Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park

Statement of Significance

The Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons:

• The place is located at a highly visible position at the crest of Broken Hill in Victoria Park, and is considered a significant landmark for those travelling the Albany road, and later Albany Highway, from 1898 to the present day;
• The place was originally owned by Alfred George Russell, the second Mayor of Victoria Park, and was designed by the architect, and first Mayor of Victoria Park, Robert Thompson McMaster, and is a rare extant example of his work; and
• The place is a fine and substantial example of a Federation Free Classical hotel, representative of the grandiose hotel architecture built in Perth and its immediate suburbs during the gold rush period.

Physical Description

The following information has been extracted from the State Register of Heritage Places Assessment Documentation:

Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park (1898) is a predominantly two-storey rendered brick building with a corrugated sheet metal pitched roof and a prominent corner tower. A single-storey drive-through bottle shop (c. 1975, 2005) extends to the rear of the building. The place has a corner location within a busy commercial thoroughfare of the Town of Victoria Park with the building displaying street frontages to both Albany Highway and Harper Street.

Located towards the crest of a hill on Albany Highway which makes a gentle deviation to the south near the street intersection, the eponymous Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park has developed an iconic status within the town due to its prominent position and harmonious Federation Free Classical styling, incorporating a landmark tower at the street corner. Commercial development on adjacent sites together with street planting on the verge and median strips now partially obscure Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park from medium range and afar, detracting from some of its landmark status.

The original portion of Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park has a square plan form that sits close to the street boundaries and straddles the three lots which comprise the place. The single-storey form of the bottle shop, and some auxiliary facilities which have been appended to the rear elevation extend to the north-east along Harper Street creating an L-shape wing along the south-east boundary. A beer garden occupies the site to the north-west of the building with the paved terrace set below ground floor level of the hotel due to the fall across the site, while the rest of the land is bituminised for uncovered car parking. A free standing toilet block is located in the upper beer garden along the north-east boundary. Further outdoor terraces are located in front of the Albany Highway elevation, to each side of the main entrance which is raised above street level and accessed by a half-flight of stairs. Street planting around the building includes a Eucalypt (sp. unknown) and Plane Tree (Platanus acerifolia) along the Albany
Highway verge and a large Hills Fig (Ficus hillii) at the southern corner of the building, close to the street intersection with its dense canopy extending to the face of the building and shielding some views of the landmark corner tower.

The principal street elevations were once almost identical around the corner tower comprising rhythmical arcading to both levels of the facades with roof top pediments as well as the tower, creating interest to the skyline. The classical forms of the semi-circular openings and accompanying mouldings are relatively simple and without the effervescent ornamentation of more ebullient Gold Boom architecture. The pattern of the arcading is clearly ordered with wide openings to the recessed balconies in the centre of the facades, and narrower openings to the windows at each end, and at the corner. Modifications made to the Harper Street elevation in the mid-late twentieth century do not conform to this clear ordering and utilise square window and door modules at regular spacings.

Solid balustrades to the upper floor balconies and roof top pediments are embellished with split balusters which contribute to the rhythm of the facades while the corner parapets which incorporate an arched opening and triangular pediment, create prominent accents to the skyline. The northern pediment along Albany Highway appears to house a small attic space with a pyramid roof immediately behind intersecting the hipped roof forms. The other pediments around the corner tower are decorative facade features only with open arches, spherical ornaments, scrolled brackets and stucco ornamentation in the gable pediment. Early photographs of the place show these two pediments formerly matched their northern counterpart and the roof originally featured some dormer ventilators. The octagonal corner
tower has semi-circular blind openings and is capped with an ogee-shaped dome. It is unclear whether the openings were ever glazed or if the tower offered viewing capability through the arches.

