Exploration Hotel, 116-118 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Exploration Hotel, 116-118 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
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1985
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BIF-CITY 106055
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Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
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Series: Central City (BIF-CITY)
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RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER 2022:__________________________________________________Period: Early VictorianDATE: 1862;ASSOCIATIONS: Cohen, Levy & Sons;DESIGNER: Blewden, William?;BUILDER: Blewden, William.GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYStatement of SignificanceFormer Exploration Hotel116-118 Little Lonsdale Street1862HistoryGrantee, John Wollaston, subdivided his lot 13 in 1850, this and the adjoining site to the west (120 - 2) included. William and Ellen Skinner took the adjoining lot but the corner went to the hotel's first owner-licensee, John Glavin. His connection with Esther and Simeon Cohen (probable trustee of the Union Benefit Building & Investment Society who financed the building) is not definite but it was Cohen of John Levy & Sons auctioneers, who commissioned builder, William Blewden, to construct this hotel on the corner of Exploration lane, in mid 1861. John Glavin was the licensee until 1871 when the hotel underwent repairs, including painting and plastering but it is evident that he met his death soon afterwards. Thomas Glavin, the recipient of John's estate, sold this and the adjoining 120 - 22 to Simeon's wife, Esther Cohen in 1875, who resold 122 to Catherine and John Dolan. William Green in the late 1880s and Miss A McCarthy were among the subsequent licensees. The hotel and 120 were sold to the Terry's West End Brewery in 1885. This company (now Carlton & West End) was liquidated in the late 1890s becoming the Carlton Brewery Ltd.The hotel closed in the licensing reduction era of 1912; John Mason being one of the last licensees. The brewery sold it and the adjoining 120 to Samuel Cronin in 1914 who divided it from 120, selling to Charlie Ah Ten in 1915. It was used as a varnish factory in the 1930s and an electro-plating works in the 1940s, as part of the gradual shift from mixed residential to factory uses in the area.DescriptionOf the simple splayed parapeted form shared by most of Melbourne's 1860s commercial buildings, it retains typically austere detailing (Windsor architraves, cornice and string moulds) and the ground level pilaster divisions for the corner bar show windows and entry. Upstairs the corner window has been blinded.External IntegrityThe facade has been restored, new shop fronts installed in modified openings and the upper level window sashes replaced with single fixed panes. The rear wing, fronting the lane, appears to have been renovated as, presumably, has the interior.StreetscapeNow more of a facade than before, (given renovations), it is nevertheless a good corner element to commence a commercial streetscape on the west, which shares finished, scale and stylistic inspiration.SignificancePerhaps now only symbolically a hotel, the building still possesses that characteristic form of early commercial Melbourne and is contributory to a commercial streetscape..GRAEME BUTLER & ASSOCIATES 2010, HERITAGE ASSESSMENT OF 116-132 LITTLE LONSDALE ST, MELBOURNE:__________________________________________________Statement of SignificanceWhat is significant?Built in 1862 and presumably named after the ill-fated Burke and Wills Expedition of 1860-1861 from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria, this two storey former Exploration Hotel was at the centre of well publicised and documented criminal and social events that characterised the district known as `Little Lon’ within the Melbourne City context. With the adjoining row houses it functioned as a social and service centre for travellers and local residents alike with some of its patrons ending up in gaol or dead.The hotel has the characteristic parapeted classical revival form of corner hotels of the time and is particularly distinguished by its stone pilastrade at ground level.How is it significantThe former Exploration Hotel at 116-118 Little Lonsdale Street is significant aesthetically and historicallyWhy is it significantThe former Exploration Hotel at 