Hotel Australia

The Hotel Australia was a former hotel in Melbourne, Australia. The hotel was built in 1939 on the site of the former Cafe and Hotel Australia, which opened in 1916, and was demolished in 1989.

This article is about the defunct hotel in Melbourne. For defunct hotel in Sydney, see Australia Hotel.
Hotel Australia
General information
Address266 Collins St
Town or cityMelbourne
CountryAustralia
Opened1939
Closed1987
Demolished1989
Technical details
Floor count12

Designed by Leslie M. Perrott, the Hotel Australia was a 12-storey building with 94 rooms, numerous private dining and function rooms, and was the most prestigious hotel in Melbourne in its day.[1] It included an arched-roofed ballroom which was a simplified version of the main Cafe Australia space. The hotel included two small cinemas,[2] a restaurant and bar in the basement, and a through-block shopping arcade on the ground floor which was touted as the largest in Australia, known as the Australia Arcade.[3]

The site is now occupied by a Novotel hotel and the shopping arcade St. Collins Lane.

History

In 1916, Anthony Lucas, the former proprietor of the prominent Paris Cafe, purchased the Vienna Cafe on Collins Street. Lucas employed Walter Burley Griffin to design a foyer, concert hall, and winter garden on the site.[4] The new cafe opened in October 1916.[5]

The hotel was sold by Lucas in 1927 for 20,000 pounds to Fred Matear and Norman Carlyon and completely refurbished in the process.

In 1937, plans for the new Hotel Australia was announced. Plans for the twelve-story building included an arcade which, when connected with a second arcade, would directly connect Flinders and Bourke streets.[6]

The first event held at the new hotel occurred on June 22, 1939, with a benefit gala for St. Vincent's Hospital.[7]

During World War II, Douglas MacArthur used two floors of the hotel as his headquarters.[8]

The hotel hosted many dignitaries. Sir Robert Menzies enjoyed the hotel dining room while Harold Holt had his wedding reception at the hotel.[9]

Demolition

The Citistate development group bought the hotel in June 1987 at a price of $55 million.[10] While preservationists wanted to save the structures, Citistate had purchased the building in a vacant state and claimed the building was a fire hazard, and heritage-listed sites held no legal recourse at the time.[11]

The hotel was ultimately demolished in the winter of 1989, with the fire marshal declaring the demolition site a fire hazard.[12] The site is now the Novotel Hotel on Collins Street.[13]

Refe:rences
  1. Spicer, Chrystopher J. "Australia Hotel". www.emelbourne.net.au. School of Historical Studies, Department of History, The University of Melbourne. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  2. "Australia Two Theatre in Melbourne, AU - Cinema Treasures". cinematreasures.org. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  3. School of Historical Studies, Department of History. "Australia Hotel - Entry - eMelbourne - The Encyclopedia of Melbourne Online". www.emelbourne.net.au. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  4. "City Properties. Two Important Sales". The Age. 2 December 1915.
  5. "News in Brief". The Age. 26 October 1916.
  6. "New City Arcade". The Age. 27 April 1937.
  7. "Untitled Article". The Age. 10 May 1939.
  8. Forell, Claude (25 April 1989). "Matear clan still adding to lustre". The Age. p. 21.
  9. Dunstan, Keith (22 November 1992). "A new beat to the heart of the city". The Age.
  10. Upton, David (26 August 1987). "Citistate to develop $200 million Darling Harbor hotel". The Age. p. 28.
  11. "Let the Oz stay". The Age. 31 March 1988.
  12. "Hotel Australia a fire hazard, says brigade". The Age. 20 July 1989. p. 17.
  13. Graham, Tim (15 April 1992). "A new life for a city landmark". The Age. p. 23.
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