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The George Hotel
Location205-221 Gray St HAMILTON, Southern Grampians Shire
File NumberHAMDS037LevelStage 2 study complete |
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Statement of Significance
SIGNIFICANCE: Keystone building in the streetscape which has undergone many alterations, the most significant of which were the 1938 alterations designed by Seabrook & Fildes, prominent Melbourne architects. [i] Garden, Don, Hamilton, pp 130-131; Hamilton Spectator, 12 August 1882, 4 January 1882, 11 October 1884 and 16 October 1884. [ii] Garden, Don, Hamilton, p 221. [iii] HSA DP No. 125, designed by G W Kearnot.
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
George Hotel
213 Gray Street
This building has local significance for its associations with the early history of brewing and hotels in Hamilton, and particularly with Charles Haferhorn, publican and brewer. It was opened as the Grange Family Hotel in 1883 by Haferhorn, who, in the 1860s, ran the Grange Brewery in Gray Street and, in the 1870s, hotels at Balmoral and Coleraine. He died in 1884. ([i]) Nearly closed in 1919 on account of its dilapidated condition, the building became known as the George Hotel during the 1920s. ([ii]) It enjoyed a major refurbishment under the ownership of Mrs J F Burge in 1938 with a new facade by the prominent Melbourne architects, Seabrook and Fildes who were very active in Hamilton between the wars. Their favourite motif, a strongly vertical glass brick tower has been covered over by enamelled sheet metal. The design has been seriously compromised by other unsympathetic alterations. Their renovations at the Argyle Arms Hotel at 235 Gray Street survive better. Motel unit extensions were made in 1965-66. ([iii]) Nonetheless, the building still acts as a keystone in the Gray Street streetscape for its size and scale.
Group
Commercial
Category
Hotel