Hotel:Ayrshire Arms Hotel
Collingwood
52A Palmer Street
Collingwood 3066
Australia
Map It
4
Ayrshire Arms Hotel (1871 - 1908)
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1871
1908
residence
Corner doorway bricked up, later window added facing Perry Street
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Part B, pp. 430-431
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Contributory to HO324
Kearney 1855: N ; Hodgkinson 1858: N ; MMBW: Detail Plan 1197 & 1198, 1899.
There are a number of large and ornate hotels in Collingwood; this small mid-Victorian hotel is at the other end of the spectrum. Its restrained architectural details, size, and location in a minor street are indicative of a type of hotel serving a localised clientele, probably in humble circumstances. Most hotels of this type were de-licensed in the early twentieth century, and many were demolished. That this one remains is a lucky chance for us to gain some insight into a past lifestyle.
At the Licenses Reduction Board hearing in 1908
Arthur Darby, licensee, said he had a fair class of customers amongst the labouring classes. Very few of the 'belltopper gentlemen' came to his hotel. He denied that the hotel was damp. In reply to Inspector Dungey, witness said he had done some Sunday trading, but a few Sundays ago Constable Roxby visited the hotel and gave him a scare. Since then he had not done any but had taken a position as driver for a cordial manufacturer, so as to make up for the loss which he was sustaining through abstaining from Sunday trading.
The Argus, 28 February 1908. p. 9
Shortly after giving up its licence, the hotel was auctioned with the following description: 'Delicensed hotel... very substantial, brick, slated, one-storey building, 9 rooms; in good repair; now let at 2 pounds weekly... well-adapted for business and residence.' ( The Argus, 23 December 1908, p.2)