British Arms Hotel (fmr)

Statement of Significance

Assessment of Significance: British Arms Hotel (fmr), constructed in Federation Free Classical style, is highly valued by the Kalgoorlie-Boulder community for its unique design and narrow width, and identifiable association with the Museum of the Goldfields. (Criterion 1.1) British Arms Hotel (fmr) is integral to, and the only extant insitu building of heritage value, within the cultural environment of the Museum of the Goldfields. Other buildings of historic value including a police station, miner's cottage and a bank have been moved to the museum site. (Criterion 1.4) The streetscape view in Outridge Terrace has been influenced by the closure of the street and the construction of a museum building opposite the hotel building; however, it still makes a contribution to the streetscape. The view southeast from the corner of Outridge Terrace and Hannan Street makes a significant contribution to the townscape and character of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. (Criterion 1.4) British Arms Hotel (fmr) is representative of the third phase of construction in Kalgoorlie during the period from c1898 to 1908, when timber and iron buildings were replaced with more permanent brick structures. (Criterion 2.1) Constructed in 1899, British Arms Hotel (fmr) is associated with the successful exploitation of the Coolgardie Goldfields and the continuing development of Kalgoorlie as the major administrative and commercial centre of the eastern goldfields. (Criterion 2.2) British Arms Hotel (fmr) was constructed specifically to cater to the large numbers of miners who travelled daily, to and from work, on the Boulder railway loopline via Hannan's Station. (Criterion 2.2) The delicensing of British Arms Hotel (fmr) in 1924, and its use as a boarding house until c1970, was indicative of the decline of the goldfields after World War One, and the sporadic nature of its ongoing operations. (Criterion 2.2) British Arms Hotel (fmr) has been associated with a museum function, first as the Golden Mile Museum and then as part of the State run Museum of the Goldfields, since 1968, providing a well preserved example of a late 19th century hotel as well as exhibition facilities. (Criterion 2.3) British Arms Hotel (fmr) is valued by the local and wider community for its early social and residential associations and, more recently, its educational and entertainment associations as part of an ongoing museum display interpreting the history of the Eastern Goldfields. (Criterion 4.1) British Arms Hotel (fmr) contributes to the local and wider community's sense of place as a reminder of the town's gold boom past, and for its own unique architectural features. Its significance is evidenced by its interim listing on the State Register of Heritage Places. (Criterion 4.2) Statement of Significance: British Arms Hotel (fmr), 1899, a two storey brick and colorbond roofed building in the Federation Free style, has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons: - the place is a singular example of a six metre wide hotel building in Western Australia and a unusual example of Federation Arts & Crafts style in the State; - the place is highly valued by the Kalgoorlie-Boulder community for its unusual design and association from 1968, first as the Golden Mile Museum and then as part of the State run Museum of the Goldfields; - the place was constructed specifically to cater to the large numbers of miners who travelled on the Boulder railway loopline via Hannan's Station; and, - the place is associated with the continued development of Kalgoorlie as the major administrative and commercial centre in the eastern goldfields, and is representative of the third phase of construction in Kalgoorlie during the period from c1898 to 1908, when timber and iron buildings were replaced with more permanent brick structures.

