The Northern Facade, the least known part of the house and rarely photographed, though it can be seen from the Botanical Gardens. Most engravings and photographs of Government House view it from the south-west. This perspective presents the private apartments as a house in its own right, where one is not conscious of the rest of the building.

The facade is the house's finest external feature, an Italianate villa in Palladian style, which exhibits an imaginative continuity from ancient Rome and Greece to 16th century Italy to 18th century England and 19th century Australia. The two arcaded loggia or open galleries with a triple line of balustrading emphasize the house's horizontal lines. Single pedimented windows break up the walls, while retaining the symmetry of the whole.

Behind the loggia is a spacious private hall, with the Governor's study at lower right, the Morning Room at lower left, and residential suites on the upper story. The roof line of the central, three-storied section of the house can be glimpsed at the side of the facade. A frieze consisting of a series of circles resembling a rose pattern, runs the full length of the building.

In front and to the left is a private garden which takes advantage of the winter sun. This area was designed by J. J. Sayce as a formal flower garden, and remains so. It contains terraces at different levels, retaining walls, paths, ornamental urns, and circular flower beds. It contrasts with both the wide sweep of the west lawn and the uncultivated bushland area to the north of the house, which retains some of von Mueller's pines.

The garden and grounds also function as a recreational area, with the swimming pool, croquet lawn/bowling green and tennis courts, whose mesh fencing is visible in the foreground.