Riversdale Hotel

The Riversdale Hotel, 277 Auburn Road, Hawthorn, designed by architect William Pitt and constructed in 1888 for owner John J Rosney. The hotel was run by JJ Rosney until his death in the early 1890s, after which his widow, Annie Rosney, was the owner and licensee until 1930.

The two-storey addition to the east side of the Riversdale Road frontage is not significant.

The Riversdale Hotel is of local aesthetic, architectural and historic significance to the City of Boroondara.

The Riversdale Hotel is of aesthetic and architectural significance as a representative example of the Italianate Boom style of the late 1880s as applied to a major commercial building. Typical features of this style include Renaissance-inspired triangular and segmentally arched pediments to upper-storey windows, a balustrade parapet, and an ornate double-storey arcade at the centre of the Auburn Road facade, all executed in cement render. (Criterion E)

The Riversdale Hotel is of architectural significance as a rare commercial design by William Pitt in the City of Boroondara. Pitt (1855-1918) was one of the leading practitioners of the 'Boom style' in 1880s metropolitan Melbourne, designing major landmarks ranging from Queen's Bridge, the Princess Theatre, St Kilda and Brunswick town halls, the suite of Venetian Gothic Olderfleet, Stock Exchange and Rialto buildings, and numerous local hotels. (Criterion H)

The Riversdale Hotel is of historic significance as a local landmark and gathering place - as licensed premises - since it was built in 1888. It provided a visual and economic anchor to the new commercial precinct which grew at the intersection of Auburn and Riversdale roads, accelerated by the coming of a horse-drawn tram terminus in January 1890, just after the hotel was built. The hotel also illustrates the new burst of hotel

construction that came with the new residential subdivisions and the overall property development boom of late 1880s metropolitan Melbourne. (Criteria A & G)

Group

Commercial

Category

Hotel