Imperial Hotel is a heritage-listed

Australian pub An Australian pub or hotel is a public house or pub for short, in Australia, and is an establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. They may also provide other services, such as entertainment, meals and ...

at 1 Rooty Hill Road North,

Rooty Hill Rooty Hill is a heritage-listed historic site and now parkland at Eastern Road, Rooty Hill, City of Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1802 to 1828. It is also known as The Rooty Hill and Morreau Reserve. The property is ...

, City of Blacktown, Sydney,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. The property is owned by Dyemist Pty Ltd. It was added to the

New South Wales State Heritage Register The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...

on 2 April 1999.

History

The Imperial Hotel was built as two storeys in 1890 to cater for the crowds who arrived by train to attend the greyhound racing at Plumpton.LEP listing, 2002 F. J. Weston of

Horsley Park Horsley Park is a suburb of Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and e ...

developed the hotel that was opened on 12 August 1890. At the time Rooty Hill was part of the St. Mary's Parish. The locality was identified on maps as early as 1803 and known by the name of Rooty Hill by 1810. The area is associated with government administration with a reserve for

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

owned cattle. It is identified with a number of prominent landowners, including Walter Lamb who established a cannery and fruit preserving works at his Woodstock estate in Plumpton (Rooty Hill) in 1884, in addition to his pastoral activities. It was also the locality of early wine growing at Minchinbury, the estate of Dr Charles Mackay, to the south of the railway line. The Great Western Railway line gave impetus to the development of Rooty Hill, with the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

serving the vineyards and the cannery. A public school was opened in 1875 and the School of Arts (1902) was the venue for the first meeting of Blacktown Council in 1906. Blacktown was proclaimed a shire in 1906. At the time of the hotel's opening Rooty Hill appears to have been a growing centre with a number of local shops and private residences, which were augmented by the hotel. The hotel prospered early on with crowds attracted to the coursing (a form of greyhound racing) which was established at Lamb's Woodstock Coursing Track.GSA, 2006, p6 The racetrack was a focus for local community activity, but business went into decline and the licence to sell beer was transferred to Wallacia in 1936. It operated as a wine bar owned by

Penfolds Wines Penfolds is an Australian wine producer that was founded in Adelaide in 1844 by Christopher Rawson Penfold, an English physician who emigrated to Australia, and his wife Mary Penfold. It is one of Australia's oldest wineries, and is currently p ...

, but became semi-derelict by the early 1970s. A local dentist purchased the hotel in 1977, when the hotel was boarded up. The National Trust classified the property in 1976, leading to a PCO in 1981. Building applications were lodged with council 1981-82 and the hotel reopened in 1982. A single storey extension was constructed in along North Parade filling in a semi-enclosed courtyard. A pepper tree (Schinus molle var. areira) in the beer garden area near North Parade appears to be 40 to 50 years old.Tall Timbers, 2005 There is evidence of past specimens of pepper trees on this site. Renovations were conducted on the entry foyer in 1987, and accommodation was converted to office space in 1990. Further restoration works, alterations and additions were carried out in 1995.

Description

A two-storey corner hotel in

brickwork Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by si ...

and cement render with

veranda A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure. Although the form ''vera ...

h to the street frontage at the first floor level having cast iron lace balustrading and cast iron

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression membe ...

. The hotel abuts the corner, with a beer garden to the southwest alongside North Avenue, and car parking area to the north facing Rooty Hill Road. A number of additions have been made to the rear of the building over time, including a single storey section that has been altered, along with a c.1995 addition which infilled the

courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary ...

facing North Parade which created a bistro at the rear.GSA, 2006 It was reported as at 8 February 2007 that much of the internal original and early building fabric survives, including timber staircase, several fireplaces, various ceiling linings (plaster, timber and

pressed metal A tin ceiling is an architectural element, consisting of a ceiling finished with plates of tin with designs pressed into them, that was very popular in Victorian buildings in North America in the late 19th and early 20th century. They were als ...

), decorative plaster cornices and details. (1995).

Heritage listing

The Imperial Hotel was built in 1890 to cater for the crowds who arrived by train to attend the greyhound racing at Plumpton. It is a significant architectural landmark and social meeting point. Imperial Hotel was listed on the

on 2 April 1999.

References

Bibliography

Attribution

External links

{{commons category-inline, Imperial Hotel, Rooty Hill New South Wales State Heritage Register Rooty Hill, New South Wales Pubs in Sydney Articles incorporating text from the New South Wales State Heritage Register