Post Office Hotel is a heritage-listed

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

at Bazaar Street, Maryborough,

Fraser Coast Region The Fraser Coast Region is a local government area in the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland, Australia, about north of Brisbane, the state capital. It is centred on the twin cities of Hervey Bay and Maryborough and also contains K'gari. ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. It was designed by Victor Emmanuel Carandini and built in 1889 by Mr Murray. 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. As ...

on 21 October 1992.

History

The Post Office Hotel was built in 1889, for Messrs Hanley and Williams of Maryborough to a design of Victor Emmanuel Carandini, a

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

architect. The building replaced a previous single storeyed building on the site, also called the Post Office Hotel. The land on which the Post Office hotel was constructed was originally acquired by ET Aldridge by a Deed of Grant in May 1852. The original one storeyed masonry Post Office Hotel was constructed in about 1870 one year after the construction of the adjacent Maryborough Post Office, after which it was named. Aldridge retained the site until 1878 when it was sold to Mr John O'Brien, and Messrs Hanley and Williams acquired the property by 1889. By this time, the Licensing Authority operating within the Maryborough district, under the provisions of the Licensing Act of 1885, were becoming more strict with the licensees of hotels about the condition of the buildings and provision of services. In May 1889 the licensee of the former Post Office Hotel, GW Gaynor was refused a further annual licence for the single storeyed building which then existed, and it was then decided by the owners, Messrs Hanley and Williams, that a new building was needed. On August 7, 1889, the tender of Mr Murray, a local builder, was accepted to construct a new two storeyed building to the designs of Victor Emmanuel Carandini, an architect from Brisbane. A substantial brick building was constructed in 1889 and this is the date indicated on the entrance corner parapet. The early post supported verandah which lined the two principal facades of the building, was replaced with a cantilevered version, in line with a general movement in Maryborough to modernise the central business area in the 1930s by replacing all post supported awnings with cantilevered alternatives. The early verandah extended on the ground floor to the street line and was supported on cast iron columns, and featured cast iron brackets and frieze. The upper floor, which has also suffered modernisation, retains the bull nosed awning, but originally had slender turned timber balusters and timber venetian blinds on the outside edge.

Description

The Post Office Hotel is a two storeyed brick building, with cantilevered first floor verandah, located prominently on the corner of Wharf and Bazaar Streets, Maryborough. Principal facades address both streets, with entrance to the accommodation and dining rooms from Wharf Street and the access to the incorporated ground floor shops from Bazaar Street. The external walls to the street, of bagged and painted brick, are surmounted by a partially rendered brick parapet, concealing a hipped corrugated iron roof. The truncated corner of the hotel is emphasised by a signage panel, projecting beyond the parapet, with "POST OFFICE HOTEL - 1889", surmounted by an open-topped

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

. The parapet features rosettes above moulded string courses supported on paired plaster

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

s. Several rendered finials are placed along the parapet, with a slightly larger feature one on each elevation emphasising the principal entrance from that side. The building rests on a rendered masonry base, though which ventilation holes are punched. The cantilevered verandah, extending the entire length of the principal facades, has a bull-nosed

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 fiber, acrylic, cotton or polyester yarn, or vinyl laminated to polyester fabric that is stretched tight ...

supported on reeded 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 member ...

, and featuring cast iron

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

and

brackets A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...

. The timber slatted balustrade is a replacement. The rear of the building has a two storeyed post supported verandah, onto which internal rooms are accessed. Openings to the ground floor have moulded plaster surrounds, and retain some early joinery and leadlight glazing, although there are some replacement louvres. First floor openings are generally inward opening, half glazed, French doors with operable fanlights above. Internally, the ground floor comprises the public bar, shops, and entrance and stair halls off which the dining room is accessed. The dining room is clad with timber sheeting, and the beaded board ceiling features cast iron ceiling roses. A carved timber

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typical ...

piece, complete with cast iron fittings remains intact, though painted. The public bar has been substantially altered although an early glazed door remains. The cedar, three-quarter-turn open well stair features fine turned

balusters A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its c ...

, carved

newel A newel, also called a central pole or support column, is the central supporting pillar around which a helical staircase winds. It can also refer to an upright post that supports or terminates the handrail of a stair banister (the "newel post") ...

and turning posts, and a swan-necked

handrail A handrail is a rail that is designed to be grasped by the hand so as to provide safety or support. In Great Britain, Britain, handrails are referred to as banisters. Handrails are commonly used while ascending or descending stairways and escala ...

. The first floor comprises many timber framed accommodation rooms clad with tongue and groove boarding and accessed from a central corridor featuring plaster arches and skylights at various intervals. This floor remains substantially intact, in planform and fabric, with early joinery, glazing, timber floors and internal fittings.

Heritage listing

The Post 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 hotel, which has been operating since about 1870 in varied when the town prospered as a major port. The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. The building displays the principal characteristics of a Queensland country town hotel, in its corner situation, verandah arrangement and internal planning. The place is important because of its aesthetic significance. The hotel is significant for its contribution to the Wharf Street area of Maryborough, and is a good substantially intact example of Queensland hotel architecture. The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. As an operating hotel and public centre for about 125 years the Post office Hotel is significant for its value to the local community.

References

Attribution

External links

{{commons category-inline, Post Office Hotel, Maryborough Queensland Heritage Register Maryborough, Queensland Buildings and structures in Maryborough, Queensland Hotels in Queensland Articles incorporating text from the Queensland Heritage Register