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| ARTHOUSE HOSTEL, INVERESK |
Despite information suggesting that
this lovely building was built in 1888 (which is even written on the
front) as a parsonage....I'm now confident that it was always
intended to be a hotel, and was built a couple of years after this
date. Although it may have been a parsonage at a much later date, I
can't find any references to confirm when this may have been.
(Perhaps someone else could help with this information).
The Daily Telegraph of 25th
September 1890 describes the building and says that a new hotel was
in the "course of erection." Douglas and Collins (a legal
firm that still exists) applied on behalf of Mrs Bridget Maria Green
for a licence to sell alcohol in December of that year - at the time
the building was neither "finished or furnished".
Subsequent licensees included Catherine
Green, Walter Knott, Thomas Hogan, Billy Johnson, Henry Bennett,
William Kirkwood, John Etchells, John Ford and John Marvel.
When Fred E Howers held the licence in
the 1890s the hotel embraced the mining boom. He had an exhibition
of mineral samples, and advertised that he was able to purchase
wolfram and shale on behalf of a Sydney syndicate, and could also
negotiate with anyone holding rights to land where these minerals
were located.
As with most hotels at the time, the
Esplanade in its early days was the centre of community activity -
band concerts, political meetings, sporting club functions, inquests
and more were all held on the premises.
The North bank of the Esplanade (which
seems to have been re-named Lindsay Street around the time of the
development of the Railway wharves at the end of the road), was
always the "colourful" side of town. There was a "serious
fracas" in April 1907 in which six sailors from the gunboat
Protector "took a prominent part." "Excitement was
heightened" by a civilian with a revolver, and 15 windows were
smashed. The establishment had a bit of a history of flouting
opening regulations, and in1949 Robert Grubb lost his liquor licence
after many warnings and three convictions for Sunday trading, which
was banned at the time.
Being on the river bank before levees
were built meant that the hotel was affected by floods. In 1893,
around 40 families sought refuge from rising waters, but during the
1929 floods those who had sheltered in the Esplanade had to be
rescued from the top floor using a rope ladder. (Pictures taken
during the 1927 flood can be seen on the LINC website).
In the 1930s there was a very good
chance that the hotel would have been forced to close or be changed
beyond recognition, when in 1936 the Licensing Court considered
whether the existing six wooden hotels in Launceston should be forced
to rebuild in fireproof materials. The matter was not settled in the
negative until 1939.
In recent times the building has been a
B&B and a backpackers hostel, but, as the Arthouse Hostel it is
at the time of wrting for sale, so who knows what the future may
hold.