Physical Description

British Arms Hotel (fmr) is situated within the site of the Museum of the Goldfields and is accessed through the Museum reception which is entered from the 'top end' of Hannan Street near the corner of Outridge Terrace. British Arms Hotel (fmr) fronts a section of Outridge Terrace that has been closed and included in the Museum site. A view of the former hotel from the adjacent Federal Hotel, on the corner of Hannan Street and Outridge Terrace, is compromised by a lattice screen fence on the northwest front boundary. A cyclone fence enclosing the museum property at the southeast end of Outridge Terrace restricts the streetscape view of the place from that direction. Similarly, the courtyard on the southeast side restricts views, and the view from the Museum entry is restricted by the Museum headframe and trees. The building is surrounded by brick paving. There is a building opposite the front of British Arms Hotel (fmr) which occupies part of Outridge Terrace and the railway reserve that runs parallel to it. British Arms Hotel (fmr) is located on the original street front boundary. The northwest corner is truncated where the Right of Way (ROW) still exists between it and the Federal Hotel. The building is an integral part of the Museum presentation and interpretation. A courtyard has been developed on the southeast side, opposite which are several cottages that have been relocated to the Museum. The site slopes towards the rear of the building along the southeast side, and the paving has been ramped against a retaining wall for a stepped courtyard. Curved iron framed and clad verandahs cover the ramped walkway along the side of the former hotel. British Arms Hotel (fmr) is constructed in Federation Arts & Craft style, in brick laid in an English bond with stucco detailing on the front façade. The walls are face brick except for the rendered parapet wall along the southeast. The roof, clad with custom orb profile colorbond steel sheeting, is predominantly gabled with a parapet and box gutter along the south west side, a skillion over the front balcony, and a series of five gables along the north west side. The face brick chimneys are constructed in stretcher bond. The rear wall, which is painted to first floor height, is garden bond. The front façade, including the truncation, is only six metres wide. There is a plaque on the left hand side of the front wall. It reads: Golden Mile Museum (Inc) This building was officially opened by The Hon. A. F. Griffith MLC On Friday 14th June 1968 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the discovery of gold in Kalgoorlie by Patrick Hannan in 1893. T.J. Hobson G. M. Ralph Chairman Secretary Above the double doors on the truncated corner is a stepped cantilevered detail in stucco and brick. A decorative wrought iron bracketed clock is attached to the wall. The front façade has an arched recessed entry on the south side at ground level and a small balcony above, infilled with cast iron filigree balustrading. The recessed entry shows evidence of tuckpointed brickwork, and the floor has been recently laid with tessilated tiles. The entry provides access to the front bar, and behind the bar. The doors, the front ground floor window opening, and the side cellar access each have rendered arch openings and twelve pane coloured glass fanlights. Each of the windows has the same colour configuration with the four external corners in red, the side centre panes in blue glass, the top and bottom centre panes in yellow glass, and the centre pane in clear glass. The window on the first floor frontage has rendered quoining around its rectangular form, and a nine-pane coloured glass upper sash of the double hung window. The northwest side of the building is dominated by the five gables with a double hung sash window central in each gable. The windows in the gables and on the ground floor, each have a nine-pane coloured glass upper sash. The external doors are four panelled with a four-pane clear light fanlight. The traditional front and northwest side entries of British Arms Hotel (fmr) are not accessible. The building is accessed through the Museum reception via a corridor at ground level, past the public toilets on the left, and up a set of steps. At the first floor level, the building is accessed by an iron framed, barrel vaulted corridor from the Museum. The interior of the place for the most part has the original hard plaster walls, with a dado timber moulding, timber skirtings and architraves. The ceilings are lined with the original miniorb, and some of the upstairs rooms and corridor have coved ceilings. Several walls have been removed, predominantly upstairs, to facilitate the museum function. The corridor from the Museum reception, and the rooms on the left, at ground level, are unrecognisable. Although the original walls have been retained, they are tiled, clad with corrugated iron or rendered, and false ceilings have been constructed. Toilet facilities have been installed in the building, new walls constructed and fireplaces boarded over. From this section, a door leads to the corridor staircase entry. On the left wall, there are a series of three recessed arches moulded into the plaster wall. The third is a doorway into a short corridor that accesses the exterior on the northwest side, and opens into a recently fitted kitchen on the left. At the foot of the staircase, there is a truncated corner leading to the former bar area at the front. The bar area has a fireplace with the original fire surround and mantelpiece still in place. The original doors on the northwest wall still have the original hardware. The door on the southeast wall is not original according to the 1968 plans. There is a timber bar in place. The keg roll below a window leads into the cellar. A trap door in the replacement timber floor gives access to the cellar, down a timber ladder. The stone walled cellar has a concrete floor and shows no evidence of moisture. The staircase has double newel posts at the return landing, and turned timber balusters. The underside is lined with matchboard. The boxed timber treads have recent metal edging. From the first flight, there is a small landing that leads to the two rear rooms, accessed from the first floor corridor from the Museum. The staircase returns and goes up another eight steps to a landing and the front corridor. The first floor entry from the museum opens into a large space where walls have been removed and replaced with dado height steel framed glass barriers containing interpretive material. Nothing of the original fabric is apparent due to the fitout with false ceiling, boarded windows, track lighting, and the banner displays. The room left of the top landing has coved ceilings, and is presented as a dentist surgery. Past the truncated corner towards the front balcony, are a series of three doorways on the left. The doors have been removed, two have been infilled with glass and the third accesses the front room, now an exhibition space. The flooring in the first floor and staircase landings is Oregon. British Arms Hotel (fmr) is in good condition. It has had various uses, since 1899, which have resulted in moderate intrusion to the original fabric. The most recent development and incorporation into the Museum of the Goldfields seems to have resulted in the greatest loss of fabric and alteration to the context. The place has a moderate degree of integrity and moderate to high degree of authenticity.

