Royal 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 ...
on the corner of Kent Street and 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
Eaton & Bates and built from 1892 to 1930s. 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 Royal Hotel in Maryborough is a substantial rendered brick building, constructed in 1902 to designs of Messrs Eaton and Bates, architects of
Rockhampton
Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite.
The Scottish- ...
. The present hotel was built for
Richard Hyne, a local pioneer who developed many local manufacturing and community initiatives.
The
original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the
Mary River, after wharves were established in 1847–1848, to provide transport for wool from sheep stations on the
Burnett River
The Burnett River is a river in the Wide Bay–Burnett and Central Queensland regions of Queensland, Australia.
Course and features
The Burnett River rises in the Burnett Range, part of the Great Dividing Range, close to Mount Gaeta and east ...
. In 1852 the growing town was gradually transferred further north where ships were able to better navigate the river. Development followed and by March 1861, Maryborough was declared a municipality, the
Borough of Maryborough.
One of the early settlers in the area, Mr ET Aldridge established a hotel, apparently first known as the Victoria but later named the Bush Inn, in the old town in 1848. In 1856, Aldridge moved the hotel to the south of the River in Kent Street, where the present Royal Hotel is situated, with the shifting of the focus of development. This was a large two storeyed timber building.
During the 1860s Maryborough flourished as a result of the gold discoveries in
Gympie
Gympie ( ) is a city and a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. Located in the Greater Sunshine Coast, Gympie is about north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city lies on the Mary River ( ...
, for which it became the primary port. In 1870 a first floor timber
balcony
A balcony (from , "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...
with cross-braced
balustrade
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 ...
was added to the Bush Inn, which was to become known as the Royal Hotel in the next few years, by the owner, Mr Cooper. In 1873, Richard Hyne took over the licence.
Prior to establishing himself in Maryborough, Hyne engaged in various businesses in Gympie, including the running of the Mining Exchange Hotel. Astutely, he realised that Maryborough would become a permanent centre and port for the
Wide Bay–Burnett district and moved to the town, where he immediately became involved with the running of the Bush Inn/Royal Hotel. Hyne was interested in establishing Maryborough as a major respected centre, and worked towards improving health, education, welfare and recreation facilities. He was mayor for a term in 1878.
Upon arriving in Maryborough, Hyne acquired the lease of the Royal Hotel in mid 1873 and purchased the hotel soon after. Hyne busied himself with improving the hotel, he added bathrooms and replaced the timber balustrading on the balconies with a
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...
balustrade and established a driveway where he planted several
Bunya Pines in 1878. This former Royal Hotel did not occupy the site immediately adjacent to the corner, and a two storeyed masonry building was constructed by Hyne on this corner site in 1892–1893. This two storeyed building, which was to be incorporated into the current Royal Hotel, was designed by William Devon, a local architect as a shop for Hanleys, drapers in the town. Hanleys remained in the shop for about five years, when Finlaysons took over the lease until the shop became the public bar of the new Royal Hotel in 1902.
As the town continued to prosper, the Royal Hotel soon became the leading hotel establishment, and many important civic functions were held there. By 1900 the question of modernising the hotel arose. In a letter to Hyne from a relative in
Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, the latter suggests that plans be acquired for the best use of the site, with a corner bar, sitting rooms and an imposing front entrance, preferably further away from the public bar, as "this area is always objectionable to Ladies". Other suggestions included the filling in of the front with shops and the provision of accommodation for 40 on the first floor.
A decision was duly taken to rebuild the Royal Hotel, and a competition of Queensland architects was held, from which eight entries were received and Messrs Eaton and Bates were chosen. The design competition specified that the new hotel was to incorporate "the best features of the
Oriental Hotel in
Colombo
Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...
and
Shepheards Hotel in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
". Though the final design was obviously not as elaborate as either of the hotels cited, it does have many features which could be loosely described as having eastern origin, in particular the open entrance, first floor loggias and the stair hall with their openness, arcades and tiling. The drawings which survive from this competition, now in the hands of the Hyne family, are signed by Messrs Eaton, Bates and Garlick.
