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COFFEE PALACE (FORMER)

Location McNicol Street, BRANXHOLME VIC 3302 - Property No 5470 File Number 555 Level Stage 2 study complete

[1/2] 23302 Coffee Palace Former [2/2] 23302 Coffee palace Branxholme

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The former Branxholme Coffee Palace was, despite its rather grand title, no more than a simple boarding house which distinguished itself, through its name, from the accommodation provided by local hotels. The establishment was opened by Mr. and Mrs. W Price in 1890. The term 'coffee palace' had become popular and respectable during the teetotaler political climate of Victoria in the 1880s. The Prices' daughter, Mrs. H Edwards carried on the boarding house after her marriage in 1912. It survives as a simple weatherboard cottage extended to the front and rear. By this time, most of its guests would have arrived by train with Branxholme acting as something of a railway junction. The building has been substantially altered internally, probably during the Interwar years. It is in good condition. The outbuildings are not significant and there are no significant plantings in the garden.

How is it significant?
The former Branxholme Coffee Palace is of historical significance to the Southern Grampians Shire and to the township of Branxholme.

Why is it significant?
The former Branxholme Coffee Palace is of historical significance as a demonstration of the simple boarding house accommodation provided to travellers such as itinerant workers, trade representatives and other genteel visitors in small country towns and as a comparison with the accommodation provided by hotels.