History

: British Arms Hotel (fmr) was constructed in 1899 on a narrow strip of Kalgoorlie Town Lot 412, fronting Outridge Terrace, possibly by contractors John Charles Fitzpatrick and Arthur Anderson, who were the owners of the property at the time (Certificate of Title, Vol. 165, Fol. 143, 10 March 1899). In June 1893, Paddy Hannan and his partners discovered alluvial gold thirty miles (48 kilometres) northeast of Coolgardie. A camp, known as Hannan's Find, quickly developed at the site, with bough huts and hessian and canvas structures erected along the edge of the track from Coolgardie. Many of these structures housed businesses to serve the prospectors who flocked to the area (Webb, 1993: 91; King, 1995: 15; Laurie, 1995: 2-4). With the establishment of the townsite, the second phase of building in Kalgoorlie began. This was facilitated by the arrival of the Eastern Goldfields railway line in September 1896, which made the transport of more substantial building materials much easier. The original structures were replaced with timber-framed buildings clad in galvanised iron, and usually lined internally with hessian or canvas. The early buildings presented a fire hazard. Between 1898 and 1908, substantial brick buildings replaced the timber and iron and hessian structures in the town centre (Webb, 1993: 430-432, 540). The first section of the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Loopline was opened in November 1897, and a second section, plus duplications, was immediately planned. The line carried thousands of miners to the mines and back each day, as well as transporting machinery, water and wood for the mine operations. Hannan's Station on the Loopline was one of the busiest, providing access to a large residential area and to the Hannan Street retail and commercial. In March 1899, brothers Sidney Edwin and Ernest William Hocking, owners of the Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper, and Charles Clark, solicitor, purchased Kalgoorlie Town Lots 412 and 413 on Outridge Terrace (Certificate of Title, Vol. 165, Fol. 143, 10 March 1899). The land was situated immediately opposite Hannan's Station. Various caveats were lodged and withdrawn during 1899, indicating that some type of construction was probably underway. On 8 January 1900, a seven-year lease of the property was arranged with Francis Charles McKay, hotelkeeper, at a cost of £676 a year, payable weekly (£13 a week). On 19 January 1900, title to the land was transferred to contractors John Charles Fitzpatrick and Arthur Anderson, Jessie Clark (wife of Charles Clark) and Ann Maria Brown (Certificate of Title, Vol. 165, Fol. 143, 8 January 1900, 19 January 1900). Kalgoorlie Licensing Court records list an application by McKay, for a general publicans licence, on 5 June 1900. The application was adjourned on three occasions until, on 17 September 1900, the application was refused. No explanation is given for the refusal. McKay's next application was on 19 March 1901, at which time the application was granted, but then crossed out. The next application is recorded on 1 September 1902, when a general publican's licence was finally granted (Kalgoorlie Licensing Court Records, 1899-1903). Francis Charles McKay continued to operate British Arms Hotel (fmr) until 1924, renewing the lease for a further seven years on two occasions. In 1907, the yearly cost for the renewed lease was £416 (£8 a week), and in 1914, it was £260 (£5 a week), indicating the drop in trade as the goldfields declined (Certificate of Title, Vol 165, Fol. 143, 9 January 1907; Vol. 569, Fol. 143, 9 January 1914). In 1908, the narrow strip of land on which British Arms Hotel (fmr) was sited, some 5.5 perches (139.15 sqm) was subdivided from the Town Lot and a separate title issued from this time. Ann Maria Brown was no longer listed as an owner. In 1912, John Charles Fitzpatrick acquired Jessie Clark's share of the place, and in 1913, he acquired Arthur Anderson's share, making him the sole owner of British Arms Hotel (fmr) (Certificates of Title, Vol. 418, Fol 110, 16 April 1908; 27 March 1912; 14 October 1913). In April 1923, Fitzpatrick died and title was transferred to Francis McKay (Certificates of Title, Vol. 569, Fol. 143, 18 April 1923; 13 October 1923). He retained ownership until December 1924. The place was probably delicensed around this time. British Arms Hotel (fmr) does not appear in Wise's Post Office Directories after 1923 (Wise’s Post Office Directories, 1900-1930; Kalgoorlie Licensing Court records only cover the period from 1899 to 1920). As well as loss of trade due to the decline of the mines, the closure of the hotel function was probably hastened due to its proximity to the larger Federal Hotel, located on the opposite side of the right-of-way. Little is known about Francis McKay. He appears to have come from South Australia, as he had family there. A Francis Charles McKay is recorded as marrying Edith Norman in Kalgoorlie in 1902. After leaving Kalgoorlie, McKay established Mackay & Co, aerated water and cordial manufacturers, first in Monger Street, and later in new premises in Money Street, Perth. He died in 1933 (Will of Francis Charles McKay, State Records Office, Cons 3426, 685/1933; Gray, L. & Sauman, 2001. Note: the Company name is spelt ‘MacKay’, while the personal name is ‘McKay’). In December 1924, the title of the property was acquired by Michael O'Connell, hotelkeeper of 3 Macdonald Street. No entry for British Arms Hotel (fmr), or any other place at the address of 22 Outridge Terrace, is