Port Office Hotel is a heritage-listed hotel at 40 Edward Street, Brisbane City,

City of Brisbane The City of Brisbane is a local government area (LGA) which comprises the inner portion of the metropolitan area of Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. Its governing body is the Brisbane City Council. Unlike LGAs in the other mainlan ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, Australia. It was designed by

James Cowlishaw James Cowlishaw (19 December 1834 – 25 July 1929) was an architect, businessman and politician in Queensland (initially a colony, then a state of Australia from 1901). Early life Cowlishaw was born in Sydney, where he was educated at St. ...

and built from 1876 by Charles Midson. It was also known as Shamrock Hotel. It was added to the

Queensland Heritage Register The Queensland Heritage Register is a heritage register, a statutory list of places in Queensland, Australia that are protected by Queensland legislation, the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. It is maintained by the Queensland Heritage Council. A ...

on 21 October 1992.

History

The first hotel on this site was opened in May 1864 and was known as the Shamrock Hotel. In late 1876 the Shamrock Hotel was reconstructed as a two-storey masonry building with verandahs. It was designed by

with Charles Midson the contractor. In 1888 the remodelled hotel was described as being ''"extremely commodious, containing (besides public and private bars and an attractive clubroom) fifteen bedrooms, a drawing room, two bath rooms and four public rooms on the ground floor"''. The hotel was patronised by workers from nearby shipping and industrial and riverside businesses. Queensland State Archives 482 Edward Street Brisbane during the 1893 flood February 1893

Queensland State Archives 482 Edward Street Brisbane during the 1893 flood February 1893

The building was flooded in the

1893 Brisbane flood The 1893 Brisbane flood, occasionally referred to as the Great Flood of 1893 or the Black February flood, occurred in 1893 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The Brisbane River burst its banks on three occasions in February 1893. It was the ...

. With the change of licensee c. 1909, John Chillan Cutbush renamed the hotel the Port Office Hotel. In 1955 the hotel was refurbished under the direction of architect Francis Leo Cullen. This work included the removal of all the verandahs, lacework, canopies and chimneystacks and renovation of the interior fittings. The hotel was flooded in the

1974 Brisbane flood In January 1974 a flood occurred in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia after three weeks of continual rain. The Brisbane River, which runs through the heart of the city, broke its banks and flooded the surrounding areas. The cyclone that produ ...

. During the 1980s further internal renovations have been undertaken. Flooded Edward and Margaret Streets looking towards the Port Office Hotel

Flooded Edward and Margaret Streets looking towards the Port Office Hotel

Due to its low-lying position, the Port Office Hotel was sandbagged to provide protection during the

2011 Brisbane floods Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *'' ...

Description

The Port Office Hotel, located on the corner of Edward and Margaret Streets, is a two storeyed rendered brick building with a corrugated iron roof. The rendered brickwork is scribed to imitate stonework and has bays separated by rendered

quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...

while a number of the window openings have stone sills. A cantilevered

awning An awning or overhang is a secondary covering attached to the exterior wall of a building. It is typically composed of canvas woven of acrylic, cotton or polyester yarn, or vinyl laminated to polyester fabric that is stretched tightly over a li ...

dominates the street facades. A separate store with a hipped roof, filling in the "L" shape plan to create a rectangle, has been incorporated into the structure. A verandah has been added to the eastern back wall.

Leadlight window Leadlights, leaded lights or leaded windows are decorative windows made of small sections of glass supported in lead cames. The technique of creating windows using glass and lead came to be known as came glasswork. The term 'leadlight' could be ...

s remain in some of the ground floor openings. Internally some of the early timber doors,

architraves In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can a ...

, and skirtings survive but otherwise the majority including the stair has been altered in various refurbishments since the 1950s.

Heritage listing

Port Office Hotel was listed on the

on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history. The Port Office Hotel is significant for its contribution to the lower Edward Street streetscape in association with the Port Office,

Naval Offices Naval Offices is a heritage-listed office building at 3 Edward Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Department of Public Works and built from 1900 to 1901 by J Mason. It was added to the Queensla ...

Old Mineral House Old Mineral House is a heritage-listed warehouse at 2 Edward Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Richard Gailey and built from 1888 to 1890s by William Anthony. It is also known as Smellie & Co ...

and

Smellie's Building Smellie's Building is a heritage-listed warehouse at 32 Edward Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Claude William Chambers and built from 1895 to 1896. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Re ...

. The place is important because of its aesthetic significance. The Port Office Hotel is significant for its contribution to the lower Edward Street streetscape in association with the Port Office, Naval Offices, Old Mineral House and Smellie's Building.

References

Attribution

External links

* {{official website, http://portofficehotel.com.au/ Queensland Heritage Register Heritage of Brisbane Hotels in Queensland Articles incorporating text from the Queensland Heritage Register James Cowlishaw buildings Edward Street, Brisbane