Two tall painted brick chimneys, visible above the northern roof plane are capped with triangular mouldings. Immediately below the chimneys a skillion roof extends at a lower pitch over the first floor balcony which is continuous across the full length of the north-west elevation. The balcony has timber posts and simple brackets and a horizontal slat timber balustrade overlooking the beer garden below, and with views back towards Perth city but is not currently accessible to the public. The north-east elevation facing the carpark is utilitarian with a series of small rectangular window openings at high level indicative of bathroom facilities. A secondary entrance to the hotel with a gabled portico has been appended to the ground level of this elevation providing direct access from the rear carpark. Immediately adjacent is the drive-through bottleshop which has a horizontal parapet concealing a low
pitched roof and roller doors across the vehicle openings.

Archival photographs show the building initially featured face brickwork walls with rendered mouldings accentuating openings. It is unclear when the external wall fabric was rendered, but likely to have occurred around mid-twentieth century. The building currently displays a contrasting paint colour scheme with dark grey applied to the end and corner bays and a light cream finish in the centres.

History

Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park is a two-storey Federation Free Classical style hotel with prominent corner facetted dome tower, which dominates the busy commercial thoroughfare of Albany Highway in Victoria Park. The first land grants in the area know known as Victoria Park were allocated in the same year that the Swan River Colony was established, in 1829, to Henry Camfield, John Butler and Samuel Bickley, who were granted Swan Location 35, Swan Location 36 and Canning Location 2 respectively.1

Development of the area was relatively slow in comparison to other regions at the same distance from the capital, as the area consisted mainly of sand and shrubbery with some isolated pockets of vegetation, which offered practically no attraction to colonist for settlement. However, with the construction of the first Causeway Bridges over Heirisson Islands in 1843, and the mapping of the first overland route connecting Perth with Albany, originally known as King George Sound Road now known as Albany Highway, through Victoria Park in 1853, the area gradually became more appealing for settlers.2

Until the construction the Pinjarra to Perth Railway Line through Victoria Park in May 1893, the area still remained largely ignored as nothing more than the beginnings of the overland route from Perth to Albany. Prior to 1893, there were little more than 20 dwellings in the district, which by 1898 had risen to over 1,000.3 The district’s population was further supplemented by the enormous migration to the State which directly resulted from the discovery of Western Australian Gold in the 1890s and the wealth and immigration this brought.

The district of Victoria Park was particularly attractive to new arrivals, as it offered relatively inexpensive land and was in close proximity to Perth city. Due to this growth, Victoria Park Roads Board was gazetted in 1894, and was declared a Municipality in 1897.4

The year 1897 was also when construction began on Victoria Park’s first two hotels, the Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park on the corner of Albany Highway and Harper Street and the original Victoria Park Hotel on the corner of Albany Highway and State Street. Little information exists about the original 1897 Victoria Park Hotel. It was later demolished, and in 1908 a
second Victoria Park Hotel was constructed on the same site. Like its predecessor, the 1908 hotel was also demolished and a third, the current Victoria Park Hotel, was completed in 1927.5

In 1897 the land upon which the Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park was about to be constructed was owned by Marion Frances Russell and her husband, Alfred George Russell, the Mayor of Victoria Park from 1898- 1903.6

The land was purchased from Mary Edith Parry, the sister of the famous West Australian architect George Herbert Parry, in 1894, and in 1897 the Russell’s contracted the architect Robert Thompson McMaster, who at that time was the then current, and first, Mayor of Victoria Park, to design and build a hotel on this portion of land.

Robert Thompson McMaster, articled under Melbourne architect, Michael Egan for eight years before coming to Western Australia c. 1891. In Perth, McMaster briefly worked for the Public Works Department until 1892-93 when he established his own successful practice, initially in partnership with F.G. Renou although the partnership was short lived.

