Hockin’s Commercial Hotel assembly rooms and concert hall, later Bruce Small's Malvern Star agency, 283-285 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Title:
Hockin’s Commercial Hotel assembly rooms and concert hall, later Bruce Small's Malvern Star agency, 283-285 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne
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Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 103199
Level of description:
Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
Type of materials:
Graphic materialsTextual material
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Series: Central City (BIF-CITY)
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UnrestrictedOpen access.
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UnrestrictedPlease contact City of Melbourne Libraries about obtaining permission to reproduce images.
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ASSOCIATED RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER:DESIGNERS:Ross, David 1857;Barlow, Marcus R 1932.MELBOURNE PLANNING SCHEME AMENDMENT C271Grading: SignificantDate(s): c1857Survey Date: April 2018Statement of SignificanceWhat is Significant?The building at 283-285 Elizabeth Street was constructed as an addition to Hockin’s Commercial Hotel, as Assembly Rooms and concert hall. Hockin’s Hotel was originally constructed as John Passmore’s Passmore Family Hotel, which was granted a licence in May 1851. A relation of John’s, Joseph Passmore had operated the Shakespeare Hotel in Collins Street. In choosing a site for his hotel, John Passmore was likely well aware of the volume of traffic passing along Elizabeth Street on route to the goldfields. Indeed, notices in the Argus newspaper of 1851 refer to coaches departing from Passmore’s Hotel for the Ballarat diggings. Passmore’s Family Hotel can be seen in a drawing by Edmund Thomas of 1853. The hotel is depicted as a substantial and prominent three-storey building, with numerous entrances from Elizabeth Street and the name ‘Pasmores [sic.] Family Commercial Hotel’ painted on the upper stringcourse. The scale of the building is indicative of the level of patronage of the hotel in this early gold-rush period. The Argus later described the hotel as ‘a landmark from the early settlement days…a refuge for ‘man and beast’ with stables and ‘strongly fenced yards for bullocks’. In early 1853, Passmore transferred the hotel to William Hockin. In April 1853, Hockin advertised the dining room of Hockin’s Hotel was open ‘for the reception of patrons’. In August 1857, architect David Ross advertised for tenders for the ‘erection of a large concert hall, ante & other rooms in Elizabeth Street’, with builders Donne & Bridge appointed as contractors. Ross had arrived in Victoria in 1853, and before relocating to Dunedin in 1862, designs of his firm Dowden & Ross included St Mary of the Angels Catholic Church, Geelong, and Glass Terrace, Fitzroy. Ross also worked on St Francis Church (opposite the subject property) in 1857. The two-storey Assembly Rooms was constructed to the north of the hotel on Elizabeth Street, with a narrow linking component connecting the two buildings. The rendered masonry building, with quoining to the façade edges, can be seen in photographs of the 1870s, its two levels roughly equivalent to the adjacent earlier hotel. It incorporated three tall arched windows at first floor level, and a central arched entry at ground floor. The narrow linking component also had a tall arched window at first floor level. The Assembly Rooms were opened by late 1857, with a notice of December 1857 in the Age advising of a grand ball to be held on New Year’s Day. A further notice of early January 1858 advertised: The above magnificent rooms, recently erected, are now ready for balls, concerts, meetings, &c. Application to be made at Hockin’s Hotel. The rooms were soon in use with an engraving in the Illustrated Melbourne News of 16 January 1858 showing a well-dressed gathering attending a ball. The building’s arched windows at first floor level are visible in this illustration. The Assembly Rooms were the venue of numerous events during the 1850s, including ‘subscription assemblies’, with gold official and writer Richard Horne, praising organisers for their moral courage in refusing ‘the claims for admission of some of the wealthy unwashed, and other unsuitables’. These private assembly balls continued into the 1860s. An article of 1935 described Hockin’s Assembly Rooms in the earlier period: Fashionable maids and matrons in wide-spreading crinolines with … bearded escorts used to alight from their carriages at Hockin’s Hotel at the corner of Lonsdale Street. They were going to the Assembly Rooms, also conducted by Hockin, where most of the large fashionable dances were held during the ‘50s and ‘60s. The Assembly Rooms was also the site of political and public gatherings, with a meeting of approximately 300 ironworkers held in September 1858 in relation to securing the ‘benefits of the eight hour movement’ for their trade. Other public meetings and gatherings included farmers conferences, the