Former Prince of Wales Hotel (?)
125 Thompson Street HAMILTON, Southern Grampians Shire
Gray St Commercial Precinct Hamilton
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Statement of Significance
SIGNIFICANCE: Formerly one of the main Hamilton hotels and for some time the RSL Hall.
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
Former Prince of Wales Hotel
125 Gray Street
Built on land originally sold by the Crown at auction in 1851 to W Smith, possibly the William Smith (c1838-1909) who was a leading businessman and who became Town Clerk in 1874 to 1887, the building appears to date from the early 1860s. (i) The Prince of Wales Hotel was opened in July 1873 (ii) and for years was operated by Henry Cooke (c1819-1882). It belonged to the second boom in hotel construction in Hamilton. It enjoyed an excellent position being close to the Cobb & Co coaching station a few doors up the hill in Thompson Street. The hotel went into decline, perhaps because train travel superceded coaches, and by 1920 it had been bought and converted to a Returned Soldiers League hall. (iii)
Much of the original stone carcass of the hotel and its brick outbuildings survive as do the shopfronts installed in the 1920s conversion. Wooden structures at 127 Thompson Street may also relate to the stone building. The facade has been covered over by cladding recently but apears to survive behind. (iv) The building is in only fair condition. Nonetheless, it makes a considerable contribution to the streetscape, if only for its scale, form and setback on the property boundary.
FOOTNOTES
i Garden, D, Hamilton, p 83. This is almost certainly the former hotel but a definitive rate book search has not been done to corroborate the physical evidence.
ii Hamilton Spectator, 3 July 1873.
iii Garden, p 196.
iv Its condition is not known but is reputed to be restorable.
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Former Prince of Wales Hotel (?) - Physical Description 1
MATERIALS:
Roof: corrugated iron
Walls: bluestone or brick
Dressings: cement render & tiles
Plinth: bluestone
Windows: 12 pane dhs
Paving: encaustic tiles
Other:NOTABLE FEATURES:late Edwardian shopfronts
LEVEL OF STREETSCAPE SIGNIFICANCE: 1 || 2 || 3 |X|
STYLE: unknown, probably Conservative Classical
Former Prince of Wales Hotel (?) - Historical Australian Themes
ASSOCIATED HISTORIC BUILDINGS
Commercial Hotel, 139 Thompson Street
Argyle Arms Hotel, 235 Gray Street
Criterion or Grand Central Hotel, 141 Gray StFormer Prince of Wales Hotel (?) - Integrity
Integrity: F
Former Prince of Wales Hotel (?) - Physical Conditions
Conditions: F
Heritage Study and Grading
Southern Grampians - City of Hamilton Conservation Study
Author: Timothy Hubbard with Carlotta Kellaway & Michael Looker (plus Francis Punch)
Year: 1991
Grading: C
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MECHANICS INSTITUTEVictorian Heritage Register H2171
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HAMILTON BOTANIC GARDENSVictorian Heritage Register H2185
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HAMILTON GAS HOLDERVictorian Heritage Register H1086
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'CARINYA' LADSONS STOREVictorian Heritage Register H0568
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