When constructed the Royal Hotel was described as one of the finest hotels north of
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
and the most complete in Australia. It incorporated the building on the corner of Kent and Bazaar Streets and extended along Kent Street with the principal entrance on this facade. Through this was a large entrance
vestibule, open to the street through wide archways, beyond which was the extravagant stair hall. A large dining room, to the right of the stair hall, extended through two stories, with a gallery encircling the room at the first floor level and a large
clerestoried ceiling section. Elsewhere on the ground floor was a large
billiard room
A billiard room (also billiards room, or more specifically pool room, snooker room) is a recreation room, such as in a house or recreation center, with a billiards, pool or snooker table (The term "billiard room" or "pool room" may also be use ...
, the bar area, on the corner of the streets, and sample rooms for the requirements of commercial travellers. The bar area incorporated a public bar, two
parlour
A parlour (or parlor) is a reception room or public space. In medieval Christian Europe, the "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and the "inner parlour" was used for necessar ...
s and two private bars, all of which could be served from the same counter. On the first floor accommodation facilities were provided, those facing Kent Street opening onto a long arched
loggia
In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior Long gallery, gallery or corridor, often on an upper level, sometimes on the ground level of a building. The corridor is open to the elements because its outer wall is only parti ...
. Shops were found on the ground floor of the Kent Street elevation.
The hotel was not fully completed when Richard Hyne died on 5 July 1902, but action had been taken by this stage to move to the new hotel.
Many parts of the hotel was refurbished during the 1930s. The lounge was renovated in 1932, under the supervision of local architect POE Hawkes, when a timber floor and wall panelling was introduced, and fibrous cement was used to clad the ceiling. A variety of locally grown hardwood timbers, including mountain ash, red gum, spotted gum and iron bark supplied by Hyne and Son timber merchants, were used to create the striking parquetry floor. Tenders were called, again by architect
Philip Oliver Ellard Hawkes
Philip Oliver Ellard Hawkes was an architect who practiced in the Wide Bay area of Queensland, Australia, from 1910 to 1942. A number of his works are heritage-listed.
Life and career
Hawkes was born in 1882 in New South Wales. Hawkes worked ...
, on 21 September 1934 for the erection of a
cantilever
A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...
ed
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 ...
clad with
Wunderlich pressed metal panels to the front of the hotel, though this was not erected until 1939, when the shop fronts were modernised. This work was completed by local contractor, SV Stevens, and a stipulation of the contract was the employment of only local labour.
The hotel remained in the ownership of the Hyne family until 1960, when it was sold to another established Maryborough family, the Williams. The shops to the Kent Street elevation remain, and a family restaurant is situated in the entrance and dining room.
Description
The Royal Hotel is a substantial two-storeyed rendered masonry building on a prominent intersection on the corner of Kent and Bazaar Streets, Maryborough. The
hipped corrugated iron
Corrugated galvanised iron (CGI) or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America), zinc (in Cyprus and Nigeria) or ...
roof, featuring a prominent glazed
roof lantern
A roof lantern is a Daylighting (architecture), daylighting architectural element. Architectural lanterns are part of a larger roof and provide natural light into the space or room below. In contemporary use it is an architectural skylight stru ...
, is concealed by a rendered masonry
parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...
of
Italianate
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...
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 ...
, punctuated by a series of moulded panels.
[
The principal facade, from Kent Street, is symmetrically composed around a central ]bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...
surmounted by a curved 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 ...
above a moulded panel projecting above the parapet, emphasising the entrance. The symmetrical quality of the facade is offset by the addition of a cantilevered awning which features an arched detail, not over the principal entrance designated by the central bay, but over on an arched opening to the right of this. The central bay is flanked by a series of arcaded bays, divided by pilasters
In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...
rendered to imitate vermiculated
Vermiculation is a surface pattern of dense but irregular lines, so called from the Latin meaning "little worm" because the shapes resemble worms, worm casts, or worm tracks in mud or wet sand. The word may be used in a number of contexts for ...
stonework. The ground floor features a series of large arched openings, some of which are balustrade
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 ...
d, and flanking these are bipartite round headed arched windows to the public bar toward Bazaar Street, and modernised shop fronts in the other direction. The central bay is flanked on the first floor by five bay arched loggia
In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior Long gallery, gallery or corridor, often on an upper level, sometimes on the ground level of a building. The corridor is open to the elements because its outer wall is only parti ...
s terminated by the end wings of the building which feature three arched window openings, over an italianate baluster
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 ...
panel. The first floor loggia provides an indication of the original open character of the central section of the ground floor.[
The cantilevered awning which is attached to the building with a series of iron tie-backs, has an elaborate ]soffit
A soffit is an exterior architectural feature, generally the horizontal, aloft underside of the roof edge. Its archetypal form, sometimes incorporating or implying the projection of rafters or trusses over the exterior of supporting walls, is t ...
of coffered pressed metal panels and a reeded pressed metal fascia
A fascia (; : fasciae or fascias; adjective fascial; ) is a generic term for macroscopic membranous bodily structures. Fasciae are classified as superficial, visceral or deep, and further designated according to their anatomical location.
