FORMER BLACK EAGLE HOTEL

42-44 LONSDALE STREET MELBOURNE, MELBOURNE CITY

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Victorian Heritage Register

Black Eagle Hotel_KJ_October 2010

Statement of Significance

• Additional Place Information

  • History

    FORMER BLACK EAGLE HOTEL - History

    CONTEXTUAL HISTORY

    From as early as the 1840s this part of the city, known as Little Lon, was a mixed working class residential and business area. The block bounded by Spring, Lonsdale, Exhibition and Little Lonsdale Streets was subdivided and sold in 1847, and the first buildings constructed in 1848. By 1850 most of the blocks had been sold and most of the sites between the ubiquitous corner hotels were occupied by small shops, office and houses. Behind in the newly named little lanes were an increasing number of small new cottages and shops, sometimes of only one or two rooms.

    Although there were some larger industries established in Lonsdale Street, including an iron foundry, a dye works and a sawmill and timber yard, the area overwhelmingly was characterised by small businesses and dwellings, and by a noticeably high proportion of single ladies. Lonsdale Street east was the centre of the better class of prostitutes, including the famous houses kept by Scotch Maude, Biddy O'Connor and Madam Brussels, who occupied a house at 32-6 Lonsdale Street (replaced in 1914) with the rear entrance off Casselden Place.

    In the 1860s the area was perceived as an overcrowded slum, housing the poorest residents and immigrants. During the late 1800s the area became an extension of Chinatown and many Chinese businesses moved into the area, particularly cabinet-makers making cheap furniture, and by 1900 occupied many buildings in the area. This trade also declined in the 1900s, and there was much building of substantial red brick commercial buildings along the street frontages. Sanitation measures were crude and most houses had an outdoor cesspit and no piped water. An underground water and sewerage system was not begun until the 1890s and until then problems with health and sanitation were widespread. Between 1886 and 1900 many houses in the block were declared unfit for habitation and demolished.

    Immigrants were attracted to the area in the early twentieth century, mainly Chinese, Syrians, Italians and Indians.

    The area has from its beginnings contained only modest structures. Land values were always less than in other parts of the city, and redevelopment pressure in the second half of the twentieth century when many Victorian-era buildings in other parts of Melbourne were being demolished, was also less, so that many of the modest buildings typical of the area in the mid- to late-nineteenth century were retained.

    The block between Spring, Lonsdale, Exhibition and Little Lonsdale Streets was purchased by the Commonwealth Government in 1948 and became known as the Commonwealth Block. Until then it had not been the subject of major redevelopment and retained its mid to late nineteenth century character. In the early 1960s most buildings in the area were demolished for car parking and in 1988 the western and eastern parts of the block were redeveloped, following an extensive archaeological excavation, but two of the oldest buildings, the Black Eagle Hotel (1850) and Oddfellows Hotel (early 1850s), were retained.

    The Commonwealth Government sold the land to Industry Superannuation Property Trustees in 1999-2000.

    HISTORY OF PLACE

    [from the Heritage Alliance 'Conservation Plan HO710. Black Eagle Hotel 42-44 Lonsdale Street'; and Terry Sawyer & Ivar Nelson, 'Conservation Management Plan. Former Black Eagle Hotel', July 1994.]

    During the Crown Grants of 1848, William Kennon, a stonemason, acquired this land at 42-44 Lonsdale Street. He subsequently built two two-storey bluestone and brick dwellings on the site. From its beginnings the building was used as a hotel, although the first rate description in 1851 does not indicate this. It is not until 1853 that the Black Eagle is given its official public house status. In order to increase its facilities, a loft, additional sheds and Blacksmith's shop at the rear were added in 1854. The first licensee was William Brandt who held the license until 1858, when William Kennon took it over, and he and his son Hugh held the licence until 1882, when the hotel was purchased by the Melbourne Brewing and Malting Company.

    The large number of hotels in the Little Lon area and their notorious reputation for unruly behaviour attracted widespread concern, reaching a peak in the 1890s. A Licenses Reduction Board was established in Victoria in 1906 to enable the withdrawing of licenses from hotels which did not meet certain standards. Between 1907 and 1912 the number of licenses dropped from 3562 to about a thousand less. The Black Eagle, like many hotels in the area, was closed down in 1908.

