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484 Smith Street
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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Gasometer Hotel (2010 to present)

Gasometer Hotel (1861 - c.1997), Irish Murphy's (c.1997 - 2000), Father Flanagan's Hotel (c.2001 - 2010)

1860/1861

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Existing hotel

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Part C, pp. 552-555

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Kearney 1855: N ; Hodgkinson 1858: N ; MMBW: Detail Plan 1214, 1900

In 1859 architect Alfred Kursteiner invited tenders for the erection of a public house for Mr C. A. Mater. ( The Argus, 15 June 1859). The owner was Charles Mater, who owned a large tract of land bounded by Reilly Street (now Alexandra Parade) and Smith Street, and after whom Mater Street was named. The hotel's name is a reminder of the former Collingwood, Fitzroy and District Gas and Coke Company , which was established in 1859 and commenced supply from its works (diagonally opposite the hotel) in May 1861. However there was no denying that at the time of its erection, the hotel was in an area that was under-populated, and it was advertised with the following inducements:

To LET, on LEASE, erected as a pioneer to the settlement of a populous neighbourhood. The whole paddock adjoining is surveyed, with plans for sale in allotments at a low price with deferred payments. The new market contiguous is fenced. The great and increasing traffic of Smith-street, with the numerous employees at the gasworks, give assurance for the establishment of a good business within a short period.

( The Argus, 20 March 1860, p. 1)

The promised trade may not have eventuated, as there was a rapid turnover of publicans in the first few years. James Lawlor, James Crawley, and George Pashley followed one another in quick succession, while by August 1865 Mater and Co were again advertising it to let. By 1869 it was bought by Richard Benham who was also the licensee; it remained in Benham family ownership into the twentieth century.

The hotel is stuccoed stone and brick. The corner splay is emphasized with quoins and pilasters. After some years' flirtation with Irish-themed names, the hotel has recently returned to its original name.

31 Johnston Street
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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George Hotel (1906 - 1914)

Court House Hotel (1865 - 1895), Federation (1899 - 1906)

1865

1914

Commercial premises and cafe

1939/1954

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N/A

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Contributory to HO 324; Appendix 7, pp. 321-323

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

he hotel was sited next door to the original East Collingwood Court House which gave the proprietor an obvious choice of name, and no doubt contributed to the custom. By the end of the century the court function had moved to the new Town Hall in Hoddle Street and the old court room was occupied by the Collingwood Working Men's Club, so the impending federation of states provided another choice of name.

The hotel was closed by the Licenses Reduction Board in 1914, along with seven other hotels in the Barkly and Darling Wards.

Most people walking past this building would assume the Victorian era pub was gone, because the frontage is composed of shops and office in a distinctive Moderne design (with later alterations). However a closer look reveals original chimneys and roof behind this facade, and peeking through the gate on the old carriageway on the west side gives the curious researcher gives a few more glimpses of the former hotel. The building became part of a larger complex of neighbouring buildings housing Gregory Steel Products until the1960s.

51-55 Gipps Street
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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Glasshouse Hotel (1853 to present)

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1853

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Existing hotel

1918

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N/A

Volume 2, Building Citations, Part 1, pp. 135-136

HO103. Individually significant.

Kearney 1855: Y ; Hodgkinson 1858: Y (not named) ; MMBW: Detail Plan 1209, 1899

The original hotel on this site was built of brick, and its name refers to the nearby Glass House, one of Collingwood's earliest factories, in Glasshouse Lane, near the Rokeby Street corner. The surrounding electoral subdivision was named North Glasshouse.

In 1908, at the Licenses Reduction Board hearing, it was claimed that the present licensee was a teetotaller who was conducting the hotel better than it had been for 30 years past. The hotel was 'in the centre of a thickly populated locality' and there had been absolutely no Sunday trading since Robert Muirhead took charge, and business had increased.

The Chairman:- Increased trade after stoppage of Sunday trading! That ought to be made widely known. The moral effect would be considerable, I am sure. (Laughter)

( The Argus, 19 February 1908, p. 4)

The Glasshouse was permitted to continue trading. Carlton & United Breweries acquired the old hotel in 1910, and rebuilt in 1917-18.

The current building, despite some alterations, remains an eye-catching and unusual late Edwardian structure. The ground floor walls were originally face brick while the upper floor employed roughcast. There is a brown glazed tiled dado with decorative top and bottom courses. The roughcast has been painted over and some windows have been altered.

[291] Hoddle Street, on the northwest corner of Perry Street
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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Gloucester Hotel (1858 - 1919)

Sometimes referred to as the Gloucester Arms

1858

1919

Demolished. Site is now part of the road

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

A two-storeyed brick hotel.

At the Licenses Reduction Board hearing, licensee Mrs Jane Carpenter admitted that she frequently talked to friends through the open window on Sundays, but denied that any trading went on. Other witnesses gave evidence as to the good conduct of the hotel, and the 'public convenience it served, particularly in connection with sports gatherings on the Victoria-park.' ( The Argus, 7 March 1908, p. 22)

The background to this comment was that in 1903 Collingwood Council had abolished the sale of intoxicating liquor at the Victoria Park football and cricket ground. This led to the lengthening of the half-time interval to facilitate the exodus to the convivial atmosphere of local pubs, while those who stayed at the ground were kept amused by such entertainments as brass bands, boomerang throwing and foot races.

Sackville Street, southeast corner of Smith Street
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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Good Woman Hotel (1866)

Old Gold-diggers Hotel (1865 - 1866)

1865

1866

Demolished by around 1915, when the building now number 358 Smith Street was built.

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N/A

Kearney 1855: N ; Hodgkinson 1858: N ; MMBW: Detail Plan 1238, 1900 (?)

This building was a grocer's in 1864 before its brief life as a hotel, then a grocer's again, later becoming a greengrocer's for most of the remainder of the nineteenth century. The shop with a cellar, shown on the 1900 MMBW map as 358 Smith Street, may be the former hotel building.

114 Smith Street
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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Grace Darling Hotel (1854 to present)

N/A

1854

N/A

Existing hotel

1920s extensions on the Peel Street frontage.

VHR H0660

B3840

Part C, pp. 574-576

Volume 3, Appendix B, individually listed under precinct

HO135, VHR

Kearney 1855: Y ; Hodgkinson 1858: Y ; MMBW: Detail Plan 1208, 1899

As one of the few remaining 1850s hotels in Melbourne and one of the earliest surviving buildings in Collingwood, the Grace Darling is of both local and Melbourne-wide significance, providing a striking remnant of the early years of Melbourne's suburban development and an excellent example of an early stone building in Collingwood.

It is also famous as the site of the 1892 meeting associated with the eventual formation of the Collingwood Football Club.

Designed by George Wharton, the first owner and publican was Thomas Risby (from Tasmania). The Risby family owned the property until around 1870. Patrick Coyle, owner of the nearby Albion Hotel, was the publican from 1869 to 1879.

Built of bluestone, the hotel features Tasmanian sandstone door and window surrounds. Sydney Smith, Ogg and Serpell designed the surprisingly sympathetic 1920s extensions.

Its name commemorates the heroine of the wreck of the "Forfarshire" in 1838.