Hosie's Hotel, 1-5 Elizabeth Street & 286-290 Flinders Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Total copies: 1
Title:
Hosie's Hotel, 1-5 Elizabeth Street & 286-290 Flinders Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 103165 1
Level of description:
Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
Type of materials:
Graphic materialsTextual material
Part of:
Series: Central City (BIF-CITY)
Access restrictions:
UnrestrictedOpen access.
Use restrictions:
UnrestrictedPlease contact City of Melbourne Libraries about obtaining permission to reproduce images.
General notes:
Period: Post-WarConstruction date: 1953-1955Architect: Mussen Mackay & PotterNotable features: Mural by Richard Beck, curtain wall, ceramic facing. Geometric composition, old hotel site..ASSOCIATED RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER:.GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYStatement of SignificanceHistoryHosie's old hotel and café was established as a name in 1883 and as a warehouse building long before. J S Hosie gave it his name. The touring Duke of York gave it fame by inspiring such a ponderous hunger among his constituents that a record 17,252 three-penny meals were consumed in one week, during 1901, whilst awaiting a glimpse of his highness.In 1953 the approaching Melbourne Olympic Games inspired another feat, this time a 17-month contract for E A Watts to replace the old warehouse with a new residential hotel for Carlton and United Breweries Ltd. Mussen MacKay and Potter were the architects and the cost estimated at over ₤365,000; MacKay had already been involved with the successfully Modern Australia Hotel. An large Australiana mural was an illustrated feature of the design and was possibly to be the subject of a competition.'All over Australia urban bldg (building) is lazily awakening. The scene in Melbourne city, which only last year seemed condemned to building inactivity forever, has quite suddenly changed...' Unlike many of the new city buildings proposed in that year (including the former Graham Hotel). Hosie's offered human comforts beyond that of a good view. Full air- conditioning to the lower four public levels paralleled with all floors at the Graham but a lower roof-top garden, sheltered by another six levels of guest rooms, was something new. Roof-top gardens of the past had been windswept left-over spaces and not, as offered at Hosie's, part of the ever valuable site-coverage.`Cross-Section’ noticed the Hosie's proposal `...One breaks away from box & glass with a promising original form & huge mural...' During construction (mid 1955) the journal saw its judgement ratified. `...(It) promises still to be a city blg (building) of more individual character than its contemporaries...' More Mondriaan than aboriginal, the mural was eventually carried out by Richard Beck.DescriptionIt was original in its infusion of Modern massing into a building type, which had hitherto been determined in shape by its site- outline and height. Hundred percent site coverage and the utility of a simple, rectangular form had been, both before and after Hosie's, the prevailing determinants of city design. Ornament or its absence, were the visible differences.The work of Mondriaan or De Stijl, where differing volumes overlap and their surface finishes or colours promote further contrast, can be seen in both small and large designs by J.P.P. Oud and Farkas Molnar in the early 1920s (see Mart Stam's Konigsberg apartment house, 1923). Hosie's eastern elevation has two major volumes, one craning its neck to see over the other: separating them is the negative surface of a curtain wall. Shining tiles to the larger and a matt finish Mondriaan likeness to the other, are both texture and finish differences. Window squares replace tiles in one wall but otherwise the sides are opaque serving to encase the glazed curtain walls which face south. Dealing with juxta-positioning of bold multi-storeyed forms and the contrast of bland with detailed surface in city buildings, Hosie's is by far the most assured and is rivalled, outside of the city, only by some hospital designs (i.e. Prince Henry's First Block). However, catering for both natural ventilation and full air- conditioning, Hosie's glazed curtains do not gain the slick smoothness of other early air-conditioned buildings such as the former Allied Assurance Building (qv).External IntegrityGenerally externally original except for added air units and altered ground-level details and finishes.StreetscapeIsolated but gains from corner exposure of skilful massing.SignificanceThe most accomplished Modern multi-storey design in the European manner of de Stijl also the only survivor of two city hotels built for the Olympic Games as part of the city's rebirth in the early 1950s..GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites GRAEME BUTLER 1982-3, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS (VIC) 20TH CENTURY ARCHITECTURE SURVEY and 20th CENTURY BUILDINGS REGISTER.NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954)Friday 10 October 1952 - Page 13https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/205415984Two well-known city hotels — the Town Hall Hotel, Swanston-street# and Hosie's Hotel, Flinders-street — ore to be demolished and replaced immediately by multiple-story buildings incorporating many modern features., This was announced yesterday by" a spokes man for the owners, Carlton and United Breweries .Limited, as part of a revised re building programme for city hotel properties, following the recent lifting of restrictions on hotel building..The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954)Saturday 18 July 1953 - Page 4https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/206446989Hosie's To Go for New HotelDemolition of the 99-year- old Hosie's Hotel, at the corner of Flinders and Elizabeth Streets, is expected to start in August. A new hotel, costing about £350,000 to be erected on the site, is expected to be completed about January 1955.ContemporaryThe new Hosie's will be 10 stories and will accommodate 48 guests. The bed rooms will be set back from the streets to avoid noises and will overlook a fourth- floor guests' roof garden. The design of the new building is described by the architects, Mussen, Mackay and Potter, of Melbourne, as "contemporary hotel style." It will contain all -modern amenities.Hosie's is the second major city hotel rebuilding project by the Carlton and United Breweries, which bought the hotel from the late Mr. J. Richardson in 1945, since the war.The other project, the Town Hail Hotel, in Swanston Street, has commenced. Hosie's was built as a wool store, and most of the original bluestone building remains. It was first known as the Hobson's Bay Railway Terminus Hotel..The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954)Friday 6 March 1953 - Page 11https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/26687535 perspectiveNew 13-storey hotel for city.….etc.The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954)Saturday 7 March 1953 - Page 2https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/248862677£350,000 hotel plannedThe hotel, which will replace Hosie's Hotel, probably will be ready for use late in 1954. The managing director of Carlton and United Breweries, Ltd. (Mr. R. P. G. Fogarty), who announced the plans today, said the hotel would be of American design… would have large areas of colored glass and aluminium, and would be air-conditioned and soundproof. Public bars would occupy the basement and ground floor; public lounges would be on the first floor, and dining-rooms on the second and third floors. The fourth floor would include lounges for private parties, with a terrace roof garden overlooking the Yarra River. Mr. Fogarty said that every bedroom would have a bathroom, telephone, and iced-water service. Double windows would soundproof the bedrooms, and built - in furniture would enable guests to use the rooms as sitting-rooms during the May..The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954)Monday 10 August 1953 - Page 2 illust.https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/249253415/26696264 illustWORKMEN WHO TO DAY BEGAN WRECKING Hosie's Hotel —99 - year - old Flinders Street landmark— found treasure trove under the floorboard of the main bar. Here is Bill Whelan with some of the 20-odd coins re- covered. Within an hour of starting work, one bar room has been demolished. They spent their smoke-oh scratching for money In the debris.A multi- storey hotel will be built on the site.
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Research and reports
Record number:
1197909
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 103165 1 | 1 JPEG : 750 KB ; A4 | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |