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Cleopatra Hotel
Lot 61, 24 High St, 1881-1906, 1907-.
Hotels on this site: Crown and Thistle Hotel, Wellard's Hotel, Cleopatra Hotel, Auld Mug Tavern, West End Hotel, Coakley's Hotel.
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Library:
The hotel was originally called the Crown and Thistle. Captain E.H. Fothergill leased it from the owners Pearse and Owston in May 1881, renovated the premises and named them after the Cleopatra, a ship he owned. The hotel reopened 1st July 1881. It had an attractive garden and tile paved path and a sign (by Nicolay) showing the ship Cleopatra in full sail. Captain Fothergill remained proprietor until 1896. The building was demolished in 1906. Fremantle Library photo ref. 1024, c. 1890, and text.
It was known as Wellard's Hotel in 1851 (Harris, 2019).
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The Cleopatra Hotel in 1949, with verandah.
Library:
Original hotel demolished in 1906 and present hotel erected by C.H. Carter in 1907. In 1985 more than $50,000 was spent on renovations and it was then called the Auld Mug Tavern. Renamed Cleopatra in 1989. The Cleopatra was named after the licensee Fothergill's schooner. A painted sign of the vessel in full sail was a feature of the original hotel until its demolition in 1906. Fremantle Library photo #2353, c1890, and text.
The first hotel on this site was the Crown and Thistle built in the early 1850s by the Francisco family. The Francisco family sold the property to Pearse and Owston in 1880. Captain E.H. Fothergill leased it from Pearse and Owston in May 1881, renovated it and named it the Cleopatra after a ship he owned. Fothergill was licensee of the hotel from 1882 and owner from the early 1890s to 1896 when he died at the hotel. Ownership was taken over by the Swan Brewery 1906. The building was demolished and architect J.H. Eales was employed to design a new hotel on the site of the original. The work was completed in August 1907. In 1985 more than $50,000 was spent on renovations at the time of the Americas Cup defence, and it was renamed the Auld Mug Tavern. A fire gutted the second storey in 1988. 1993-1997 name changed to the West End Hotel. 1997 name changed to Coakley's. Came up for sale 2001. The Edmund Rice Centre (affiliated with Notre Dame University) bought the building in Nov 2001. (Heritage Council)
The hotel was originally called the Crown and Thistle. Captain E H Fothergill leased it from the owners Pearse and Owston in May 1881, renovated the premises and named them after the Cleopatra, a ship he owned. The hotel reopened July 1st 1881. It had an attractive garden and tile paved path and a sign showing the ship Cleopatra in full sail. Captain Fothergill remained proprietor until 1896. The building was demolished in 1906. Architect J H Eales designed the new Cleopatra Hotel on the site of the original. Work was completed in August 1907. More than $50,000 was spent on renovations in 1985 and the hotel was renamed ‘The Auld Mug Tavern’. The name has since reverted to Cleopatra. Notre Dame University webpage, mostly taken from the FHC data.
Cleopatra Hotel in 1985, photographed by Skip Watkins, from Fremantle Library Local History Collection ref. E000246.
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Cleopatra Hotel about 2014, with me outside, in the Google Street View photo. It is one of two photos of me taken by the Google car. The other one is on the Weighbridge page. For that one, there is the reverse photo - of the car. For this one, I couldn't get the camera out of my bag quickly enough.
Heritage Council:
History
The first hotel on this site was the Crown and Thistle built in the early 1850s by the Francisco family. The Francisco family sold the property to Pearse and Owston in 1880.
Captain E.H. Fothergill leased it from Pearse and Owston in May 1881, renovated it and named it the Cleopatra after a ship he owned. Fothergill was licensee of the hotel from 1882 and owner from the early 1890s – 1896 when he died at the hotel.
Ownership was taken over by the Swan Brewery 1906. The building was demolished and architect J.H. Eales was employed to design a new hotel on the site of the original. The work was completed in August 1907.
In 1985 more than $50,000 was spent on renovations and it was renamed the Auld Mug Tavern. A fire gutted the second storey in 1988.
1993-1997 name changed to the West End Hotel
1997 name changed to Coakley’s.
Came up for sale 2001. The Edmund Rice Centre (affiliated with Notre Dame University) bought the building in Nov 2001.
Physical Description
Two storey hotel with highly decorative façade and parapet featuring 'Hotel Cleopatra Hotel' in the stucco pediment. The façade on the centre of the ground floor and the first floor has banded piers and three stucco archways each forming a loggia. The ground floor has a concave bays with pairs of glazed doors below multi-paned transom lights on the left and windows on the right of the façade. There is a pair of double hung sash windows, stucco arched keystone and decorative skirts either side of the first floor loggia.
Statement of Significance
The place is historically significant as hotel representing the development of Fremantle’s Old Port City from the gold boom period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The place is a fine example of a Federation Free Classical style building, with elaborate stucco decoration above the ground floor level, that makes a significant contribution to the streetscape. The place is of social significance as evidenced by its classification by the National Trust.
References and Links
Harris, Pam 2019, 'From card catalogue to ebooks', Fremantle Studies, 10: 59-70.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 23 September, 2014 and hosted at freotopia.org/hotels/cleopatra.html (it was last updated on 18 October, 2023), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.