Grand Central Hotel
141 Gray St HAMILTON, Southern Grampians Shire
Gray St Commercial Precinct Hamilton
Statement of Significance
SIGNIFICANCE: A keystone in Gray St streetscape. One of the oldest surviving hotels in Hamilton.
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
Grand Central Hotel (former Criterion Hotel)
141 Gray Street
This building has local significance for its architectural interest as an early 1865-66 hotel called then the Criterion, ([i]) remodelled in 1921, and again in 1938 by the architects, Seabrooke & Fildes when it had its present name. ([ii]) The building has historical associations with E H Patterson (c1883-1942), one of Hamilton's leading townsmen in the 1920s and 30s. A bricklayer by trade, Patterson arrived in Hamilton in 1926 and set up his own construction business. He was a councillor and a substantial property owner. ([iii]) He subdivided the well known Bewsall Estate, ran Patterson's Town Hall Pictures from mid 1932 until 1940, and in 1921, remodelled the Caledonian Hotel and renamed it the Grand Central Hotel ([iv]). The architect for this work was Frank Hammond. The architects of the 1938 remodelling, Seabrooke & Fildes ([v]), remodelled several other Gray Street buildings including the George and Argyle Arms Hotels and, most importantly, the former Miller's Department Store (now Homesaver) at 121 Gray Street, in 1937. ([vi])
This is one of the simplest of the Seabrooke and Fildes designs in Hamilton. It has since been changed again, with the alteration of the doors and windows and by the addition of canvas awnings. The hotel is relatively intact and in good condition. The Grand Central is a keystone in the streetscape of Gray Street.
[i] Garden, Don, Hamilton, p 83; Hamilton Spectator, 3 November 1866.
[ii] Hamilton Spectator, 11 October 1921, 18 October 1921; Age, 6 September, 1988.
[iii] Garden, Don, Hamilton, pp 199, 200, 220 and 223.
[iv] Ibid. Frank Hammond may have been the 1921 architect. (Vernon. in Australian Architects Index under Hammond).
[v] Age, 6 September 1938 (RVIA press cuttings 1938-39).
[vi] Ibid., 25 November 1937; RVIAJ, May 1937.
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MECHANICS INSTITUTE
Victorian Heritage Register H2171 -
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