YOUNG AND JACKSON'S PRINCES BRIDGE HOTEL
1-7 SWANSTON STREET MELBOURNE, MELBOURNE CITY
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
Young and Jackson's Princes Bridge Hotel is an amalgamation of five separate buildings of two and three storeys. The original 1853 bluestone building was designed as a three-storey residence, with a butcher's shop on the ground floor. It opened as a hotel in July 1861 with John T Toohey as licensee. It was later extended in both directions, incorporating a shop to the north in Swanston Street and two early bluestone stores to the west on Flinders Street. All the buildings have been rendered and painted to match each other but the original stone corner building can be readily identified. In 1875 Henry Figsby Young and Thomas Jackson took over the licence, extended the hotel and gave it the name by which it is now popularly known. The architect John Flannigan and the builder Henry Wright undertook the renovations, including the removal of the original timber shopfronts and the addition of the brick parapets and pediments. In 1908 Henry Young purchased the painting Chloe and displayed it in the saloon bar. Chloe is a painting of a nude female by the Frenchman Jules Lefebvre. This painting had been the subject of public outcry when it had been shipped to Melbourne for the 1880-81 International Exhibition at the Royal Exhibition Buildings. Its display at the hotel ensured great publicity for Young. Young sold his leasehold in 1914 to the brewer Stephen Morell. During Morell's tenancy the hotel absorbed another of the former stores extending west along Flinders Street. In 1921 the freeholder united all the previous perimeter occupancies to form one large hotel facade. The architect of this work was the hotel specialist Richard B Whittaker. The red glaze tile dado and ornamental frieze was added to combat the grime at ground level. The streetscape of the hotel is dominated by large advertising signs fixed to the exterior, a feature of the hotel since the 1920s.
How is it significant?
Young and Jackson?s Princes Bridge Hotel is of historical significance to the State of Victoria.
Why is it significant?
Young and Jackson's Princes Bridge Hotel is historically significant as one of Melbourne's oldest, most important and successful nineteenth century hotels. Its popularity was achieved partly because of its occupation of the key corner site facing Princes Bridge and Flinders Street Railway Station. Since the 1920s commercial signs have also played an important role in establishing Young and Jackson's landmark quality. The hotel is historically significant for the public display of the painting Chloe since 1908. Chloe not only helped to promote the hotel but also came to symbolise popular resistance to conservative Victorian values. Chloe is intimately connected to the significance of Young and Jackson's Princes Bridge Hotel and has changed hands with changes of ownership of the hotel. Young and Jackson's Princes Bridge Hotel is additionally historically significant as one of the first hotels to be chosen in 1888 by the Foster Brothers to sell their revolutionary new lager beer, which later came to dominate the market for bottled beer. Young and Jackson's Princes Bridge Hotel is historically significant for its associations with Stephen J Morrell, licensee from 1914. Morrell helped establish the Abbotsford Brewery and became Mayor of Melbourne in 1926.
Young and Jackson's Princes Bridge Hotel is socially significant as one of the most famous pubs in Australia. It is one of the international symbols of Melbourne and the hotel retains its status as a pub destination for tourists and for ex-servicemen who were based in Melbourne during the Second World War. The hotel is a prominent Melbourne landmark on the Flinders Street and Swanston Street intersection and retains a close relationship with Flinders Street Railway Station located opposite.
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YOUNG AND JACKSON'S PRINCES BRIDGE HOTEL - History
History of Place:
(from RNE)
The building known as Young and Jackson's Princes Bridge Hotel dates back to 1854 when four stone stores were erected for Thomas Gates James of St Kilda under a twenty-one year leasehold agreement (from December 1852) with the owner Henry Jennings, a solicitor. These warehouses, located on the corner of Swanston and Flinders Streets, were contemporaneous with the development of Flinders Street Station, Australia's first and later its busiest, railway station, located directly opposite. The earlier development of Princes Bridge (1851) had also established the positional advantage of Swanston Street as an entrance to the central city from the south bank of the Yarra River. In 1856 the land and eventually its improvements, were sold to the grazier and merchant Denis Keogh in whose family it was to remain for 123 years. In 1860 the corner position of the complex became the Princes Bridge Hotel under John T Toohey and in 1875 Henry Figsby Young and Thomas Jackson took over the licence and extended the Hotel. The architect John Flannigan and the builder Henry Wright undertook the renovations, most of the external elements of which are still discernible today. Young sold his leasehold in 1914 to the brewer, hotelier's son and future lord mayor of Melbourne, Stephen (later Sir Stephen) Morell. During his tenancy the Hotel absorbed another of the former stores extending west along Flinders Street. Meanwhile the freeholder Keogh's widow Bessie had died in 1921 leaving the hotel to her son William under whose ownership all the previous perimeter occupancies were united to form one large hotel. The architect of the 1922 work was the hotel specialist Richard B Whittaker. Princes Bridge Hotel attained its reputation as one of Melbourne's most important and successful hotels in the nineteenth century partly because of its occupation of the key corner site facing Princes Bridge and Flinders Street Railway Station. It was one of the first hotels chosen by the Foster Brothers in 1888 to sell their revolutionary new lager beer which later came to dominate the market for bottled beer.
