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Images- The Rocks and the
Quay British Seaman's Hotel Parker Gallery, Sydney Cove Providore, British Seamen's Hotel |
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architect |
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location |
39-43 Argyle Street, The Rocks, NSW 2000 |
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date |
1886 |
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style |
Federation Queen Anne |
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construction |
Builder: Built for J. Gill |
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type |
Hotel |
 
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History The site was at the rear of the Assistant Colonial Surgeon's residence and formed part of the Hospital Garden between 1795-1816. Francis Greenway's and Caleb Salter's claim for the place in the mid 1830s was to no avail, Salter obtaining a publican license in 1830. However, documentary evidence shows Salter as owner of the place in the early 1840s. Rosetta Terry acquired the place in the mid 1840s. In 1845 the Sydney Municipal Council Rate Books record the property being owned by Rosetta Terry and Matthew Brown as the tenant. The premises is recorded as a house but a map of 1844 indicates the building was an inn called the 'Kings Head Inn'. The place is described as two storey with seven rooms, built from stone with a shingle roof. The Rate Book of 1856 indicates that the single storey shops to 41 & 43 Argyle Street were built during this year. The shops were constructed of stone, brick and wooden walls with a timber shingled roof. The shop in the most easterly portion of the place pulled down and new ones erected by 1877. By 1865 in the Sands Directory the place is called the Argyle Hotel and in 1868 the name British Seamen's Hotel appears with Mary Wormleighten manageress. The proprietor William Reilly, owned the property until c.1885 when he sold it to graziers John and William Gill. [Archaeology notes: Part of Hospital garden 1795-1816 (See also: AR038-039; AR045; AR058; AR061-070; AR073-074; AR078-079; AR084-085; AR126; AR129; AR131-132; AR149). Claimed by Francis Greenway (See also: AR058; AR062; AR078) and Caleb Salter in August 1834. No grant issued. The site served as the garden for the Assistant Surgeon's residence from 1790-1815, and of Greenway's residence from 1815-c1835. A bakers house and oven was constructed by James Rambling (or Rampling) in 1823, and by the 1830s the site had become a hotel. Historical evidence suggests the current hotel building was built in 1886.] The new proprietors were responsible for extensive alterations and additions in 1886 to create the existing building. In 1899 the name of the Hotel was changed from British Seamen's Hotel to Hughes's Family Hotel. The property was released to the Crown in 1903. (SCRA 1978: HP/26) The former Hotel was used as a public house/hotel up until the mid 1920s when the building was changed to a residential use, a boarding house. There appears to have been few changes to the building during this time. The former Hotel's use remained residential up to the mid 1950s when it was converted into an office with staff amenities for Thomas Playfair Pty Ltd, a major meat export company at the time. In 1970, the control of the property passed to the Sydney Cove Redevelopment Authority. The property continued to be let for various uses until major conservation work was undertaken of the exterior and interior of the building in 1995. Since then, it has been used as shop |
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The site was at the rear of the Assistant Colonial
Surgeon's, Dr William Redfern's residence and formed part of the Hospital
Garden between 1795-1816. Harrington St was formed in 1810 as part of
Macquarie's' rationalisation of Sydney streets. During an archaeological
excavation near the intersection of Harrington and Argyle Sts in 1989-90,
architectural remains including terracotta roof tiles were noted
associated with a building demolished by the early 1820s and possibly
constructed before the creation of Harrington St. The Sydney Hospital was
transferred to Macquarie St in 1816, the Assistant Surgeon's residence
being occupied by architect Francis Greenway until the 1830s. The exact
nature of Greenway's occupation is contentious. When he was ordered to
quit the property in 1822 he was in the process of building a new house,
the plans of which had been approved by Macquarie two years before.
Greenway claimed that the Governor had promised him the land, however as
soon as Macquarie left the colony an eviction notice was served, and
Macquarie couldn't substantiate Greenway's claim. Greenway was still
living in the house in the 1830s and it is unclear what the outcome of the
eviction was. Plans of 1834 show Greenway as the sole claimant of the
George St side of the block and contesting ownership of the Harrington St
frontage, the subject site. However by 1823 the corner of Harrington and
Argyle Sts was occupied by someone other than Greenway and another round
of claims began that lasted until at least 1837. The possession of the
site was hotly contested, the protagonists being James Rampling / William
Hawkins and John Gleeson / Thomas Ryan. William Hawkins was said to have
been granted the land by Macquarie on or before 1822. Rampling claimed to
have paid Hawkins thirty pounds for the transfer of the allotment in 1822
and had built a two storey house and fence on it. Rampling arrived in the
colony as a convict under a 14 year sentence in 1814, his occupation
described as a "plummer". By the 1820s he was describing himself
as a baker and the house he built has a bakehouse attached, as well as the
possible remains of a bakehouse next door at the rear of 28 Harrington St
In 1824 Rampling was ordered by D'arcy Wentworth, the Police
Superintendent, to stop building and in May Rampling companied to the
Surveyor General that Thomas Ryan was endeavoring to have him removed fro
the property. He was ordered to quit in August. In 1825 the Surveyor John
Oxley claimed that "Hawkins never had any claim to the allotment in
Harrington St but that it was unauthorizedly taken possession of by a
convict named Rampling". It was said Rampling had made application
for the property but was refused because he was a prisoner of the Crown.