...
. The awning extends the whole distance of the Kent Street facade, is curved around the corner and extends only a short distance on the Bazaar Street facade. Surmounted on the Kent and Bazaar Street corner of the hotel is an illuminated sign supported on metal framework with lettering, "ROYAL".[
Windows to the first floor nearest the corner of Kent and Bazaar Streets retain double hung ]sashes
A sash is a large and usually colorful ribbon or band of material worn around the human body, either draping from one shoulder to the opposing hip and back up, or else encircling the waist. The sash around the waist may be worn in daily attire, ...
, though most other openings in the building have been glazed with aluminium-framed windows. Leadlight
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 b ...
glazing survives on the upper sashes of several arched windows of the public bar. Window joinery to the Bazaar Street elevation is generally more intact. The building has a rear first floor verandah, access from which is gained by a straight timber stair.[
The building is accessed via the centrally located principal entrance, originally an open loggia entrance vestibule, but now closed with glazing. This space features a fine ]tessellated
A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called ''tiles'', with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety of g ...
and encaustic tile
Encaustic or inlaid tiles are ceramic tiles in which the pattern or figure on the surface is not a product of the glaze but of different colors of clay. They are usually of two colours but a tile may be composed of as many as six. The pattern ...
d floor, which continues in less decorative form into the entrance hall and dining room. The entrance hall is punctuated by an arcade
Arcade most often refers to:
* Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game
** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game
** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware
** Arcad ...
supported on heavy masonry 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 ...
with stylised ionic capitals, initiating the stair and forming a walkway through the space, indicating the entrances to other rooms. The bifurcating dog leg stair features very fine cedar joinery of carved timber balusters joined by a carved panel below the 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 ...
. Heavy columns flanking the stair are met by the expanding lower treads and the wreathed handrail.[
The dining room, originally extending through two storeys with gallery above, is now ceiled at the first floor. The coved ceiling of the gallery space features a large central ]clerestory
A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both.
Historically, a ''clerestory' ...
, now boarded below the windows. Reeded pilasters line the plaster walls, and access to the loggia is given through a number of half glazed french doors
A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide securit ...
.[
The upper floor has a number of accommodation rooms, all with access to the loggia or rear verandah. The timber framed and boarded rooms retain original detailing including four panel doors, with timber fretwork transoms above and timber skirting and ]architraves
In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns.
The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, of ...
. A large clerestory in the corridor provides natural lighting
Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight. ...
.[
The public bar and subsidiary ground floor rooms have been substantially altered. A one storeyed concrete block extension has been added to the south of the Bazaar Street elevation. To the rear of the early building is an area of partially surfaced car parking.][
]
Heritage listing
Royal Hotel was listed on 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 having satisfied the following criteria.[
The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history.
The Royal Hotel is important in demonstrating the pattern of development in Maryborough. A hotel has been on the site since the initial stages of the development of the new town of Maryborough, and the subsequent rebuildings indicate various phases of the town's prosperity.][
The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.
The hotel demonstrates the principal characteristics of a large hotel in a Queensland country town, designed to provide superior accommodation to attract travellers and local clientele. The hotel is influenced by eastern design traditions, appropriate in the sub-tropical climate of Maryborough.][
The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.
The well composed exterior employing classically derived features and the finely detailed interior, of high quality planning, joinery, tiling and plaster work, contribute to an impressive building, of value for its aesthetic characteristics.][
The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.
The building is important to the local community and recognised as the premier hotel in Maryborough, and a centre of the town's social life since its construction in 1902.][
The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.
The building is associated with the Hyne family, important pioneers of Maryborough and in particular with Mr RM Hyne, and also the Queensland architects, Eaton and Bates.][
]
References
External links
{{Commons category-inline, Royal Hotel, Maryborough
Buildings and structures in Maryborough, Queensland
Queensland Heritage Register
Hotels in Queensland
Articles incorporating text from the Queensland Heritage Register