Master Coachmakers’ Association, and tHow is it Significant?The former Assembly Rooms at 283-5 Elizabeth Street, constructed in c. 1857 as an entertainment premises connected to the adjacent Hockin’s Family Hotel, is of local historical significance.Why is it Significant?The former Assembly Rooms is of historical significance as a c. 1857 entertainment hall associated with a substantial gold-rush era hotel (now demolished), on the main route north of the city, including the route to the Bendigo goldfields. It was the venue of numerous balls, dances and public meetings into the early twentieth century and operated as a place of gathering for the early Melbourne community. It was also the site of political meetings, and in the early twentieth century the building was occupied by the Victorian Socialist Party as the Socialist Hall. Although altered, the building at 283-5 Elizabeth Street is additionally significant as a purpose-built gold-rush era entertainment venue, understood to be a rare surviving building type in the city..GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites source 81,82 Yuncken Freeman Architects P/L 1976.. Historic Buildings Preservation Council Melbourne CBD Study Area 5,p109 dates at c1860 - no recommendation for HISTORIC BUILDINGS PRESERVATION COUNCIL register. See 287-9 Elizabeth Street for 1984-5 survey image.LEWIS, M- AUSTRALIAN ARCHITECTURE INDEXRecords14657 Ross, David VIC Halls 1857 8 5 Tenders wanted - erection of a large concert hall, ante & other rooms in Elizabeth St. Argus 5.8.1857 p 7.CITY OF MELBOURNE BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATIONSMelbourne Building Application Index Elizabeth St - Flinders Sthttps://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/60672/images/44777_349573-00286273-285:1917 May 708 erecting six shopfronts- see also 352-8 Lonsdale St .….associated with Mitchell House1932 13511 ₤1200 Alts and additions to building etc.STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIAAerial view of the central business district of Melbourne looking south-easterly from the Elizabeth and Lonsdale Streets intersectionAuthor / Creator Pratt, Charles Daniel, 1892-1968 photographer. Date [ca. 1950-ca. 1960]- shows roof tops of shop and residence rowhttp://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/97829.Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, VictoriaAuthor / Creator Rose Stereograph Co c1949- shows façade with 3 arched windows, suspended canopy and stepped parapet either end- Interwar? Shows neon fin sign to south end with `Malvern Star' also on parapet.http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/383679.NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954)Wednesday 27 December 1933 - Page 12"BUY A MILE" Nicholson Fund By J. J. MAHER, The Herald Writer on Cycling.. At Mordialloc on Sunday night the carnival committee will welcome home Nicholson, who will officially complete jus ride. A guard of honor of several hundred past and present cyclists will escort him into Mordialloc. All those taking part are asked to meet outside the head depot of the Malvern Star agency in Elizabeth Street (opposite St. Francis Church) at 9 o'clock on Sunday night and report themselves to Mr Hen ley, who will be in charge..Sporting Globe (Melbourne, Vic. : 1922 - 1954) Wed 20 Feb 1935 Page 10 - illust.https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/243223909Romance Of Cycle IndustryBy J. J. MAHER Bruce Small's Rise Has Been Meteoric HERE is romance in the rise of Mr. Bruce Small, one of the outstanding figures in Australian cycling today. In 1920 he began as a small retail cycle trader at Malvern, with two younger brothers to assist him...Today he is not only one of Australia's leading bicycle manufacturers—employing more than 360 hands — but is sole distributor for the Commonwealth of the B.S.A. accessories, and he has become a powerful factor as a promoter and on the racing and touring side of cycling. ..Mr Small first handled bicycles in 1920. One of his customers was Tom Finnigan the former Austral Wheel race winner, who at the time was builder of the Malvern Star ma- Bruce Small eventually purchased the business which was destined to provide many illuminating chapters in the history of Australian cycling. A few months later Frank and Ralph Small joined the staff, in those days a small one. Finance was more or less a problem to a young and struggling trader. A man of courage, ambition and enterprise, Bruce opened a branch at Gardenvale in 1921 and two years later extended his operations to High Street -Prahran. to which he transferred the factory and head office.'Firm grows to the extent that in 1927 they acquired the Elizabeth st property..DIRECTORIES OF VICTORIA, MELBOURNE-SANDS AND KENNY, SANDS & MCDOUGALL1930283 Snooker Hall Pty Ltd, billiard hall285 Riddell, Mrs A.. Furn warehouse1942BRUCE SMALL PTY LTD283-285 Malvern Star bicycles(287-289 Milledge Bros Pty Ltd)
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1204498
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 103199 | 1 JPEG : 231 KB ; A4 | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |