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199 Queen's Parade, (formerly Heidelberg Road)
Clifton Hill 3068
Australia
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Clifton Hill

United Kingdom Hotel (1878 - 1988)

N/A

199 Queen's Parade, (formerly Heidelberg Road)
Clifton Hill 3068
Australia
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By 1878

1988

MacDonald's Family Restaurant

According to the Collingwood Conservation Study, the Victorian century hotel was demolished and replaced between 1906 and 1909, although CHS has not located concrete evidence of this; re-built 1937/38; additions facing Queen's Parade 1957-58; additions facing Heidelberg Road 1966.

VHR H0684

B5806

Part B, pp. 485-487

Volume 3, Appendix B, individually listed under precinct

HO 92

RHSV 1887: https://www.historyvictoria.org.au/ehive-object-details/1185273/

SLV c.1964: United Kingdom exterior

SLV c1964: United Kingdom dining room

SLV c.1964 : United Kingdom bedroom

Kearney 1855: N/A ; Hodgkinson 1858: N/A ; MMBW: Detail Plan 1264, 1904

Both the Victorian style and the Moderne style hotels made notable architectural statements in this prominent triangular position at the junction of the roads leading from Clifton Hill to Northcote and Heidelberg. The old hotel, a substantial cement-rendered two storey building with a slate roof and an elaborate verandah, was built around 1877, and is reputed to have been used as a staging-post where coaches changed horses. This may be the only hotel in Collingwood which retains a horse trough outside. These troughs were once a fixture at most hotels and in this case is historical in itself as a surviving Bills horse trough.

Over the following years the hotel in its prominent position became an important site that was used for many political and community group meetings, inquests into deaths in the Merri Creek, a meeting point for local sports groups and a reference point for weekly markets and land sales. 

To celebrate the turning of the first sod on the new railway line to Collingwood, Fitzroy and Royal Park in January 1886, the contractors held a lunch for 150 gentlemen at the hotel.  In March 1887, The Age stated that the population within a one and half mile radius of the United Kingdom Hotel was 83,000 and that it would double in the next ten years when the railway lines were finished. 

In the meantime, the hotel had been purchased in 1882 by Theodore Sabelberg and remained in the ownership of members of the Sabelberg family for many decades. It was later acquired by Carlton and United Breweries, which company was responsible for the replacement of the old hotel with the current 1937 building, a two-storey Moderne brick building with cantilevered concrete balconies, slim metal railings and light cantilevered canopies that accentuate the rounded horizontal mass of the ground and first floors. Built by Hansen and Yuncken Pty Ltd, it was designed by James H Wardrop, an architect noted for his role in the development of the European-based Moderne architectural style in Melbourne. As Robin Grow says: ‘The suburbs of Melbourne also boasted a number of new hotels, none better than the United Kingdom Hotel … the site provided the perfect setting for its ocean liner appearance. With a front section finished in terracotta and sweeping balconies, the two-storey hotel also featured windows with distinctive geometric designs.’ (Melbourne Art Deco, p. 40). While supervising the construction of the hotel, Wardrop was asked to design a new garage on an adjacent site, incorporating the distinctive architecture of the hotel. (Melbourne Art Deco, p. 100).

Contemporary newspapers of the time waxed lyrical with encomiums such as The Herald (19 May 1937) 'The new building provides a striking example of modern development in suburban hotel planning’ and The Argus (6 December 1937) 'Further evidence of the development of Melbourne suburbs is provided in the opening this week of a modern hotel on the site of the old United Kingdom Hotel.' On the same day The Age stated:

 A new standard in suburban hotel architecture is set by the new United Kingdom Hotel. Fifteen bedrooms, well-furnished sitting rooms and a spacious dining room ... The building forms an arresting focal point, with the tower in terra cotta and glazed tiles at the apex. All appointments are modern and include electric refrigeration, food warmers, stainless steel sinks, a special system to warm or cool the interior and forced ventilation in the cellar. 

Because of the status of the building, McDonald’s was obliged to be very careful in any work they did in turning the notable building into a restaurant. The Statement of Significance on the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR HO684) reads in part: 

The former United Kingdom Hotel is of architectural significance as possibly Victoria’s most exquisite and intact example of the Jazz Moderne style of architecture designed by one of the most notable proponents of the style, J.H. Wardrop. The building is greatly enhanced by its near-island siting and is externally and internally almost original, with the exception of post-war rear additions.

The former United Kingdom Hotel is of historical significance as an exemplar of the material culture of the late 1930s and of prevailing social customs. The survival of much of the hotel’s interior provides important evidence of hotel design and usage in the pre-WW2 period.

Donovan, Susan 1880; Donovan, Richard 1881; Sabelberg, Theodore 1882; McKay, William 1883-1886; Sabelberg, Henry 1891; Sabelberg, J H 1895.

CHS History Walk 2019:

https://collingwoodhs.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/CHS-Queens-Parade-History-Walk-Nov2018.pdf