McMaster was responsible for the design of a number of structures in and around Perth, including ‘Tukurua’ at 7 Rosendo Street, Cottesloe (P3454,) Forrest Farmhouse (fmr), 86 Mackie Street, Victoria Park (P3996), United Service Hotel at 43 St Georges Terrace (now demolished), Ozone Hotel at 1 Adelaide Terrace (now demolished, site of P16551 Ozone Reserve), Smith’s Chambers at 149 Barrack Street, and Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park.7

The Ozone Hotel and Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park were some of McMaster’s later works as an architect, as he appears to have had little involvement with the profession after returning from war service in South Africa in 1901 having attained the rank of Captain. He is credited with the design of Central Arcade in 1904 and maintained an office there for a period before the building was demolished in the 1920s for Forrest Place. 8 McMaster Street (previously Hereford Street) in Victoria Park a short distance from Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park, is named in his honour, after he was killed in action at Gallipolli on 7th August 1915.

The site chosen for the Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park had already proven to be a high traffic area for those travelling along the Perth to Albany road. Its location had previously been the site of the first coach stop along the road route, where a natural spring was located, known as Two Mile Spring, or sometimes Two Mile Well. The natural spring provided water for a horse trough where a few shady trees also stood. Its location was entirely responsible for the bend in the Albany Highway, between McMaster and King George Street, opposite the Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park.9

Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park was completed in 1898, costing the Russell’s £6,000.10 It accommodated public and lounge bars on the ground floor, and provided twenty bedrooms with magnificent views of the city, on the first floor.

The hotel quickly became a popular meeting place for local residents, particularly as there was little else in the municipality in the way of entertainment or recreation. In 1905, the Perth Electric Tramway was extended from Perth across the Causeway along Albany Highway, bringing with it unprecedented prosperity to the suburb, a boost to the local population, and an increase in commercial development. The ‘Causeway’ Line terminated at Mackie Street, but was later extended twice, firstly to Patricia Street in 1934 and to Welshpool Road in 1942. By 1907, a tram stop had been established opposite the Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park, where 70 trams were stopping daily.11

By the mid-1930s, the hotel had undergone some significant redevelopment with the creation of a corner opening directly under the tower, where windows were previously located. In 1953, W. G. Bennett & Associates designed an upgrade to the hotel’s sanitary facilities, which included the reconfiguration of the first floor bathrooms and the addition of an external toilet block to the North of the site.12

Following the closure and dismantling of the ‘Causeway’ Line in 1950, and the major road building program of the 1970s, which saw the widening and reconstruction of Shepperton Road and realignment of the primary route to Perth’s southern suburbs from the city; the use of Albany Highway through Victoria Park as a major traffic route became significantly reduced. As a consequence, the hotel experienced a reduction in passing trade and lost some of its prominence and visibility, for it was no longer located on a major traffic route.

In the latter half of the twentieth century, hotels throughout the State experienced the problem where their accommodation facilities were no longer being used by the passing or local trade, and their upkeep had become uneconomical and expensive. In many cases, like that of Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park, this resulted in the closure of accommodation services altogether, while retaining the sale of food and beverages.13 In 1970, to accommodate this change in services, the licensing authority introduced the Tavern Licence, which allowed a place to sell liquor for consumption on and off the licensed premises, and the licensee was not required to provide any accommodation for any person(s).14

Unlike many of its contemporaries, however, Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park did not exchange its Hotel License for a Tavern License, the Hotel still retains its Hotel Licensed today (2012),15 however its suite of bedrooms are utilised for office space rather than accommodation.

The hotel underwent several modifications during the last quarter of the twentieth century, beginning with the addition of a bottle shop to the rear of the hotel in c.1975. In 1987 the hotel was refurbished, and in 1992 works were carried out to open up some of the internal passage ways. In 2005 substantial developments were carried out, including the reconfiguration of the ground floor space, the upgrading of the alfresco area, repainting of the exterior and further additions to the rear bottle shops to accommodate drive-through custom. The first floor, however, was unaffected, it retains its main staircase, as well as its original layout and much or its original fabric.

In 2012, Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park, despite no longer providing accommodation facilities, it continues to operate as a public house.

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.