Victoria Gardens’ history now covers a Truro park building

If you’ve walked through the lower section of Victoria Gardens near the viaduct lately, in Truro, you may have noticed the Parks Building looking rather different. Two brand new murals have gone up on its outer walls, and they’re not the sort of thing you’d expect to find on a maintenance shed.

Two new scenes on the Parks Building

The murals are inspired by historic photographs of the Leats and St George’s Road, alongside a modern image of the Bandstand at Victoria Gardens. Together they turn a previously plain, functional building into something that reflects the gardens around it.

The artist behind the paint

The work is the creation of local artist Joe Greenaway Art. It’s not his first mark on the city. He has previously painted the entranceway to Lemon Street Market, as well as the independent shops artwork on the roundabout at the bottom of Richmond Hill.

A repaint that grew into something more

The Parks Building was already scheduled for external redecoration, part of ongoing work to improve the appearance of the facility and its surroundings. That routine job turned into an opportunity to add feature murals to two of the external walls, chosen to complement the building’s setting within Victoria Gardens.

Part of a bigger strategy

Truro City Council says the project supports Objectives 2 and 6 of its 2026-2030 Strategy, Our Environment and Our Buildings, Culture & Heritage, contributing to the maintenance and enhancement of the city’s formal parks and gardens while celebrating Truro’s buildings, culture and heritage.

The redecoration itself was already pencilled in before anyone suggested murals. What started as routine maintenance has left Victoria Gardens with two pieces of public art it wasn’t originally getting.

📷Credit: Truro City Council