In 1908 the lessee Henry Young attracted further attention to the hotel with his purchase and subsequent public display in the saloon bar of Chloe, the painting of a nude female by the Frenchman Jules Lefebvre. This painting had already been the subject of public outcry. Chloe had been shipped to Melbourne for the 1880-81 International Exhibition where it was placed on display at the French Court. After the close of the Exhibition it was purchased by the noted Melbourne medical man Dr Thomas Fitzgerald who in 1882 loaned it to the National Gallery. Chloe aroused the ire of certain Melburnians in 1883. They objected to its public display, especially on Sundays. Despite a spirited defence from artistic circles, the painting was withdrawn and Dr Fitzgerald asked for it to be returned to his possession. On his death it was bought by the hotelier Young with great eclat. Young's action and the subsequent public display of Chloe, was intended to promote his Hotel but the presence of the painting at Young and Jacksons's came to be seen as symbolising popular resistance to narrow-minded Victorian values. It has remained associated with the Hotel ever since and has changed hands with the freehold on the two occasions in the past decade that the Hotel has been sold. Since the 1920s commercial signs have played an important role in establishing Young and Jackson's landmark quality.
Heritage Inventory History of Site: Date of first documented occupation, 1830s
Associated People: Henry Young, Thomas Jackson, Sephen Morrell (licencees)
Henry Figsby Young was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1845 and came to Melbourne in 1849 with his parents. Young’s father Henry is listed in directories as a corn dealer in 1866 and in 1867 as licensee of the Freemasons Arms Hotel in North Melbourne, and in 1868 as licensee of the Elsternwick Hotel. In 1867 Jackson jnr. became licensee of Sparrow’s Hotel in St Kilda. Thomas Joshua Jackson was also born in Dublin, in 1834. It is not known when he came to Melbourne but is thought to have teamed up with Jackson on the Otago gold fields in New Zealand in 1861. The pair were very successful and in 1875 obtained the lease to the Princes Bridge Hotel for ten years at an annual rent of 720 pounds. In 1880 they obtained a fourteen year lease. The partnership of Young and Jackson ended in the late 1890sm, and Jackson died in 1901 at his Jolimont house Eblana. Young carried on at the hotel with the help of his sons and acquired an interest in the arts and started a private collection of paintings and statues, supposedly one of the best collections in the State. Young sold his interest in the hotel in 1914 to Stephen Morrell. He died at his St Kilda mansion Normanshurst in 1925.(RHSV Journal, March 1983, vol 54 no.1)YOUNG AND JACKSON'S PRINCES BRIDGE HOTEL - Plaque Citation
The original corner section of this amalgamation of buildings dates from 1853. Operating as a hotel from 1861, it gained notoriety with the purchase of the controversial nude painting, Chloe, displayed at the hotel since 1908
YOUNG AND JACKSON'S PRINCES BRIDGE HOTEL - Permit Exemptions
General Exemptions:General exemptions apply to all places and objects included in the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR). General exemptions have been designed to allow everyday activities, maintenance and changes to your property, which don’t harm its cultural heritage significance, to proceed without the need to obtain approvals under the Heritage Act 2017.Places of worship: In some circumstances, you can alter a place of worship to accommodate religious practices without a permit, but you must notify the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria before you start the works or activities at least 20 business days before the works or activities are to commence.Subdivision/consolidation: Permit exemptions exist for some subdivisions and consolidations. If the subdivision or consolidation is in accordance with a planning permit granted under Part 4 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and the application for the planning permit was referred to the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria as a determining referral authority, a permit is not required.Specific exemptions may also apply to your registered place or object. If applicable, these are listed below. Specific exemptions are tailored to the conservation and management needs of an individual registered place or object and set out works and activities that are exempt from the requirements of a permit. Specific exemptions prevail if they conflict with general exemptions. Find out more about heritage permit exemptions here.
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