Award-winning expatriate set designer John Truscott, was employed to decorate the interiors.

His work was constrained only by a requirement to leave elements already constructed, such as Ground's faceted cave-like concert hall interior, to which he applied mineral finishes, and his steel mesh draped ceiling in the State Theatre, to which he added perforated brass balls.

[10] He had to defend the acoustics, the design of the spire, the rejection of the proposed changes to the Concert Hall interiors, the BASS ticketing system of the project, as well as its delays and cost over runs.

[13] Soon after the legislation to establish the trust was passed, Norman Lacy and George Fairfax undertook a study trip to North America and Europe to assess administrative arrangements, educational programs and community initiatives at major performing arts centres in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Washington, Toronto, Ottawa, London and Paris.

[citation needed] In early 2008, a wedge-tailed eagle and peregrine falcon were utilised to deter groups of sulphur-crested cockatoos from damaging the spire's electrical fittings and thimble-sized lights.

Two sides of the structure were set ablaze by fireworks that apparently discharged improperly, causing flaming debris to fall to the ground.

The premiere production was the Melbourne Theatre Company's staging of Euripides' Medea, starring Zoe Caldwell and Patricia Kennedy.

The Sidney Myer Music Bowl, situated in nearby Kings Domain, is an outdoor arena also managed by Arts Centre Melbourne.

[24] In August 2022 Karen Louise Quinlan AM[25] was appointed chief executive of Arts Centre Melbourne,[26] with the new role starting on 3 October 2022.