    The former hotel was home to a number of businesses after the hotel closure. It became a lodging house run by Mrs E M de Grimbert for some years, and from 1918 was occupied by the cabinet maker W H Chinn. The property was purchased by the printer Joshua McClelland in 1919, and he operated a printing business here until 1977. After taking over the premises, he demolished all the yard structures bar the toilet and urinal in the north-east corner of the site. A large single-storey red brick printing shed (now demolished) was constructed in the yard using the west and east garden walls as support for the new roof and a new northern wall with large hopper windows. These works are recorded as taking place in 1920 (McCarthy, 1990:9).

    Ryan (1979:68) provides the following description of the property as it was in 1979:

    When originally built in 1859, the premises were two two-storey exposed bluestone and brick dwellings which were later finished with stucco. The simple facade, almost Georgian, is original except for the ground floor windows which have been altered. The separate entrances are original. A blocked window in the west side of the building [since restored] indicates an attic storey. A fire in the building at some stage either destroyed or forced the closure of access to the loft.

    In 1990 an archaeological investigation was conducted at the site (known as Site B in McCarthy report). Restoration work begun in 1994 was completed in 1995 and the property was further fitted out in 1998.

    The building is now used as a shop on the ground floor with storage and office space above. The rear facade has been incorporated into the new commercial building at 50 Collins Street, which is built over what was once the back yard of the hotel.

    Plaque Citation

    FORMER BLACK EAGLE HOTEL - Plaque Citation

    Built in 1850 as a pair of houses in the then-notorious Little Lon area, but used as a hotel, this is now one of the oldest buildings in the city and demonstrates the small scale of Melbourne's pre-gold rush buildings.

    Assessment Against Criteria

    FORMER BLACK EAGLE HOTEL - Assessment Against Criteria

    a. Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria's cultural history

    The former Black Eagle Hotel is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the City of Melbourne, and one of the few to survive from before the gold rush period. It is largely intact externally and is now a rare demonstration of the many modest buildings once common in the city, most of which have now been either demolished or significantly altered, and is of great importance in helping to understand the way of life in the city during the nineteenth century. It is significant for its association with Melbourne's Little Lon district, which in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was home to the city's poorest residents and many immigrant groups, particularly the Chinese, and was notorious for its poverty, crime and prostitution. It is significant for its association with Melbourne's Chinatown in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when many buildings in this part of Melbourne was occupied by Chinese cabinet makers.

    b. Possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Victoria's cultural history.

    c. Potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Victoria's cultural history.

    d. Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places or environments.

    The former Black Eagle Hotel is a rare surviving example of a small 1850s hotel building in a Colonial Georgian style which has retained its scale and external form.

    e. Importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics.

    f. Importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period.

    g. Strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. This includes the significance of a place to Indigenous peoples as part of their continuing and developing cultural traditions.

    h. Special association with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in Victoria's history.

    Permit Exemptions

    FORMER BLACK EAGLE HOTEL - Permit Exemptions

    General Conditions: 1. All exempted alterations are to be planned and carried out in a manner which prevents damage to the fabric of the registered place or object. General Conditions: 2. Should it become apparent during further inspection or the carrying out of works that original or previously hidden or inaccessible details of the place or object are revealed which relate to the significance of the place or object, then the exemption covering such works shall cease and Heritage Victoria shall be notified as soon as possible. General Conditions: 3. If there is a conservation policy and plan all works shall be in accordance with it. General Conditions: 4. Nothing in this determination prevents the Executive Director from amending or rescinding all or any of the permit exemptions. General Conditions: 5. Nothing in this determination exempts owners or their agents from the responsibility to seek relevant planning or building permits from the responsible authorities where applicable. Minor Works : Note: Any Minor Works that in the opinion of the Executive Director will not adversely affect the heritage significance of the place may be exempt from the permit requirements of the Heritage Act. A person proposing to undertake minor works may submit a proposal to the Executive Director. If the Executive Director is satisfied that the proposed works will not adversely affect the heritage values of the site, the applicant may be exempted from the requirement to obtain a heritage permit. If an applicant is uncertain whether a heritage permit is required, it is recommended that the permits co-ordinator be contacted.

