Former Hamilton Coffee Palace

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Former Hamilton Coffee Palace
9 Brown Street

This building has local significance for its associations with the Temperance Movement which was active in Hamilton during the last century, led by Peter Learmonth and store owner, John Thompson. ([i]) The Temerance Movement was powerful both politically and socially, especially when it was lead by James Munro, Premier of Victoria and the developer behind many coffee palaces. Robert McLuckie (c1857-1922), baker, Secretary of the Hamilton Branch of the Victorian Employers' Federation, and Mayor in the 1920s, opened the Hamilton Coffee Palace in about 1887. Unlike the large Temperance hotels of the period in Melbourne, it was a baker's shop. ([ii]) Its location near and relationship with the Railway Station are critical to both buildings. In the same decade, in 1885, Hamilton's Total Abstiance Society acquired the old bluestone store at 77 Kennedy Street and renovated it as a Temperance Hall. ([iii])

The former Coffee Palace building has reverted to domestic use and was renovated in 1987 by Neville Cowland. ([iv]) It has been much altered as part of the conversion. It is in fair condition. It forms an important part of the streetscape, especially for its relationship with the railway station.

Group

Transient Accommodation

Category

Coffee Palace