116-118 Little Lonsdale Street is locally significant to the City of Melbourne.Historically:The former Exploration Hotel represents well the key period of the historic development of the infamous `Little Lon’ district, an area that because of its diverse and colourful residents has attracted a high level of public attention over recent years within the Melbourne area. The hotel sits within a streetscape, as its earliest part, that demonstrates the main change in uses in this part of the City, from residential and corner-commercial buildings to warehouse and manufacturing uses.The activities within and around the hotel have been well documented over time, allowing a depth of interpretation of the building’s history and that of its setting as among the last of Victorian-era parts of Outcast Melbourne.Aesthetically:The 1860s classical revival stone pilasters at ground level are rare within the Melbourne City context.The former hotel and its setting evoke an aesthetic linked with early Victorian-era architecture with recent recognition including the 1976 CBD conservation study, the CAD heritage study, and the 2002 CAD heritage review..GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites source 77, page 63__________________________________________________DARYL JACKSON EVAN WALKER ARCHITECTS PTY. LTD 1976 FOR HISTORIC BUILDINGS PRESERVATION COUNCIL; MELBOURNE: THE AREA BOUNDED BY VICTORIA, SPRING, LONSDALE AND SWANSTON STS (source 77)Address 116-118 Little Lonsdale STreetDate Built 1862Original Use HotelStreetscape No. 71. HistoricalThe site was occupied from 1851 (1) or earlier by a corner shop tenanted during the early 1850s by a grocer and a tailor (2). The Exploration Hotel was opened in 1862, owned by Simeon Cohen and tenanted by WaIter or Patrick Glavin (3)By 1895 the hotel had closed and the building used as a carpentry shop (4).2 Architectural2.1 Exploration Hotel opened in 1862 (3) on the site of an earlier building dating from 1851 or earlier and described as “corner shop and 3 rooms" (1). It is possible that the earlier building (single storey) was incorporated into the hotel; the original description is consistent· with the front rooms (5). The new. or partly new building was described as "10 rooms, kitchen and barn” (3).By 1871 the neighbouring property (No. 120) was owned by the hotel licensee; but there is no evidence that the building was incorporated into the hotel (5)Footnotes(1) M C.C. Rate Book, Gipps Ward, 1851..(2) M. C C. Rate Book, Gipps Ward, 1854.(3)M C C. Rate Book, Gipps Ward, 1862.(4 ) MMBW. Detail Plan, 1895.( 5 ) :Mahlstedt 1910 map__________________________________________________VICTORIAN HERITAGE INVENTORY H7822-1108Grantee John Wollaston subdivided his lot 13 in 1850 (included no. 120-122).2 storey hotel constructed 1861-2. Owner/licensee John Glavin. After a series of transactions the hotel & Nos.120-122 sold to Terrys' West End Brewery 1885. Hotel closed in licensing reduction era, 1914. Building used as varnish factory in the 1930s & electro-plating works in the 1940s.__________________________________________________LEWIS, M- AUSTRALIAN ARCHITECTURE INDEX:Record 74199 Cohen Levy & Sons Melbourne VIC Hotels Blewden, William - Melbourne 1861 08 5 375, MCC registration no 375 [Burchett Index]. Fee 2.10.0hotel Little Lonsdale near east - 127__________________________________________________GRAEME BUTLER & ASSOCIATES 2010, HERITAGE ASSESSMENT OF 116-132 LITTLE LONSDALE ST, MELBOURNE:Exploration Hotel, 116 - 118 Little Lonsdale Street MelbourneHistoryThis building is part of a building group located on Allotments 13-14 of Section 26, Parish of North Melbourne, adjoining allotment 12. John Wollaston was the crown grantee of two blocks (12 & 13) sold in 1848-9, allotment 12 for ₤167 and allotment 13 for ₤164.Crown Grantee, John Wollaston, subdivided his lot 13 Section 26 in 1850, creating Green Lane (now Exploration Lane) at the junction on the east side of his allotment which allowed access to further subdivided blocks to the north .He also created this and the adjoining site to the west (120-122), selling that to William and Ellen Skinner. He sold this corner lot to the Exploration Hotel's first owner licensee, John Glavin. His connection with Esther and Simeon Cohen (trustee of the Union Benefit Building & Investment Society who financed the building) is not definite but it was Cohen of John Levy & Sons, auctioneers, who commissioned builder, William Blewden, to construct this hotel on the corner of