Farmers Arms Hotel, 18 Kings Avenue, ST ARNAUD

The Farmers Arms Hotel is architecturally significant at a LOCAL level. It demonstrates original and early design qualities of a Federation style. These qualities include the symmetrical five bayed two storey composition on the main facade, identified by the segmentally arched timber framed, double hung windows, and the central ground floor door opening. Other intact qualities include the hipped roof form clad in unpainted and lapped galvanised corrugated iron; six panelled timber and glazed door; masonry window sills; bluestone door step; transom light above the central door; brick parapets surmounting a bracketed cornice; unpainted brick chimneys with rendered cornice tops; painted "Farmers Arms Hotel" title panel between the ground and first floors; and the evidence of a previous front verandah denoted by the coursing above the ground floor windows and door.

The single storey rear wing and interwar addition - both with unpainted galvanised corrugated iron hipped roofs, face red brick wall construction, timber framed double hung windows, masonry sills and unpainted brick chimneys, also contribute to the architectural significance of the place. The longitudinal stable outbuildings with simple unpainted galvanised corrugated iron roofs and horizontal weatherboard wall cladding further contribute to the significance of the place.

The Farmers Arms Hotel and site are historically significant at a LOCAL level. They are associated with the development of a timber hotel built in 1859 for J.R. Rostron and known as the Tottington Hotel. More particularly, they are historically significant for their associations with the Farmers Arms Hotel that was constructed in 1901 for Emily Edwards, whose family had also owned the earlier hotel from 1876 and this hotel until 1943. The Farmers Arms Hotel is also significant as the first hotel in St. Arnaud to introduce billiards, and for its associations with the architects, Clegg, Kell and Miller.

The Farmers Arms Hotel and site are socially significant at a LOCAL level. They are recognised and valued by the St. Arnaud community as a local meeting place for social interaction.

Overall, the Farmers Arms Hotel and site are of LOCAL significance.

Group

Commercial

Category

Hotel