recorded in Wise's Post Office Directories from 1925 to 1947 (Certificate of Title, Vol. 569, Fol. 143, 12 December 1924; Wise’s Post Office Directories, 1924-1935). As the place was acquired by a hotelkeeper, it may have been run as an extension of another hotel's residential function. Rip Hayhow, of the Eastern Goldfields Historical Society, remembers staying at the British Arms Hotel (fmr) as a child with his parents, after the hotel closed. As he is now 85 years old (born in 1915), this must have been in the 1920s or early 1930s. He described the front door (not the corner door) and the side door as half-doors used as serveries. There was also a front bar and the 'Virgin's Bar' (ladies lounge) (Information provided to Laura Gray by Rip Hayhow, 11 January 2001). The servery doors would have enabled the hotel to serve many more customers than it could possibly hold in its bar and lounge area, and to also allow it to cater to the influx of miners coming off the trains at Hannan Station at the end of each shift. A 1968 plan of British Arms Hotel (fmr) indicates that the bar area on the ground floor was altered at some time to form two bedrooms (Room 1 and Room 2), no doubt to facilitate its use as a boarding house. A large room on the upper floor, above the bar area, also appears to have been divided in this way. This may have originally been the ladies lounge. The room marked as 'Bed Sitting Room, Room 4' was perhaps a dining room (Plans of British Arms Hotel (fmr) in 1968, prior to, and following, alterations to fit the place for use as a museum display area). British Arms Hotel (fmr) changed hands a number of times in the 1930s and 1940s. Owners were Frank Weston, diamond driller (1933); Emelyn Leheny, widow (1939); Robert Leheny, process worker (1946); George O'Callaghan, licensee of the Duke of Cornwall Hotel (1946); and Margaret Major, widow (1947). Both Emelyn Leheny and Margaret Major give their addresses as 22 Outridge Terrace, indicating that if the place was being run as a boarding house, they were the boarding house keepers (Certificate of Title, Vol. 1033, Fol. 697, 28 April 1933; 17 August 1939; 1 March 1946; 27 June 1946; 30 December 1947). The other owners probably let out the place to a manager. British Arms Hotel (fmr) appears again in Wise's Post Office Directories in 1948, as the British Arms Hostel, lodging house. Margaret Major was the owner at this time. She died in 1953, and title was transferred to Stanley Halley Major of the same address. Pinchas Oschor Pilpel, salesman of Mt Lawley, was the next owner, obtaining the title in 1960 (Wise’s Post Office Directories, 1940-1949; Certificate of Title, Vol. 1033, Fol. 697, 23 September 1953; 29 September 1954; 1 June 1960). In February 1968, British Arms Hotel (fmr) was purchased by the Golden Mile Museum (Inc) as their headquarters and display centre. The new function was officially opened on 14 June 1968 by A. F. Griffith, MLC. The date of the opening commemorated Patrick (Paddy) Hannan's gold find seventy-five years earlier (Certificate of Title, Vol. 68, Fol. 11A, 16 February 1968; WA Museum, annual reports, 1968). British Arms Hotel (fmr) was altered internally to facilitate its new function, with the divided bar area and upper lounge area being opened up again (Plans of British Arms Hotel (fmr) in 1968, prior to, and following, alterations to fit the place for use as a museum display area, provided by the Museum of the Goldfields). In 1979, title to British Arms Hotel (fmr) was transferred to the Western Australian Museum (Certificate of Title, Vol. 68, Fol. 11A, 22 March 1979). The acquisition was part of the Museum's aim to extend its services throughout the State. The original railway station at Geraldton was also purchased for this purpose in 1979 (HCWA Heritage Assessment, ‘Original Railway Station, Geraldton’). In 1983, the rest of Kalgoorlie Town Lots 412 and 413 were acquired and the original landholding was reunited (Certificate of Title, Vol. 1657, Fol. 31, 1 December 1983). In 1988, funds were made available to develop the Golden Mile Museum as the Museum of the Goldfields. An Australian Bicentennial grant ($700,000), State Government funds ($650,00) and over $300,000 raised through donations and special activities allowed for a building and development program. This included the construction of a purpose built museum building with a mining headframe and lookout. A section of Outridge Terrace between the museum and the railway reserve was closed and a portion of the railway reserve was added to the museum site (WA Museum, annual reports, 1988: 68; 1991-92: 46-48). The site was designated Kalgoorlie Town Lot 4905 and gazetted Reserve 41628, vested in the WA Museum (Crown Land Record, Vol. 3100, Fol. 811; Reserves Index enquiry). Over the ensuing years other buildings, including a police station, miner's cottage and bank have been added to the museum site (WA Museum, annual report, 1988). The aim of the Museum of the Goldfields is to show the history of activity in the Goldfields region. The Museum develops its own displays as well as displaying travelling exhibitions from the WA Museum. In 2001, British Arms Hotel (fmr) does double service as part of the Museum, being an example of a goldfields hotel as well as providing exhibition space for displays and other facilities for the museum function.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: Moderate Authenticity: Moderate to High

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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