The Esplanade Hotel, 2 Gellibrand Street, Queenscliff
2 Gellibrand Street QUEENSCLIFF, QUEENSCLIFFE BOROUGH
North Gellibrand Street Precinct
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Statement of Significance
Statement of Significance as recorded under the Queenscliff Heritage Study 2009
The Esplanade Hotel is of historical significance to Queenscliffe as one of a group of substantial boom-era hotels built in the late nineteenth century, as Queenscliff developed into one of the State's premier seaside resorts. As a hotel that has operated continuously since its establishment, the place is likely to be of social significance to Queenscliffe as a hotel that is well known, used and valued by the local community and visitors to the township. It is of historical and aesthetic (architectural) significance as an imposing Victorian hotel complex on a key site in Queenscliff. The Esplanade is of cultural heritage significance to Queenscliff for its association with the hoteliers Martha Nugent and Joseph Goslin who later operated the nearby Queenscliff Hotel.
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The Esplanade Hotel, 2 Gellibrand Street, Queenscliff - Physical Description 1
Between 1900 and 1936, the iron verandahs were removed from both wings of the Esplanade: a timber two-level verandah had replaced the iron one by circa 1920.(8)
Today, upper-level windows have been partially blocked and there are no post or cantilevered verondahs, but in their place, cantilever electric sign. The entrances have been decorated with Castlemaine slate, aluminium-framed doors installed, and the lookout tower has been removed. 80th buildings have been stripped of their ornament and, with that, their architectural importance. However, their basic roof form and massing remain and hence they provide vital streetscape links from Gellibrand Street into Symonds Street. The significance of this building relates to this fact, and its association with a very important phase in the development of Queenscliff.
The Esplanade Hotel, 2 Gellibrand Street, Queenscliff - Physical Description 2
Extract from the 2009 study
The Esplanade is a Victorian hotel complex at the south-west corner of Symonds and Gellibrand streets. The main two-storey rendered brick building, adjacent to the intersection, has a splayed corner and a hipped roof clad in corrugated galvanised steel sheeting. A plain timber verandah extends across the two street-facing elevations. There are entrances to the splayed corner and each of the street-facing facades. Distinctive curved corner windows, some of which are in a tripartite arrangement, are retained to both elevations.
To the south of the main building, in Gellibrand Street, is a second two-storey wing, which is substantially taller than the corner building. It has a hipped roof clad in corrugated galvanised steel sheeting. The fenestration on the upper level is timber frame double-hung sash windows; their sills have been raised to make the windows smaller. Evidence remains of a two-storey verandah with a concave roof profile, now removed. The windows on the lower level of this wing are similar to the fenestration of the ground floor of the adjacent main building, and help to unify the two components of the hotel. The two-storey south wing extends the full depth of the property.
To the west of the corner building, facing Symonds Street, is a single-storey rendered brick wing with a gambrel roof clad in corrugated galvanised steel sheeting. It has similar fenestration to the main building. To the west of this wing is a later high brick fence (painted) that conceals the hotel's rear courtyard/beer garden.
The ground floor interior of the hotel was extensively altered in the early twentieth century. Works included remodelling the Gellibrand Street entrance foyer with the fitting of a new timber staircase, a pressed metal ceiling and other elements.
The Esplanade Hotel, 2 Gellibrand Street, Queenscliff - Intactness
GOOD
Heritage Study and Grading
Queenscliffe - Queenscliffe Urban Conservation Study
Author: Allom Lovell & Associates P/L, Architects
Year: 1982
Grading:Queenscliffe - Queenscliffe Heritage Study
Author: Lovell Chen
Year: 2009
Grading:
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LATHAMSTOWEVictorian Heritage Register H1052
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PILOTS COTTAGESVictorian Heritage Register H1618
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ROSENFELDVictorian Heritage Register H1134
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