Hotel Max, 30 Commercial Road, Prahran
30 Commercial Road, PRAHRAN VIC 3181 - Property No 31137
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Statement of Significance
What is Significant?
The Hotel Max, 30 Commercial Road, Prahran, is a double-storey streamlined interwar Moderne style hotel. First known as the Commercial Hotel and later the Prince Maximilian Hotel, the original c1853-54 hotel on the site was rebuilt c1940.
How is it Significant?
The Hotel Max is of local architectural and historical significance to the City of Stonnington.
Why is it Significant?
The Hotel Max is of historical significance for its ability to demonstrate the major interwar trend of rebuilding or remodelling hotels which followed the introduction of the Licenses Reduction Board. The hotel is of additional historical significance for the enduring use of the site as licensed premises for over one and a half centuries.
The Hotel Max is of architectural significance as a good and largely externally intact example of a streamlined interwar Moderne style hotel. The hotel's significance is further enhanced by its association with prolific interwar hotel architect Robert H McIntyre.
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Hotel Max, 30 Commercial Road, Prahran - Physical Description 1
The Hotel Max is located on the south-west corner of Commercial Road and Donald Street, Prahran. It is a double-storey interwar Moderne style building of face brick and render construction with a parapet concealing a hipped terracotta tiled roof. Both the Commercial Road and Donald Street facades are built directly on the property boundary but with a curved corner characteristic of the Moderne idiom. The curved steel-framed window at the corner and port hole windows on the ground floor of the Donald Street elevation are also typical Moderne style elements. The first floor has a band of timber-framed double-hung windows with horizontal glazing bars and a continuous projecting sill and lintel creating a streamlined effect. The strong horizontal emphasis of the facade is offset by vertical tower element on the west side of the Commercial Road facade. The tower has a rendered surface with horizontal incisions which contrast with the colour and texture of the face brickwork on adjoining parts of the first floor facade.
The hotel exterior remains substantially intact to its c1940 state although the dark tiled dado seen in an early photograph above has been removed (see figure 5 above). Original door joinery on the ground floor has been replaced and two window openings on the Donald Street elevation have been enlarged. One of the two 'Hotel Max' signs seen in the early photograph above has also been removed while the other has been relocated to the rendered tower. A brick garage on the rear boundary is presumably one of the c1950s additions described in the history above.
The interior of the hotel was not inspected in detail during the preparation of this heritage assessment but nonetheless appears to have been extensively refurbished.
Hotel Max, 30 Commercial Road, Prahran - Historical Australian Themes
The Hotel Max illustrates the following themes as identified in the Stonnington Thematic Environmental History (Context Pty Ltd, 2006):
7.4.1 Early Hotels
7.4.2 Developing a Modern Hospitality IndustryHotel Max, 30 Commercial Road, Prahran - Shopfront
Intact elements: Partial, 3 leadlight highlights to doors, 5 steel windows, 4 bullseye windows, metal grille to glassblock windows.
Heritage Study and Grading
Stonnington - Hotels in the City of Stonnington Heritage Citations Project
Author: Bryce Raworth Pty Ltd
Year: 2010
Grading: A2Stonnington - City of Stonnington - Heritage Precincts - Intact Shop Fronts Survey 2012
Author: Context P/L
Year: 2012
Grading:
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MAJELLAVictorian Heritage Register H0783
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PRAHRAN TOWN HALLVictorian Heritage Register H0203
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FORMER POLICE STATION AND COURT HOUSEVictorian Heritage Register H0542
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