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66 Gold Street
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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Leinster Arms Hotel (1863/4 to present)

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1863/64

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Existing hotel

1930

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Volume 3, Appendix B, individually listed under precinct

Individually significant within HO 321

Kearney 1855: N/A ; Hodgkinson 1858: N/A ; MMBW: Detail plan 1235, 1901

This hotel site reflects strong Irish connections in both name and publicans. Leinster is a province of Ireland and a source of a popular name for hotels both in Victoria and Ireland. The original bluestone building was owned and operated by various members of the McDonnell family until the death of John McDonnell in 1870, when another Irishman, Patrick Quinlivan, paid the executors 80 pounds for the goodwill and annual rental of 100 pounds. Quinlivan remained until 1882 and was followed by John Cahill, then Patrick Fitzpatrick and later Mary Cahir, who presided from 1926 until 1940.

The hotel was acquired by the Shamrock Brewing Company and eventually re-built in 1930. The hotel is very distinctive in appearance, with its clinker-brick and render Greek revival style standing in a street of mainly Victorian and Edwardian houses. The use of brick-on-edge detailing is unusual.

The Leinster Arms dining areas have been a popular upmarket venue for meals and drinks for some years, but there are still a number of 'old boys' propping up the bar who have been frequenting the hotel for many a long year.

Johnston Street (grounds of former Collingwood Technical School)
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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Limerick Castle Hotel (1907 -1914)

Quarryman's Arms (1854 - 1870), Engineers Arms (1871 - 1906)

1854

1914

Demolished

c.1889

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Kearney 1855: N ; Hodgkinson 1858: Y ; MMBW: Detail Plan 1196, 1900

The original Quarryman's Arms was a stone building; its first licensed victualler was Thomas Opie. At the time of its auction in May 1877 it comprised 11 rooms, bar, a lodge-room suitable for Oddfellows meetings, a ten stall stable and a cemented underground tank.

The hotel was rebuilt in 1889 and can be seen in a c.1912 photograph, which shows an ornate two-storey brick building with the construction date on the corner section of the pediment. Although not on a street corner, the architect has made good use of the narrow right of way to create a desirable splayed corner entrance. Publicans James and Margaret Tonini stand in the doorway. The hotel incorporated a tobacconist and barber's on the ground floor, and Tonini ran this business before moving into hotelkeeping around 1911. (There is an anomaly about the photograph, in that only the name Engineers' Arms can be seen, not the new name Limerick Castle).

Prior to Tonini's arrival, licensee Mrs Annie Featherby found herself the target of criticism at the Licensing Reduction Board sittings on 6 March 1908. The pub was suspected of Sunday trading, after-hours trading, and gambling (the latter also supposedly taking place at the tobacconist's), though nothing had been proved and no charges laid. While the hotel escaped closure at this time, it was closed down at a later round in 1914. John Wren's tote at what is now 148 Johnston Street, not far from this hotel, had been closed down in January 1907, so local punters would have been glad of another gambling outlet! (See Wren's tote )

The tobacconist and barber's business continued after the hotel ceased functioning. James (Jim) Tonini became a Collingwood councillor from 1918 to 1934 (Mayor in 1923-24) and from 1936 to 1947. The hotel building was eventually demolished to make way for the expansion of Collingwood Technical School.

[186, later 202A] Johnston Street,
Collingwood 3066
Australia
Map It

London Hotel (1883 - 1919)

Surrey Hotel (1862 - 1876), Shamrock Hotel (1876 - 1882)

1862

1919

Demolished c.1919.

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Appendix 7, p. 327

Kearney 1855: N ; Hodgkinson 1858: N ; MMBW: Detail plan 1198, 1901

The carpet shop now at 200-202 Johnston Street is in the former Austral Theatre, which replaced this brick hotel and neighbouring shop. The Austral Theatre opened 15 September 1921.

Wellington Street, northeast corner of Vere Street
Collingwood 3066
Australia
Map It

Londonderry Hotel (1858 - 1925)

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1858

1925

Demolished by 1969

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Kearney 1855: N ; Hodgkinson 1858: N ; MMBW: Detail Plan 1197 & 1198, 1899

James and Martha Sawyers were associated with this hotel for many years as publican and owner. Shortly before its closure in 1925, licensee Terence Callaghan was running a dairy in Easey Street while his daughter Annie looked after the day-to-day running of the hotel. They became embroiled in a conspiracy case involving police detectives who placed stolen property at the hotel, then demanded money to cover it up. ( The Argus, 21 July 1925, p. 24)

Housing Commission of Victoria high rise flats were built on this site in the late 1960s.