Exploration Lane, in mid 1861 . It was presumably named after the ill-fated Burke and Wills Expedition of 1860-1861 from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria.Municipal rate books cite Cohen as the owner and Walter John Glavin as the occupier of the hotel’s first rate entry in 1862 as brick hotel of 10 rooms, with a Nett Annual Value of ₤175 . Prior to that a two room brick house had been at 127 Little Lonsdale St East .A quarterly licensing session for the City of Melbourne was held December 1861 at the City Police Court, before the bench of magistrates including The Mayor, Messrs. Sturt, P.M., Hood, Bydes, Montefiore, S. Elliott, Guthridge, M'Garthy, Hugh Glass, Thomas, Perry, and Henderson: Glavin was handed his first licence .A month later, the hotel was already the scene of notoriety.STEALING MONEY.-Mary Anne Stewart and Mary Anne Hunter were brought up by Detective Eason, charged with stealing £35 from William Vale, an East Indian, in a house in Romeo-lane. (The prisoner Hunter was the mother of the little boy just sentenced to two months' imprisonment for stealing books.) Wit ness went to the house, which he found deserted, and then searched for two prisoners, whom he found in the bar of tho Exploration Hotel, Little Lonsdale-street. On bringing them into street, the prisoner Stewart threw a quantity of money into her mouth, and was nearly choked in swallowing it. At the watch house, £1. 3s.10d was found upon her, and upon Hunter 3s. On going back to the house, witness found a £1 note lying on the ground, and also, under the verandah, a knife, which bad been identified by tin prosecutor. The case was remanded till Wednesday, for the attendance of an interpreter.Vale had accompanied her into her room, having asked for his purse from one of his friends. The woman left the room within minutes and Vale discovered he had been robbed, the circumstances suggesting prostitution. The verdict was `Guilty’ and the Sentence, eighteen months' imprisonment, with hard labour.Other tales involved Glavin himself who it seemed often acted as an intermediary between dubious persons who frequented his bar. Glavin was fined 40/- for allowing a number of disorderly characters to assemble in his house on the night of Saturday, January 31, and morning of Sunday, February 1 1863. The magistrate remarked upon the fact that Galvin had formerly been in the police force and should have known he was breaking the law but that alas in his experience the public houses kept by former policemen were all conducted more or less in a disorderly manner. The defendant was cautioned . Glavin was found guilty on more than one occasion for selling liquor on a Sunday.Another case involved Glavin and slum dwellers at the back of the hotel.(After accusation of stealing from a man) …The prisoner Lambert denied the prosecutor's story, and said he had promised to marry her, and had given her ten sovereigns to get some clothes Then, because she would not have him, he swore to be revenged upon her, and she gave the money to Mr Glavin.John Glavin, residing at the Exploration Hotel, stated that on Tuesday night, some time after twelve o’clock, the prisoner Lambert came to him, and gave him ten sovereigns to keep for her. She said they belonged to " the black man," to whom she was going to get married.Constable William Wright, A160, deposed to having taken Lambert into custody, and to the arrest of the prisoner Shannan. Both denied the robbery, and the younger prisoner became excited and said "Glavin has got the money." Witness then went to Mr Glavin's house, and received from him the ten sovereigns given him by the prisoner Lambert.In answer to the Bench, the prosecutor admitted that he had offered to take Lambert with him to New Zealand, and to marry her, if she behaved herself. He had also bought a pair of shoes for her. She was committed for trial and Shannan was discharged…And in the next week.About two o'clock on Sunday morning-, at Constable Quilty, A138, was on duty in Lonsdale street east, he saw a man lying naked in the road, and went towards him. The man, as he approached, called out "police” and in reply to the constable's inquiries, told him that he had been robbed of his clothes, and of upwards of £200, in a house of ill repute, situated in a right of way at the rear of the Exploration Hotel, Little Lonsdale street The constable took him into custody, together with a man named Thomas Walsh, who was near the spot, and went with them to the