Aberdeen Hotel & St Johns Building

Statement of Significance

The place has aesthetic significance as a finely detailed Victorian Italianate style example of a commercial building as displayed in the Aberdeen Hotel and the Federation Free Style of the St John's Building. The place makes a positive contribution to the streetscape. The place has historic significance as it reflects the expansion and development of residential and commercial buildings on the city fringes during the rapid population increase of the 1890’s gold boom and the early years of the twentieth century. The place is representative as an example of a commercial building dating from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The Aberdeen Hotel is a well-known local hotel and a popular social venue which has been operating continuously since 1886.

Physical Description

Two storey commercial building with large openings to street facade. Distinguished by wide loggia balcony pilasters, pediments at parapet with masonry balustrade.

History

A hotel and stables are recorded on this site from at least 1890, when a Mr W. Love was the owner. Since that time, the hotel has had several name changes. In 1900 it is listed as the Cosmopolitan Hotel; in 1910 the Union Hotel, then the Red Lion Hotel in 1940. The place was subsequently renamed the Aberdeen Hotel. In 1886 a hotel and stables were recorded in the rate book, where the house was previously recorded. John Jones, a brewer, leased the hotel for five years. In 1891 N. Routledge leased the property for ten years. A two-storey building was built next to the hotel in 1892 and was known as Balcony House and was eventually part of the hotel complex. The lease changed hands after N. Routledge and in 1897 the hotel was noted as the Cosmopolitan in the rates book. In 1898 buildings were constructed around the hotel. In 1901 works to the hotel’s bar and accommodation rooms were approved. In 1904 Friedrich J.L.T Schruth acquired the shop and house on the west side of the hotel. Friedrich Schruth had previously owned the Royal Hotel in Wellington Street. The family owned and leased the hotel which changed its name in 1905 to the Union Hotel. After his death, the licensees changed a few times, however the Schruth family became the licensee again with Heinrich Schruth taking over from 1917 to 1927. Changes in licensees often occurred at this time due to the high cost. Further alterations were carried out in 1922 which incorporated the shop and building adjacent to the hotel. The colonnades were also built on the ground and first floors at this time. In the 1950s the name changed to the Red Lion hotel and further internal changes occurred in the subsequent decades. In the 1980s the hotel became an important place for Perth’s gay and lesbian community to meet and socialise. Stages were set up at the venue for entertainment during this time. The hotel was acquired by the Main Roads Department in 1996, along with a number of other properties along the length of the proposed Northbridge Tunnel development.

Integrity/Authenticity

Medium level of authenticity. Largely intact some restoration and adaptation.

Condition

Fair

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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