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In 1851, even before the colony Victoria acquired full parliamentary self-government, Governor Charles La Trobe instructed the colonial surveyor, Robert Hoddle, to select a site for the colony's new parliament to meet. Hoddle selected a site on the eastern hill at the top of Bourke St, which at that time, when few buildings were more than two storeys high, commanded a view of the whole city. A competition was held for a design for the building, but all the entries were rejected and the government architect, Charles Pasley , came up with a design of his own: subsequent critics have suggested that he borrowed heavily from the Leeds Town Hall. The design was later modified by another architect, Peter Kerr .

In December 1855 construction began on the site in Spring St, and the building was completed in stages between 1856 and 1929. The chambers for the Victorian Legislative Assembly were finished in 1856, the library in 1860Events March 6 Abraham Lincoln speaks against slavery in New Haven, Connecticut April 3 The Pony Express makes its first run. May 9 The Constitutional Union Party holds its convention and nominates John Bell for President of the United States. May 13 Batt, the Great Hall (now Queen's Hall) and the vestibule in 1879Events January January 11 Anglo-Zulu War begins January 22 Zulu troops massacre British troops at the Battle of Isandlwana. At Rorke's Drift, outnumbered British soldiers drive the attackers away after hours of fighting. February February 12 At New York C. In the 1880s, at the height of the great boom fuelled by the Victorian Gold Rush, it was decided to add a classical colonnadeIn classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, as in the famous elliptically curving colonnades that Bernini added to the facade of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, which embrace and porticoA portico is a porch or walkway with a roof supported by columns, often leading to the entrance of a building. Some famous examples of porticos are the East Portico of the United States Capitol, and the portico adorning the Pantheon in Rome. See also Clas facing Spring St, which today gives the building its monumental character. This was completed in 1892Events January 1 Ellis Island begins accepting immigrants to the United States. January 14 Death of Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, second in line heir to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Next in line is his younger b. The north wing was completed in 1893Events January 1 Japan accepts the Gregorian calendar January 2 Introduction by Webb C. Ball of the General Railroad Timepiece Standards in North America: Railroad chronometers January 13 The Independent Labour Party of the UK has its first meeting. Janua and refreshment rooms at the back of the building were added in 1929.

Pasley and Kerr's design included plans for a dome, but these were abandoned when a sharp depression began in 1891, and the dome was never built. From time to time governments have expressed interest in completing the building by adding the dome, but have been deterred by the enormous cost. The Kennett government, elected in 1992, set up a committee to examine building the dome, but the idea was abandoned when the trade unions would not guarantee that the project would go ahead without industrial disputes.

From 1901 to 1928 Parliament House was the home of the Commonwealth Parliament, since the new capital city envisaged in the Australian Constitution did not yet exist and there were long delays in finding a site and beginning construction. During these years the Victorian Parliament met in the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton, much to its dissatisfaction. Many of the major events of the early federal period took place in this building, including the formation of the Federal Parliamentary Australian Labor Party, the "fusion" of the Free Trade Party and the Protectionist Party into the first Liberal Party in 1909 and the split in the Labor Party over conscription in 1916.