house, which he proceeded to search He found a purse, containing seventeen sovereigns and 15s 6d. in silver, and a bag, under a bed, containing £145 in sovereigns and a diamond ring, which the plundered man, whoso name is Joseph Davis, valued at £45 The man Walsh was taken to the station-house, together with a girl, named Ellen Walsh, who is believed to cohabit with him and was present when the robbery was commuted They will be brought up at the City Court this morning .These tales and many others show the tenor of life in `Little Lon’ and specifically around this old hotel but at a time long before the Chinese inhabited the area.Freehold part-owner and auctioneer, John Levy and Sons (whose rooms were in Collins Street West) also conducted business in the area, selling the lease of three houses adjoining the hotel.WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19.Valuable City Rentroll.Little Lonsdale-street east.Next the Exploration Hotel.JOHN LEVY and SONS have been instructed by the proprietor to SELL by PUBLIC AUCT ION, on the premises, Little Lonsdale-street east, on Wednesday next, 10th at twelve o'clock,That excellent property situate as above described. upon which are erected three substantial brick houses, capable of procuring a rental of 30s per week. Each house has a good roomy yard attached, and of a class that will always readily let .These houses adjoined in Exploration lane and were constantly referred to in the courts as brothels, hovels or in one report A SCHOOL OF VICE .The hotel also served as a gathering place for special social occasions.Funeral Notices.THE Friends of the late Mr. JAMES REYNOLDS are respectfully invited to follow his remains to the place of Interment, Melbourne General Cemetery. The funeral to move from the Exploration Hotel, Little Lonsdale street east, to-morrow, Sunday, 6th ins, at 8 o'clock p m.JOHN DALEY, undertaker, La Trobe and Spring streets, Melbourne.It was also the site of an inquest held into the death of Isaac Isaacs, aged seven years, the son of a dealer in Foundry-lane, off Little Lonsdale-street east in 1875.And City councillors also used it for their campaigns.The election contest in Gipps Ward is being carried on with great spirit on all sides. Last evening Mr. George Hughes, the retiring councillor, who is seeking re-election, held two meetings. The first was at seven p.m., a Glavin's Exploration Hotel, in Little Lonsdale-street east, but as none but avowed friends and supporters were present, and the place was overcrowded, it was deemed advisable to adjourn to the (much larger) Globe Hotel, in Swanston-street, where a meeting at a late hour had also been arranged for. This was held in due course, and tho choir was take) by Mr. Kenna. Mr. Hughes then addressed the ratepayers, assuring them that he would not have come forward without feeling assured that he had acted honestly, never yet having recorded a vote against the Interests of the ward. …Trustees Lewis Davis and John Levy leased the hotel to Glavin from early 1862 for 5 years at ₤225 per annum, followed by another five year lease from 1866. The confirmation of the lease may have inspired Galvin to call tenders for painting and paperhanging at the hotel in 1863, so much so that some of the ornamentation was stolen from the hotel in early 1864 . But the tone of the establishment did not improve.The Bourke General Sessions were occupied during the whole of yesterday with a hearing of a charge of assault and robbery preferred by a man named John Eva against Walter Glavln (brother of the landlord of the Exploration Hotel, Little Lonsdale-street), John Cox, and John Simmons. The prosecutor's statement was that he was knocked down by the prisoners and robbed £15, in the Exploration Hotel, between two and three o'clock on the morning of the S September.Glavin was tried alone, and Cox and Simmons wore placed in the do together. In the case of the first mention prisoner the jury did not agree, and were discharged without a verdict. Cox and Si mons were found "Guilty," and remand until to day for sentence .Walter Glavin was later retried and found Guilty and a new barman was sought at the hotel.Another curious case involved John Glavin and Mrs Skinner who owned the houses next door at 120-122 Little Lonsdale Street.A trial, possessing rather peculiar features, took place last week in the Supreme Court, before Mr. Justice Molesworth. An old .woman named Skinner, whose husband had -deserted her, who had no relatives in the