Freemason's Hotel (fmr), Toodyay

Statement of Significance

The Freemasons Hotel has aesthetic value as one of the finest and most substantial architectural structures in the main street of Toodyay. It is dominant and a critical element in the main streetscape of Toodyay.
The place has historic value for its considerable associations with Toodyay identities as owners and publicans.
The place has considerable social value as the venue for social interaction and hospitality that has taken place continuously since 1860.

Physical Description

A double height red brick structure with iron hipped roof and a decorative parapet of classical influence. Verandah to the first storey with timber posts and balustrades. The ground level has a colonnaded verandah with brick columns and rendered dressings linking each of the arches. Timber sash and casement windows. Rear verandah to both upper and lower levels and a single storey extension of brick and iron construction

History

In 1860 W.P. Tregonning, a publican formally of York and Beverly, bought Lots 6,7,8 and 14 and built a single storey public house with stables and a large enclosure. It was called Newcastle Hotel. It was licensed in 1861 and sold to Thomas Mead of Northam in 1862 for two thousand pounds. The Newcastle Hotel name became confused with Monger's Newcastle Hotel licensed in 1963 and Mead changed the name to Freemasons Tavern and later Freemasons Hotel.
Water supplies were a constant issue in Toodyay and when the Depot well ran dry in 1869 people began to draw their drinking water from the well behind the Freemasons Hotel. It was equipped with a pump and was well used. Samuel and James Gregg, the licensees of the hotel were also promoters of the Newcastle Co-operative Stores Company launched in 1868. The store was set up in the long room of the hotel after they obtained the Colonial Secretary's permission for this dealing. Samuel Gregg subsequently became the sole licensee of the hotel and James the manager of the store. Toodyay Roads Board meetings were held in the hotel on the first Saturday of each month, designed to co-incide with shopping day in town.
In 1871, a tea meeting and concert at the hotel, organised by Rev. Innes formed a young men's reading club, with James Drummond chairing the meeting. It was said to be the biggest social event ever held in Toodyay. The introduction of the exclusive Assembly Ball, held at Newcastle Hotel in 1871 was rivalled by the Settler's Ball organised for Show Week at the Freemasons hotel.
In 1875, the well behind the hotel was closed for public use when the new proprietor Michael Ryan declared a charge of one pound per person for its use. At the end of 1880 Dan Connor advertised the Freemasons Hotel for sale but received no bids and sold the hotel to the lessee, Thomas Donegan, who soon sold it to his brother, James.
In 1891 H. Davey purchased the hotel. He built a new kitchen at the rear, built the front to the street line and constructed a second storey. Davey also sold the water from the well to the hospital at a rate of half a crown a cask. He bought Mongers Store where he converted the top floor into living quarters while he renovated and added the second floor to the hotel.
The stables were demolished around 1955 to make way for an outdoor picture theatre which was subsequently demolished in 1970.
The shop adjoining the hotel on the south was the 'Yankee Doodle Tobacco Shop' in the 1920's, advertising as a newsagency, chemist and druggist, hairdressing salon and tobacconist, run by W.T. Richardson. It was a Ladies Club before it was incorporated into the hotel and became the saloon bar.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: High
Authenticity: High

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.