    Interior Works

    . Electrical works, provided no works damage external fabric and wiring is not run between the interior and the exterior;

    . Plumbing works provided all plumbing lines, wastes, services, vents, drains and the like are internally arranged;

    . Flooring: repair and replacement of flooring in pine tongue and groove boarding and subsequent finishes and coverings to the floors and stairs;

    . Works to the stairs including any changes to treads risers and handrails;

    . The installation of cornices and simple floated ceilings on the ground and first floor (such as fibrous plaster and plasterboard sheets);

    . The replacement of internal doors (with the exception of the attic door) as required (none on ground or first floor are original);

    . All refinishing, repainting and internal decoration;

    . The installation of equipment and all forms of shelving, sinks and benching provided damage to original fabric is minimised and the items are not permanently fixed to the fabric of the building.

    Permit Exemption Policy

    FORMER BLACK EAGLE HOTEL - Permit Exemption Policy

    The purpose of the Permit Policy is to assist when considering or making decisions regarding works to the place. It is recommended that any proposed works be discussed with an officer of Heritage Victoria prior to making a permit application. Discussing any proposed works will assist in answering any questions the owner may have and aid any decisions regarding works to the place. In planning future works consideration should be given to the Conservation Management Plan (CMP) completed in 2003 by Heritage Alliance (superseding that by Ivar Nelson and Terry Sawyer of July 1994. The earlier CMP formed the basis of conservation works while the 2003 CMP took into account subsequent alterations.

    The extent of registration protects the whole site. New building on the site may impact upon the cultural heritage significance of the place and requires a permit. The purpose of this requirement is not to prevent any further development on this site, but to enable control of possible adverse impacts on heritage significance during that process. All of the registered building is integral to the significance of the place and any external or internal alterations are subject to permit application.

    The significance of the place lies in its rarity and intactness as one of Melbourne's oldest surviving buildings and as a rare example of a hotel building of the pre-gold rush period. While few original features remain on the ground and first floors it is important to retain what remains of the original internal walls and the fireplaces on the ground and first floors to allow some understanding of the original form and function of the building. The attic retains a number of early features, such as roofing timbers, wooden laths for the original plaster ceiling, early magazine cuttings used as wallpaper (now protected by an overlaid sheet of Perspex) and remnants of Victorian-era wallpaper, which provide evidence of the former residential function of the attic rooms and must be retained. The remnants of early painted signs surviving on the western corner of the building must also be retained.

    The building has been restored externally while internally most of the post mid twentieth century alterations have been stripped away, leaving some specific areas which are of historical interest and retain elements of original fabric albeit in a skeletal manner. The exemptions reflect the possibility of works in some areas being carried out without the need for a permit, provided damage to the original fabric is minimised, while there are no permit exemptions for the important western attic space.

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• Public contributions

  Notes See all notes

  Black Eagle Hotel

  Andrew Neale • 10/03/17

  WM KENNON (1812-1880), STONEMASON, ARRIVED 1841. IN 1846-50 BUILT THE SINGLE ARCH GRANITE PRINCES BRIDGE WITH JAS. LINACRE. FAMILY TRADITION IS STRONG THAT HE ALSO BUILT: THE TIDE GAUGE HOUSE; THE WILLIAMSTOWN LIGHTHOUSE IN 1852 (TIME BALL TOWER) LINACRE WAS ALSO CONTRACTOR; ST. PAUL'S CHURCH CNR FLINDERS & SWANSTON ST. (LATER DEMOLISHED TO BUILD THE CATHEDRAL), AND THE QUEEENSCLIFF BLACK LIGHTHOUSE BUILT OF BASALT 1861-62. BEHIND THE BLACK EAGLE, HE OWNED 10 BRICK COTTAGES OF 2 RMS EACH.

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  03/10/16

  FORMER LEITRIM HOTEL - MACS HOTEL - DUKE OF WELLINGTON HOTEL - FORMER BLACK EAGLE HOTEL - FORMER CARLTON & UNITED BREWERY SITE - FORMER CARLTON AND UNITED BREWERY