colony, nor, as far as was known, in the world, amassed some property - about five hundred pounds in the Savings-bank, and three cottages in Little Lonsdale-street. Being uneducated, she employed different persons to collect her rents and bank her money for her, among others John Glavin, of the Exploration Hotel, a neighbour ; and after t wards Thomas. , Jennings, stonemason, another neighbour. In the beginning of November, 1867, she was taken ill, and was confined to her bed, her sickness eventually terminating in her death on the 20th of that month. After her decease, both Jennings and Glavin produced wills pur- porting to be made by her-that of the former in favour of his son. This will date 15th November. The other will was dated on 16th November, and by it -all the property was left to Glavin. The evidence in support of these was of an extra- ordinarily conflicting nature. The deceased was a markswoman (signed by making her mark), so that no assistance could be derived from a comparison of her handwriting, and each of tho rival claimants alleges that the will of the other is a forgery.Glavin swore that Mrs. Skinner sent for him three days before sho died, that at her request he drew up the will, which was witnessed by Michael Woolff, a cigar-maker, and Hannah Wells, an illiterate person, who had to make her mark attesting it.None of these parties saw Jennings at the place. On the other hand, Jennings and his wife swore that they were in constant attendance on the old woman for ten days before she died; that one or other of them was always in the house; that neither Glavin nor Woolf, .came near the house during that time ; that Wells was constantly drunk, so that it was impossible this will could have been executed. As to Jennings' will, it was alleged that on the Friday before her death Mrs. Skinner showed Jennings a document which she said was her will, and asked him to sign it. He went out, met a man in the street, a perfect stranger, who accompanied him into the house, and there and then Mrs. Skinner signed the document, the others attesting it. Mrs. Wells swore that she was with the sick woman during all this time, and that neither Jennings nor Williams "(the name of the other .witness) could have entered the place. Mr. Justice Molesworth' took time to consider be- fore giving his decision.Glavin won the case and proceeded to rebuild the adjoining houses at 120-122 Little Lonsdale Street in 1869-70. The death of Levy in 1870 provided for Henry Fergie as a new trustee of Cohen’s property.John Glavin was the licensee until 1871 when the hotel underwent repairs, including painting and plastering with tenders called by a new licensee William Cook. Glavin was back by the mid 1870s, after terminating the lease in 1874 . He was involved in a well publicised forgery case with the Bank of Victoria, reported in March 1875. His wife, Mrs Glavin had died in 1869 after a year serving as the Exploration Hotel keeper.Thomas Glavin sold the hotel and the recently rebuilt adjoining 120-122 Little Lonsdale Street to Simeon Cohen's wife, Esther in 1875, who resold 122 to Catherine and John Dolan.John Syme was the new lessee and licensee of the hotel from 1874 (5 years at ₤150 pa), followed by Mrs Margaret Courtney, M Dowling, Samuel Basford (1886), William Green in the late 1880s, Alice and then Anastasia McCarthy,. William & Lena Hicks, Mrs Matilda Franck, and John Burns.One of the hotelkeepers from this period, John Courtney, was a witness in the little Lonsdale Street Murder Case of William Paine.Two men accused of murder had purchased some pies and potatoes from John Yates, the driver of a saveloy machine, at the corner of Stephen (Exhibition) and Little Lonsdale streets, and after abusing Yates they stood up near the Exploration Hotel in Little Lonsdale Street Yates heard a man near them cry, ' Oh what are you doing with me’ and so he called upon the driver of another saveloy machine to follow, and drove down quickly towards to men who ran away, and when he reached the spot where they had been standing, he found the deceased man lying upon his back in the street in an insensible state, his head lying in a pool of blood, and his pockets rifled .Figure 26 Richard Egan Lee Barbarous murder in Little Lonsdale Street 1877 Shows the body of William Payne, a tailor who worked in Russell Street, murdered by a group of four men; published in Police news, April 21, 1877. (State Library of Victoria)
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