The Hotel Grand Chancellor Hobart is a twelve-storey hotel located on the waterfront of

Hobart, Tasmania Hobart ( ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent (Tasmania), River Derwent, it is the southernmo ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

History

Originally part of a waterfront district called 'Wapping', the site where the Hotel Grand Chancellor is situated was historically a place of factory enterprise, industrial gas production, transport and shipping. Flanked by Macquarie, Davey, Campbell and Evans Street, the site originally consisted of two city blocks divided by Hunter Street, which extended to Macquarie Street; running directly through the location of the present-day hotel.

Early site history

The block encompassing Campbell and Hunter Streets were mostly used for shipping yard equipment and cargo, until becoming part of a service yard for the Hobart Electric Tram Company in 1893. The depot housed the city's trolleybuses from 1935 and from 1955 operated as the original headquarters for

Metro Tasmania Metro Tasmania, commonly called Metro, a Tasmanian Government government-owned corporation, business enterprise, is the largest bus operator in the state of Tasmania, Australia, with operations in three of the four largest urban centres of Hoba ...

. The main section of the tram terminus was located directly opposite on Macquarie Street and its original offices, store and entrance arches all remain, with the latter being incorporated into newly built structures. On the corner of Hunter and Macquarie stood seed and fertilizer wholesalers Clement & Marshalls. Several smaller factory buildings operated by the

Van Diemen's Land Company The Van Diemen's Land Company (also known as Van Dieman Land Company) is a farming corporation in the Australian state of Tasmania. It was founded in 1825 and received a royal charter the same year, and was granted 250,000 acres (1,000 km2) ...

and merchants A. G. Webster & Son faced Davey Street. The northern block, comprising Hunter and Evans Streets, primarily contained the Hobart Gas Company precinct, including its landmark gas holder situated on Davey Street, which at the time did not intersect with the

Brooker Highway The Brooker Highway is a highway in the Australian state of Tasmania. As one of Hobart's three major radials, the highway connects traffic from the Hobart central business district, city centre with the northern suburbs and is the major road con ...

(formally Lower Park Street). The Hobart Gas Company was founded in 1854 to produce

illuminating gas The history of gaseous fuel, important for lighting, heating, and cooking purposes throughout most of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, began with the development of analytical chemistry, analytical and pneumatic chemistry i ...

for the city's buildings and streetlights. At the time of its construction, it was the third largest gasworks in the southern hemisphere, after Sydney (1841) and Melbourne (1850). Some original gasworks buildings that were part of the original complex survive on the opposite side of Evans Street. Facing Hunter Street, the northern block featured sandstone buildings dating back to the 1800s; the Phoenix Hotel (later the Tasma Coffee Palace), Steam Packet Tavern and the Tasmanian Woolen Factory, which greatly expanded its frontage along Macquarie Street in 1921, engulfing several surrounding buildings. All the buildings were demolished in 1938 for the Nettlefolds General Motors dealership, a large

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

commercial building containing a corner tower and neon signage. The site housed a General Motors showroom, bodyworks and service centre specialising in

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( , ) is an area of South London, within the London Borough of Lambeth. Named after a medieval manor called Fox Hall, it became well known for the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. From the Victorian period until the mid-20th century, Va ...

and

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

trucks.

Hotel construction

In 1985, the Metro Tasmania transport depot and Nettlefolds building were demolished for the construction of a new Sheraton hotel. Part of the Sheraton masterplan saw Hunter Street being cut off from Macquarie Street and Davey Street connect with the newly created Brooker Highway to create a large city block. During construction, the hotel design was altered in response to government criticism, seeing the developers forced to remove thousands of pink bricks that were supposed to be a sandstone colour in order to blend with surrounding heritage buildings. The hotel opened in 1987 as the Sheraton Hobart Hotel and was taken over by the Grand Hotels International group in 1993.

Facilities

The hotel has an indoor heated pool, a gym and a sauna on site for guest usage.

Federation Concert Hall

The Federation Concert Hall provides an international standard venue for the

Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is the smallest of the six orchestras established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). History The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestr ...

(TSO) as well as extensive conference and convention facilities for the Grand Chancellor. Federation Concert Hall

In 1998, the Grand Chancellor underwent a sizeable expansion on the eastern side of the hotel for the creation of a new entertainment complex encompassing a world-class concert hall, ballroom and conference room facilities. Instigated by the desire of the TSO to relocate from the ageing facilities at the ABC Odeon Theatre to a modern auditorium, the

Federal Government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

contributed $1m funding from the Federation Fund, an especially established construction incentive to celebrate the centenary of the

Federation of Australia The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Wester ...

. The building's namesakes of Federation Concert Hall and Federation Ballroom are due to the venue beneficing from the scheme. Designed by architects Forward Brianese & Partners, its brass cladding and cylinder appearance was inspired by the historic gas holder tank, built by the Hobart Gas Company in 1854. Built at a cost of $13m, the adjoining venue was opened in 2000, consisting of an 1,100 seat capacity concert hall and a 1,000 seat capacity ballroom. Digital production-mixing equipment was installed in the venue in 2002. The Federation Concert Hall is currently Hobart's third largest indoor venue, after the Tasman Room at Wrest Point and MyState Bank Arena.

In popular culture

Dressed as a Parisian airport hotel, the foyer area was utilised as a location for the 2011 film '' The Hunter'' starring

Willem Dafoe William James "Willem" Dafoe ( ; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. Known for his prolific career portraying diverse roles in both mainstream and arthouse films, he is the recipient of various accolades including a Volpi Cup Award for ...

Tenants

The Grand Chancellor is home to the Restaurant Tasman, the Atrium Bar, Hobart Art Gallery and Zenica Hairdressing.