Mollison's shops and residences, later Market Hotel, also National Hotel, 118-122 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Three storey, conservative Renaissance revival former hotel with segment arched and gabled pediments over windows, and a plain parapet cornice.
Title:
Mollison's shops and residences, later Market Hotel, also National Hotel, 118-122 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 101218
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: Early VictorianConstruction dates: c1854-, 1859, c1867-8.ASSOCIATED RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER:.GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYStatement of SignificanceHistorySet at the corner of what was once Bignell's Lane (new Market) the present building may retain some of Henry Bignell's original Grazier Company Butchers Shop and stables of the 1850s. In 1854 it was described as brick house and shop, two rooms, kitchen and stable, loft and shed. The shop and residence was one of three, numbers 163-167. The first woman owner was one Mollison; given the name of the premises (Grazier Co.) a probable link exists with Alex and William Mollison, British born graziers who leased runs around the Colbinabbin-Campaspe area of North Central Victoria, 1838-66.Close to the old Eastern Market of 1856, the shop doubtless drew from its patronage.The corner shop transposed, smoothly to the appropriately named Market Hotel (bar and ten rooms) in the period 1867-8, the Grazier Company's manager, William Petty, giving way to Gerald Fitzgerald Eagar. Mollison remained the owner of this and the two other shops; 120 consistently being occupied by a wine and spirit merchant, Thomas Bacon, and 122 as a tailor's shop, presided over by McFarlane and Morris. James W Kelly was briefly the hotel's host during 1872, before becoming insolvent, followed by L J Smith under the style of the National Hotel. A photograph of c1874 shows the hotel much as it is today.DescriptionThree storey, conservative Renaissance revival former hotel with segment arched and gabled pediments over windows, and a plain parapet cornice. The ground level has been almost completely rebuilt. At the rear is an attached hip hip roof, splay-cornered and two-storey stuccoed brick service wing which extends down Market Lane. This may continue the earliest part of the structure; however, it too has been altered at ground level (openings, signs).External IntegrityGround level externally and internally rebuilt (front wing); openings altered (rear).StreetscapeUnrelated in scale and period to Bourke Street elevation, related in scale to Market Lane.SignificanceA typical hotel design of the period which is distinguished, today, by its three-storey form and cement ornament at the upper windows. However, the ground-level alterations severelycompromise the building's period expression. Historically, it has some association (by name and location) with the now demolished Eastern Market..GRAEME BUTLER 1989, LITTLE BOURKE STREET PRECINCT CONSERVATION STUDYSee https://issuu.com/graemebutler21/docs/little_bourke_st_precinct_conservatFORMER MARKET HOTEL118-122 Bourke StreetHistoryBuilt: 1851 ?, extended 1859?, c1867-8The squatter, Alexander Fullerton Mollison, purchased the grant surrounding this site in 1840, the grant extending from Bourke to Little Bourke Street. 1 His tenure lasted for an unusually long period for the CAD where sale of this lot occurred as late as 1874 and 1876 when Mollison and his long-term lessee, George Petty, sold it to Patrick Prendergast for a substantial combined sum of £14400.2 Prendergast then raised £9000 on the property from the Land and Mortgage Bank of Victoria in 1876, and again, but from the London Chartered Bank of Australasia, in 1877. In the same year he sold to John Dynon for £15000 who commenced another long tenure until his death in 1919.As far back as 1849, the property was a shop, one room, boiling house (?), cellar and loft (Market lane building?), two rooms and a yard. 3 In 1851 Mollison, architect John Gill and builder, Charles King, applied to build two two-storey houses in Bourke Street. This may have been the commencement of the group, particularly given its architectural pretensions. 4 In the same period Gill was working on the Albert Street Baptist Church 5, Heape & Grice's stone Flinders Lane stores 6, and Richard Goldsborough's Flinders Lane stores (stone).The March 1853 Melbourne plans show the corner building and adjoining shops, with a similar plan to today's and built of brick 7. In 1854 it was described as a brick house and shop, two rooms, kitchen and stable, loft and shed 8. By 1856 it was a shop and three rooms, by 1857 a shop and five rooms and by 1863, a butcher's shop and eleven rooms 9. This change may be explained by a further building application by Mollison in 1859 to take down and rebuild a shop and dwelling 10. However the rate description was back to four rooms by 1867. 11.Set at the corner of what was once Bignell's Lane (now Market) the present building may retain some of Henry Bignell's original Grazier Company Butcher's Shop and stables of the 1850s. The name of the premises (Grazier Co.) was appropriate given Mollison's link with that pursuit. Alex and William Mollison, British born graziers leased runs around the Colbinabbin- Campaspe area of North Central Victoria. 1838-66. Close to the old Eastern Market of 1856, the shop doubtless drew also from its patronage.The corner shop became the appropriately named Market Hotel (bar and ten rooms) in the period 1867-8, the Grazier Company's manager, William Petty, giving way to Gerald Fitzgerald Eagar 12. However, no valuation rise occurred, but Eagar is said to have applied for a Publican's Licence in April 1867 (having two public rooms and four bedrooms) 13. Similarly, alterations were made in 1872, possibly to add another level although flue values were steady 14.Mollison remained the owner of this and the two other shops; number 120 (Bourke St) consistently being occupied by a wine and spirit merchant, Thomas Bacon, and 122 as a tailor's shop, presided over by McFarlane and Morris. James W. Kelly was briefly the hotel's host during 1872, before becoming insolvent, followed LJ. Smith but under the style of the National Hotel. 