Abbotsford Hotels – Single Hotel Details

139 Queen's Parade,
Clifton Hill 3068
Australia
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Clifton Hill

Normandy Hotel (1983 - 2009)

Dainton's Family Hotel (1875 - 1880), Normanby Hotel (1881 - 1982)

139 Queen's Parade,
Clifton Hill 3068
Australia
Map It

1875

c.2009

Rubber Duck cafe ground floor, upper floors residential

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Part B, pp. 481-482

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Individually significant within HO 330

Kearney 1855: N ; Hodgkinson 1858: N ; MMBW: Detail Plan 1217, 1901

George Dainton, a stonemason, owned a house on this site before building the hotel, and was the first publican. After a few years he leased the hotel to another publican and the hotel name was changed, but Dainton retained ownership into the early 1890s. The building of this hotel, as well as the Clifton Hill Hotel and St John’s Catholic Church, signalled the start of a period of more intense settlement and development in Clifton Hill. It is a striking building, a large two storey Italianate hotel with corner splay and dentilated cornice line, decoratively enriched by quoining and pedimented window heads. A detached two storeyed block faces Gold Street. Exterior alterations have been minor compared to many other pubs.

Numerous meetings of a political nature were held in the hotel as was usual at this time; Dr Hearn was one politician who held meetings in the hotel for the Fitzroy Elections. A number of the publicans were fined for either Sunday Trading or out of hours drinking.

During the late 1890s and into the twentieth century the Normanby Hotel was a place where you could put in entries for the Fitzroy Races and Pigeon Shooting both of which were held at the Fitzroy Racecourse (actually in Northcote). In 1901 the hotel held Smoke Nights and farewells to local members of the Sixth Victorian Contingent who were leaving to go to South Africa and the Boer War. 

In 1933 the license was transferred to Peter O’Loughlin who remained as publican for many years and carried out alterations to the interior of the hotel, extending the bar as well as work on the upstairs and the outside of the building in 1936. In 1954 the wedding reception of Dr Gerald Reginald Warming (grandson of Frederick Warming of the Clifton Hill Hotel) and Gladys Booth was held at the Normanby Hotel and 'beautifully arranged' by Mr and Mrs P. O’Loughlin.

By 1983 the name was changed to the Normandy under owner was Arthur Amagnos and manager Ted Cox. An article (or should that be advertorial) appeared in a local paper:

…one of the new breed of sophisticated hotels appearing in Melbourne where patrons can relax in an atmospheric bistro, sip coffee or aperitifs in the piano bar, treat themselves to a sumptuous smorgasbord carvery at Sunday lunch or simply enjoy traditional hearty pub fare in the public bar.

The Melbourne Times 15 December 1983

During the 1980s and 1990s it was a music venue with an Irish ambience and Guinness on tap, reaching a crescendo every St Patrick's Day when patrons spilled on to the footpath from the crowded interior. The hotel's closure, and the proposals for a mixed commercial and residential use, caused anxiety among locals and involved considerable representations to Yarra Council and VCAT to ensure the new works would not excessively detract from Queen's Parade character and ambience. Ultimately the result was the Rubber Duck Cafe on the ground floor of the hotel building, and apartments utilising upper floors and additional buildings.

Dainton’s: Dainton, George 1873-1880; Normanby: Cutler, William 1881-1888; Carter, Edward 1895.