Hawkins "a mere instrument in the hands of Rampling" applied for
the lease although - as Oxley points out- he had no claim for it. The
legacy of Rampling's brief occupancy was the (uncompensated) construction
of a two-storey stone house / shop with bakehouse attached. In December
1825 Thomas Ryan, representing John Gleeson, brought a case against
Rampling in the Supreme Court to have him removed from the property. The
judge found in favour of Ryan. Writing 12 years later Rampling stated that
"it was proved that Gleeson had a lease for twenty one years of the
said allotment previous to the grant to Hawkins and I was subsequently
ejected". The title for the property first records its lessee as John
Gleeson, given a twenty one year lease for f3 June 1823 over the property
bounded by Argyle St, Harrington St, Harrington Lane (Suez Canal) and
Greenway's property to the east. This therefore included the site of 28-32
Harrington St. Gleeson and Ryan were Tipperary men when they were
transported as convicts, arriving in 1817. By the time of the case against
Rampling, Gleeson had transferred the property to Ryan. Rampling wrote to
the Colonial Secretary in 1827 questioning the leases "How or in what
manner these leases has been obtained is very mysterious". In 1830
Ryan disposed of the Argyle / Harrington St properties. The site of
Reynolds Cottage was subdivided and sold to William Reynolds, a convict
blacksmith also arriving in 1817. The corner block, including the house
was sold to Fredrick Unwin. Unwin leased the house on the site to Caleb
Salter who received a licence to operate the 'King's Head' in 1830. He
held the licence to operate the hotel in what appears to be the same
building built by Rampling until at least 1837. By 1834 Salter had
acquired the freehold of the property and plans indicate it had been
extended to the east, attaining a ground plan similar to the current
structure, later plans indicate the extension to be a single storey.
Continuing the tradition of contesting the ownership of the site, in
1841it was awarded to Rosetta Terry, and it continued to be know as the
'King's Head'. In 1845 the Sydney Municipal Rate Books record the property
being owned by Rosetta Terry and Matthew Brown as the tenant. The premises
is recorded as a house but a map of 1844 indicates the building was an inn
called the 'Kings Head Inn'. The place is described as two storey with
seven rooms, built from stone with a shingle roof. From 1845 until at
least 1861 it was called the 'Rose and Crown'. The Rate Book of 1856
indicates that the single storey shops to 41 & 43 Argyle Street were
built during this year. The shops were constructed of stone, brick and
wooden walls with a timber shingled roof. The shop in the most easterly
portion of the place pulled down and new ones erected by 1877. By 1865 in
the Sands Directory the place is called the Argyle Hotel and in 1868 the
name British Seamen's Hotel appears with Mary Wormleighten manageress. The
proprietor William Reilly, owned the property until c.1885 when he sold it
to graziers John and William Gill. The new proprietors were responsible in
1886 for creating the existing building. Interestingly the floor plans of
the old hotel and the new building closely correspond. The new building
included two shops built to the east along the Argyle St frontage, this
formalised an earlier arrangement of two timber shops previously
constructed on the property in this area, and let. In 1899 the name of the
Hotel was changed from British Seamen's Hotel to Hughes's Family Hotel.
The property was released to the Crown in 1903. (SCRA 1978: HP/26) The
former Hotel was used as a public house/hotel up until around 1925-7, and
in 1928 the building was changed to a residential use, a boarding house.
There appears to have been few changes to the building during this time.
The former Hotel's use remained residential up to 1955 when it was
converted into an office with staff amenities for Thomas Playfair Pty Ltd,
a major meat export company at the time. In 1970, the control of the
property passed to the Sydney Cove Redevelopment Authority. The property
continued to be let for various uses until major conservation work was
undertaken of the exterior and interior of the building in 1995. Since
then, it has been used as shop [Archaeology notes: Part of Hospital garden
1795-1816 (See also: AR038-039; AR045; AR058; AR061-070; AR073-074;
AR078-079; AR084-085; AR126; AR129; AR131-132; AR149). Claimed by Francis
Greenway (See also: AR058; AR062; AR078) and Caleb Salter in August 1834.
No grant issued. The site served as the garden for the Assistant Surgeon's
residence from 1790-1815, and of Greenway's residence from 1815-c1835. A
bakers house and oven was constructed by James Rambling (or Rampling) in
1823, and by the 1830s the site had become a hotel. Historical evidence
suggests the current hotel building was built in 1886.]
Thanks to http://www.shfa.nsw.gov.au/dyncontent.cfm?MenuID=285 |
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