Some of the world’s greatest performers have stepped inside Arts Centre Melbourne. From award-winning actors to opera stars and prima ballerinas, Australia’s largest performing arts centre has seen a cavalcade of stars since opening in 1984. Beyond the unforgettable shows and iconic performers, the buildings themselves hold a rich and complex history, dating back well over four decades.

Whether you’re a theatre fan, an architecture admirer or a secret history nerd, there’s something interesting to discover on a guided tour of the centre, which takes you inside its foyers, theatres and a few hidden rooms. Here are five of our favourite anecdotes from the tour.

The iconic spire was nearly a giant trumpet

In December 1959, architect Roy Grounds was appointed to design the National Gallery of Victoria and Arts Centre Melbourne – including its famous spire. Phase one saw the NGV open by 1968, without any major design issues. Phase two was a bit trickier, with both geographic obstacles and overblown budgets delaying Arts Centre Melbourne’s build.

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Originally, the plan for the spire was to construct a giant, solid cone from copper. After building a model and placing it in a wind tunnel, the design team realised it would act like a giant trumpet, creating awful, bellowing sounds during performances. Today, the completed – and now iconic – spire stands proudly at 162 metres tall. But it’s had some dramas of its own, including catching fire one New Year’s Eve, being climbed by protestors and being attacked by an aggressive flock of cockatoos.

The interior designer was claustrophobic

Two design elements particularly jump out when you head down to Arts Centre Melbourne’s underground foyer. First, the deep red carpet, which can make you feel like a celebrity arriving at an awards show. Second, the abundance of reflective surfaces, from the golden railings to the mirrored walls. There’s a very simple, although unexpected, reason for the latter: interior designer John Truscott was extremely claustrophobic, so he wanted make the underground space feel as large as possible while he worked on-site for over 10 years.

There’s a secret vomitory beneath the Playhouse

Hearing “vomitory” might conjure a queasy image, but the word actually means “a passage that allows people to enter or leave an auditorium or stadium”. One was built beneath the Playhouse Theatre, allowing performers to appear in the audience in the middle of a show. It’s only been used once: during a performance of Cyrano de Bergerac when the theatre launched in 1984. These days, it’s been left as a somewhat spooky, abandoned corridor. The reason? The vomitory’s exit is in row E, meaning 10 of the best seats in the house have to be sacrificed to use it.

There’s a hidden room overlooking Hamer Hall

Arts Centre Melbourne’s largest indoor venue, Hamer Hall can seat nearly 2500 people. But few know about the small observation room overlooking the concert hall through a large glass window. The intimate room is covered in chic black wallpaper with geometric patterns, and – as if its secret existence isn’t mysterious enough – there’s even a (tenuous) connection to a cold case. The hand-printed wallpaper was designed by famed painter and designer Florence Broadhurst, who was tragically murdered in her wallpaper factory in 1977. The case has never been solved.

There’s a private lounge filled with marbles

Casual visitors also won’t know about the State Theatre’s adjoining lounge, which can be used for corporate or cocktail events. What’s most striking here are the backlit resin panels covering the 40-metre wall separating this room from the neighbouring Amcor Lounge. The wall panels are filled with more than 464,000 marbles, as part of an installation designed by Ashton Raggatt McDougall. In addition to the marbles, the artwork-slash-wall fixture also contains more than 2300 objects donated by various Arts Centre Melbourne departments, including cassette tapes and plastic spiders. The hodgepodge of bric-a-brac is inspired by Arts Centre Melbourne's construction period, during which a strange assortment of objects was found buried on the site.

Arts Centre Melbourne tours run Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 11am, Saturdays at 10am, and Fridays at 4pm. Running time is 45 minutes. Find more information and book your tour at artscentremelbourne.com.au.

Broadsheet is a proud media partner of Arts Centre Melbourne.