Sawyers Valley Tavern

Statement of Significance

The building has a high degree of aesthetic, historic and social significance for both the local and wider community. The place is a rare example of a country hotel in the early Art Deco style and is an excellent example of innovative 'modern' design thinking. It is historically significant by virtue of its connection with the convict saw-pit and store dating back to the 1880s and the establishment of a hotel from around 1890 serving the Eastern Railway workforce, teamsters and the local sawmill workers. The present tavern was built in 1937 and has servec the local community as a hotel with eight room available for travellers until recent times.

Physical Description

This distinctive single storey Tavern building is a fine example of simple regional modernity combined with ^application of Art Deco Moderne. styling in a semi rural public-building. Whilst representative of a distinctive genre of county hotels, it is quite unique in Western Australia with its confident stylistic blend of suburban domesticity and commercial boldness. The exterior of the Sawyers Valley Tavern has altered little since it was built in 1937. Set back about 8 metres from the main highway, the brick and tile structure proclaims its Art Deco birthright by the prominent cement rendered, vertical stepped tower and a cinema-like banner-finial above the centrally positioned front doors and the strong horizontal emphasis cantilevered, concrete canopy, and simple detailing indicate the modernity of its design in the 1930s, The colour-blend patterned brick paving to the verandah running the length of the North facing front, forms a raised plinth shaded by the continuous concrete canopy which reinforces the horizontal emphasis created by the exposed face-brick sill height dado. The underside of the canopy features continuous stepped horizontal lines with recessed Iighting incorporated in an innovative fashion to complement the flood lighting which was said to "emphasise the beauty of its design." The original mottled terra-cotta tiled hipped roof remains, together with the stepped and rendered chimneys and the symmetrically positioned rendered gables. The canopy fascia, which originally carried the hotel name in metal letters typical of the thirties style, now features the advertising of brews 'on tap' around the roofline, and advertising hoardings distort the skyline. The street and west facing verandahs which originally featured ‘the elimination of verandah posts-and external woodwork as a prominent 'modern' characteristic", now have roof to floor vertical pipe 'posts', wooden rail balustrading and the addition of a 'drive through' bottle shop canopy. These are the main changes to the exterior and are all easily capable of reversal. Inside the main changes have been more radical with doorways to the lounges arched in the Spanish manner and the original public bar with its innovative double sided refrigerator cabinets no longer in pl ace. The eight bedrooms are at present being used as a private residence and the extent of changes made to these rooms is not known.

History

Assessment 2001 Construction: 31/01/1937 to 25/07/1937 Architect/designer W.G. Bennett Builder: W. Dusting The land on which the present tavern is built was originally used for pit sawing by an ex convict, Lot Leather who arrived on the convict ship "Clyde" m 1863. By 1874 Leather owned thetand and in Ae mid 1880s built a store on the site to serve the Eastern Railway construction workforce and local sawyers. A few years later he replaced the store with a wood and iron hotel building and this continued to attract locals from the nearby sawmills after the completion of the railway to the Eastern Goldfields. (In the mid 1890s, E.G. Lacey's Enterprise Sawmill employed up to 70 men, and the Gem and Federation sawmills around 30). The wayside hostelry has proved a popular attraction over the years for both tired travellers and city dwellers enjoying an outing in the picturesque surrounding hills. The recreation ground on the west side of the hotel has been a venue for a variety of sports meetings and sociaI functions .promoted by the various-publicans including J.H. Kendall who was the licensee for 21 years. In 1936 W.G. Bennett designed the present hotel for Mrs J.R. Kelly, who conducted the business of the hotel with the assistance of her sons, J.A. and W.R. Kelly. The old hotel building was demolished "and "the new building was completed by July of the following year, making what The Sunday newspaper described at the time as “an excellent addition to the States modern structures”

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