15 Lithographs of c1875 and 1880 both show it as two-storeys, but photograph of c1874 shows the hotel much as it is today. 16.This century number 118 was occupied by Whitney Brothers, photographers, 120 the dentist, S.S. Price, and 122 (once the hotel had ceased) by the Dobbie Brothers., opticians, among many others. The National Hotel was presumably the victim of the licensing reduction board and the increased activity of rechabites post-World War One. In time the National Hotel reverted to the National Chambers, leasing a myriad of upper level offices to dancing or music instructors, film producers, artists (Chris Murray, G. Noonan), architects (William Rossiter) and many costumiers. Mrs. L. Purdue was a long term example of the last group (c1920s-1950s) which itself was a product of Market Lane's long association with the clothing industry (Raphael).17 Related uses included How Ching Ho &. Co.'s silk shop, while occupations associated With Chinese, such as herbalism, were taken up by European firms such as Denham & McNeil or Gordon's Corn Eliminator Co. 18DescriptionThree construction stages or types are evident. Down Market Lane there is the hipped roof, low profile, apparently old rear wing, possibly the hotel stable and, or, boarding house. An 1887 plan shows a carriageway under the northern part of this building in support of this theory. 8 Later plans show this wing numbered as 6-12 Market Lane, with a gateway across the (private) R.O.W. at the north, allowing entry into the rear yard. 9The last stage is the two-storey corner wing which extended up Bourke Street in three bays and two bays down Market Lane. Bays are divided with Tuscan Order pilasters which are now discontinued at first floor level. Upper windows have bracketed pediments and architraves and the former cornice show a string mould. The last stage was the top storey, using segment-arched pediments in an aedicule configuration. as a more sophisticated version of the earlier level. Smooth rusticated piers accentuate the splayed corner. Further recent work has all but gutted both buildings, at ground floor, for restaurant use.External IntegrityThe ground level is new on the main Bourke Street wing, with probable survival of piers and plinths beneath cement render layers. The first level string mould is generally gone, some pediment details missing and pediment brackets gone, intrusive signs, air units and canopies added. Openings have been altered or blocked on the Market Lane wing, brick and stone painted over and a canopy added. Internally renovated at ground floor level.StreetscapeMajor traditional corner element in low-scale Market Lane streetscape. .;SignificancePerceivable as an old corner hotel with probably an older wing at the rear (possibly externally as it was in the 1840s), it has been a public gathering place since the late 1860s and, after that, housed (upstairs) many clothing-trade uses, symbolic of the dominance of this use in Market Lane during the late 19th century.Architecturally, it is representative of the growing Italian Renaissance influence over Melbourne's commercial buildings during the 1860s, it may have been an early work of noted architect John Gill and it completes a low-scale mainly 19th century commercial streetscape in Market Lane east.Contributes to precinct..ADDITIONAL REFERENCES:.GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM Victoria Illustrated: 166,168;.GRAEME BUTLER 1989, LITTLE BOURKE STREET PRECINCT CONSERVATION STUDYcites:NOTES:1 RGO SN5043. parish plan2 ibid. 7.7.743 RBI849.32f4 BA2055 BA10576 BA5297 Hodgkinson 185(3) plan8 RB1854.669 RB 1856.163f; RBI857. 134f; RBI863. 160f10 BA54511 RBI867.91f12 RB1868.88: RB1867. 9113 Cole Collection. 'Vol.1. p.814 ibid.: RB1872,85f; RBI873,.88f15 Cole.loc.cit16 VI. p.l6617 see 18-28 Market Lane18 D1920-5O19 Mahlstedl & Gee. Standard Plans (1.1888)20 MMBW DP10I4. c1898(new page)1 RB1868,88; RB1867, 912 Cole Collection Vol 1 p.83 ibid.: RB1872, 85f; RB1873,88f4 Cole.loc.cit5 VI. p.l666 see 18-28 Market Lane7 D1920-50;8 Mahlstedl & Gee. `Standard Plans’. (1.1888)9 MMBW DP1014. cl898.i-heritage:1856 map - similar outline; VI - p.166 - shows National but with 1 storey, hipped roof at rear (1870) Vi - p.168 shows as 2 storey..Heritage Inventory(HI) Number: H7822-1513.Heritage Inventory DescriptionGrant purchased 1840 by Alexander Fullerton Mollison, Squatter. Extended from Bourke to Little Bourke St. 1849 - property was shop, 1 room boiling house, cellar & yard. 1851 - Mollison, architect James Gill & builder Charles King applied to build two 2 storey houses in Bourke St. Corner building and shops on site by 185 1859-63 further building. During 1850s on corner Graziers Co Butcher Shop. 1867-8 corner shop became Market Hotel. Name changed to National Hotel, which operated 1873 to post-WWI. Other shop uses: later C.19th, wine and spirit merchant, tailor. Early C.20th, photographers, dentists, opticians. 1920s-1950s 'National Chambers' occupied by dancing/music..Lewis, M. Australian Architecture Index:RECORD 73632, ARCHITECT Gill, John OWNER: Johnston, C K Melbourne VIC Shops; Warehouses BUILDER Thomas, John 1859 02 22, MCC registration no 145 [Burchett Index]. Fee 3.0.0 two shops and store.NEWSPAPERS:The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954) Wed 15 Jun 1870 Page 3https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/244720630SUICIDE OF A CHINAMAN.An inquest was hold this morning, at the Market hotel, Bourke-street, by Dr. Youl, city coroner, on the body of Ah You, a fisherman, aged thirty-seven years who was found dead in his bed on the day previous at his residence in Market-lane. Constable Hoey, on searching the house, found a bottle of strychnine in his box, and a cup containing a white sediment under the head of his bed. Dr. Neild said that in his opinion death had been caused by strychnine. The deceased had been heard some time since to threaten suicide in consequence of his laboring severely under some complaint which the medical men found to be purely imaginary. A verdict of death from self-poisoning by strychnine, was returned by the jury.
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1190489
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 101218 | 1 PDF : 1,702 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |