Great Northern Hotel, Townsville
Great Northern Hotel | |
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Location | 500 Flinders Street, Townsville CBD, City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia |
Coordinates | 19°15′47″S 146°48′53″E / 19.263°S 146.8147°E |
Design period | 1900–1914 (early 20th century) |
Built | 1900–1901 |
Built for | Wilson Hart & Company |
Architect | Tunbridge & Tunbridge |
Official name | Great Northern Hotel |
Type | state heritage (built) |
Designated | 21 October 1992 |
Reference no. | 600908 |
Significant period | 1900s (fabric) 1901–ongoing (historical use, social) |
Significant components | lead light/s, furniture/fittings |
Great Northern Hotel is a heritage-listed hotel at 500 Flinders Street, Townsville CBD, City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Tunbridge & Tunbridge and built from 1900 to 1901. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.[1]
History
The Great Northern Hotel, a large, two-storeyed brick and timber hotel, was erected in 1900–1901 for Townsville timber firm Wilson Hart & Company, owners of the site. It was designed by prominent Townsville architects Tunbridge and Tunbridge.[1]
The application to build the Great Northern Hotel appears to have been initiated following the
The architects, Tunbridge & Tunbridge, designed a first class brick and timber hotel of 36 bedrooms, estimated to cost between
Although work on preparing the Blackwood Street site for the new railway terminus was underway in 1900, the station building was not erected until 1914. Despite this delay, the Great Northern Hotel proved popular with travellers from its opening. Designed and run as a first-class hotel, the Great Northern offered a high standard of service, good food, comfortable airy bedrooms and spacious public rooms. It also played a major role in the social life of the growing town. As with most early hotels in Australia, the Great Northern was a place for the community to meet and socialise, and for nearly a century the hotel has remained a popular drinking venue and prominent and well-known element of the city townscape.[1]
On 15 May 2015 a 19-year-old Townsville man was arrested in relation to a fire at the historic Great Northern Hotel in the city. The iconic hotel suffered internal damage on the lower level.[2]
Description
The Great Northern Hotel is located on a prominent corner site at the intersection of Flinders and Blackwood Streets, within an historic precinct which includes the 1914 Townsville railway station and oval lawn, garden and mature trees, the 1932 Newmarket Hotel on the opposite corner, and the vista towards Castle Hill.[1]
The Great Northern Hotel is a substantial two-storeyed, L-shaped brick building with
Internally the building remains largely intact, despite some refurbishment of the Flinders Street wing of the ground floor, which contains the public bars. At this eastern end part of the ground floor has been converted into two shops and one has been reconstructed to form part of a second bar area. The main entrance doors in the Flinders Street wing have been replaced with aluminium and the bars refurbished.[1]
The main door of the hotel addresses Blackwood Street, closest to the railway station and leading to the reception, dining and accommodation areas of the hotel. This entrance retains its original timber joinery and
Upstairs, there has been little alteration to the fabric of the building. The ceilings and most of the bedroom partition walls are the original tongue and groove boarding (horizontally-jointed on the walls). Many of the original fretwork panels above the internal doors survive, while others have been replaced with glass or timber. The upstairs rooms are accessed from a T-shaped hallway with decorative masonry archways at regular intervals, and each bedroom has French doors opening onto front or rear verandahs.[1]
Great Northern Hotel was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992, having satisfied the relevant criteria.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Great Northern Hotel (entry 600908)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
- ^ Roe, Isobel; Horn, Allyson; Calderwood, Kathleen (15 May 2015). "Man arrested after fire at iconic Great Northern Hotel in Townsville CBD". ABC North Qld. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
Attribution
External links
Media related to Great Northern Hotel, Townsville at Wikimedia Commons