Menzies Hotel (fmr)

Statement of Significance

The place is historically and aesthetically linked (in form and character although verandahs and parapets no longer exist) with the former Lady Shenton Hotel on the diagonally opposite corner. Together they form a group of former hotel buildings that once anchored a major intersection that contributed to the townscape.
The place is representative of the Australian pub tradition with wrap around verandahs (although no longer extant) located on what once was a prominent street corner in Menzies.

Physical Description

Built to replace the original hotel (1895) of timber, iron and hessian with brick additions (1896). The original building was dismantled in 1902 and the existing building erected. The building is built to the building line of Shenton and Brown Streets. The building addresses Shenton Street and is truncated at the corner. A verandah (no longer extant) with a bull-nosed cgi clad roof wrapped the street elevations and extended over the pavement. The building was probably built with a parapet to Shenton Street. The brickwork is in colonial bondwork, painted for the centenary celebrations. Windows are double-hung sashes with rendered sills. Cellar access is off
Brown Street.
The building accommodated a dining room, kitchen, 'virgins' bar, main bar, two sitting rooms and a parlour. Exposed pipes, servery doors, cellar access and kitchen oven are the surviving components that indicate the building's original function. Floors are timber throughout and ceilings are pressed metal. Much of the interior fabric, including floorboards, are damaged or missing. A small structure, that now houses a washbasin, has been added to the kitchen. Outbuildings include an original wc, and a more recent structure with twin gables. It is believed the place ceased operating as a hotel in the 1970s. The occupant sleeps in an on-site caravan and uses the kitchen and bathroom facilities at the rear of the building.

History

Menzies Town Lot 1 at the north-east corner of Shenton and Brown Streets, and directly opposite the original Post Office site, was granted to Henry Gregory, a hotel keeper of Menzies, in July 1896, having been purchased by him at the October 1895 Menzies land auction. Gregory had apparently held this lot earlier as a business area under the Mining Act, as the value of the improvements (£20) was added to the upset price of £20 to protect his investment. [GG 27/09/1895, p. 1538; DOLA - CG T11/455 & CT 85/178] Later Chairman of the Menzies Council, the first Mayor, the district's parliamentary representative and Minister for Mines, Gregory was one of the earliest settlers in Menzies. He arrived there in 1895 and his Menzies Hotel must have been one of the first hotels of thirteen to be established in the town. He held a third share in the Golden Age lease, and it was the money realised from the sale of that mine that enabled him to build the Menzies Hotel. The building originally consisted of four rooms, comprising a bar, dining room, and two bedrooms. These were built of hessian with an iron front. [MM 11/01/1896, p.2].
Gregory, in partnership with a Mr Jersoe, prospered and, little by little, this modest beginning received additions. By January 1896, there were 18 rooms in the building, all except a few of the bedrooms being built of timber and iron. Besides the original bar and dining room, there was a large billiard room (26ft x 28ft), a kitchen, two parlours and a very cool cellar well stocked with liquors of every variety and quality. At the rear of the hotel were livery stables with ten stalls. [MM 11/01/1896, p.6] The place changed hands a number of times.
Teague's application for a publican's license described the building as having three sitting rooms and six bedrooms, exclusive of those required by his family. [NCH 22/02/1902, p.2] At the time of the application the hotel was a timber and iron building, but neither he nor Wilson had forgotten the fire at the Lady Shenton (see Site No. 2). The destruction of the Railway Hotel by fire in May 1902 (see Site No. 5) seems to have made them determined to avoid that fate for the Menzies Hotel.
They engaged local builder, C. W. Arnott, to dismantle the building and re-erect it in brick. [NCH 23/06/1902, p.2; 25/07/1902, p.2; 22/08/1902, p.2; 27/08/1902, p.2; 11/09/1902, p.2] They closed down their dining room and this work was commenced at the beginning of September 1902 and completed in December. [NCH 02/09/1902, p.2; 26/11/1902, p.2] The dining room was re-opened in January 1903. [NCH 10/01/1903, p.2]
Arnott's reconstruction of the Menzies Hotel, done at the same time as he was re-building the Railway Hotel, ensured that Teague and Wilson's hotel remains the only one of 13 in the town that was not burnt down at some time. Teague invited tenders for his lease, license, furniture, stock and goodwill in March 1904. [NCH 15/03/1904, p.2]
Ownership of Lot 1 had been transferred by Gregory to himself and Henry James Thorne of Victoria in equal shares back in 1902. [DOLA - CTs 85/178 & 251/112] Thorne was a past owner of the Railway Hotel. In April 1904, Teague's lease was transferred to Arthur Carisford Cooper, Menzies' mayor at the time. Cooper's license application in August 1904, stated that the hotel contained three sitting rooms and four bedrooms, exclusive of those required by himself and family. [NCH 07/08/1904, p.2] A photograph in one of Cooper's advertisements shows the building with a bull-nosed verandah fronting Shenton and George streets and an additional chimney behind the Shenton Street wing. [Wises Postal Directory 1906, p.213]
Cooper held the license until the lease expired in 1908, when the running of the hotel was taken over by part owner James Thorne. Thorne ran the place until 1918, when he switched to the Grand Hotel. There is no evidence that the Menzies Hotel was ever again licensed, although the building may have been subsequently used as a boarding house. It was purchased by John Joseph Weaver in 1934 and remained the property of the Weaver family until transferred to the Menzies Road Board in 1960.
Since 1985, the place has been in private ownership.

Integrity/Authenticity

INTEGRITY: Low Degree
AUTHENTICITY: Low Degree

Condition

Poor

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

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