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P&O Hotel
Lots 45 & 46, 25 High Street & Mouat Street, current building c. 1896/1901.
As there has been a hotel here continuously from 1835 to the present, it is oldest such site in Fremantle.
(Will someone please restore the dome on the corner?!)
Mrs Pace's c. 1835 hotel/boarding house on the SE corner of Mouat and High Street (now 25 High Street) was known 1840-44 as Francisco's Crown and Thistle Hotel and then as Mrs Scott's Victoria Hotel in the 1870s, probably in the same buildings. After her death, the owner and licensee of the Victoria Hotel was (in 1888 for example) Patrick Hagan, who died in 1891. He left his estate to his brother James, (who is the licensee named in the PO directory of 1893) who sold both his hotels (the other was the National) in 1893, and went to the WA goldfields. (Francisco took the Crown and Thistle name for his new building (no later than 1844) on Lot 61 in High Street. It was later known as Wellard's Hotel (until 1853), and was on the site of what is now the Cleopatra Hotel.)
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Library: 'Sketches of Fremantle', 1885, #3092. High Street looking East. On the left are the Western Australian Bank, replaced by a new bank building in 1892 and the Cleopatra Hotel, demolished September 1906. On the right is the Victoria Hotel, run by Scott and Hagan in 1875 and in 1901 replaced by the P&O. Caesar's Emerald Isle Hotel [later, the Orient] is towards the centre of the picture. It was "the most prominent house of entertainment for visitors and others in the port" in 1885. In 1887 it became known as the Club Hotel. Taken 30 May 1885.
Clip from an 1844 Chauncy map redrawn 1983 by Campbell shows the Paces' building on the corner of High and Mouat Streets.
The Victoria Hotel was sold again in the mid-1890s, and rebuilt from 1896 for O'Connor and Quinlan as the P&O Hotel, completed 1901. The verandahs were restored in 2002, although sadly it is still obviously lacking a tower or dome of some kind atop the corner of the building. Until 2020 it was NDU student accommodation.
In 2021, it was sold to a new owner. According to Roel Loopers in 2022 it was one Andrew Forrest's companies. In 2023 Roel Loopers stated that it has been bought by Adrian Fini & Nic Trimboli. A Forrest company, the Mindoroo Foundation, owns the Orient Hotel, one block away.
David Hutchison:
Architects: Cavanagh and Cavanagh (1890s), Allen and Nicholas (1930s)
On the south-east corner at 25 High Street, on the site of an earlier small hotel owned by the Pace family. After the death of Mrs Pace—whose husband Captain Pace had died earlier—this hotel was managed by Ms Scott and Pat[rick] Hagan and named the Victoria, although sailors who frequented it called it the 'Cockpit'. In the 1890s it was purchased by Bernard O'Connor and Timothy Quinlan who commissioned a new building, which was completed in c. 1896 [1901]. It demonstrates the achitects' liking for an exuberant style with a brick and stucco gabled facade. In the 1930s it was owned by the Bahen family, who held it for forty years. In 1938 they commissioned architects Allen and Nicholson to design internal alterations. Its verandas, removed in the 1960s, were reinstated in 2002, although, unfortunately, its clock tower, demolished in the 1930s [1950s?], has not been restored. Although the hotel is now [2005] owned by Notre Dame University, the ground-floor bar remains open to the public.
2005: NDUA student accommodation. Fremantle Walks.
Bruce Graham has pointed out (personal communication) that Frank Hurley's aerial photos reproduced in John Dowson's Port Fremantle, 2011: 113, 114, show that the tower was still in place as late as 1950.
I suggest and indeed urge the powers-that-be to consider replacing this tower and the turret on the Fremantle Hotel, as they would be key elements of that photo that every tourist takes from the Round House looking east along High Street. The tower on the P&O Hotel was particularly magnificent. The 1905 photo below shows semi-circular finials on the tips of the facade gables, which do look a bit silly, but should be put back if possible.
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Fremantle Library photo no. 1038, 1901, showing both Fremantle and P&O hotels with their towers.
Fremantle Library:
The railway line is in the foreground with Dalgety's Building, completed November 1901 on the left. The architect was J Talbot Hobbs. Beyond is the Hotel Fremantle (1898) and in the centre background is the Town Hall. The turreted building on the right of the Town Hall is the P&O Hotel (1901). At the front right is the Police Quarters, demolished in 1905 for the Tramways Car Barn. Beyond this are the home and garden of W.F. Samson and the Bank of New South Wales (1899).
SLWA photo 006417PD: laying tram tracks in front of the P&O Hotel, 1905.
Heritage Council:
The Victoria Hotel (c1870) was a smaller hotel which stood on the site of the current P & O Hotel. It was kept by Mrs Scott, widow of a sea captain, and Pat[rick] Hagan. It was a favoured place for deep sea skippers, the bar known as the 'Cockpit' fitted out in nautical style. (See Hitchcock's 'Early Days of Fremantle,' and Fremantle Times, 11.4.1919.)
New owners from c1898 were Connor & Timothy Quinlan. The Victoria Hotel was either replaced or renovated, and the name changed to the P & O Hotel from c1901 according to Rates records. (National Trust classification says it was built by Cavanagh & Cavanagh.) The building originally had a clock tower. In 1938 Allen & Nicholas Architects carried out alterations to the interior. The Bahen family owned the P & O from c1932-1972. In 1972 outbuildings on the site were demolished.
New owners in 1985 carried out renovations, including in 1986, removal of three existing shopfronts on the ground floor (not original) and formation of a new entrance. In 1994, Revitalized Shopfitters carried out a refit of the interior. A photographic record was prepared prior to alterations.
In c. 2002 it became part of Notre Dame University.
A highly decorative and prominent two storey corner former hotel; expressing the boom of the gold period. The main entrance is on the truncated corner and the bull nose verandas have extensive iron lacework) and columns (probably not original). The decorative parapet has balustrade, columns and five large pediments featuring stilted arches with columns and decorative stucco. The corner of the parapet has the remains of a dome featuring the name The 'P&O Hotel' in decorative stucco; the columns and roof are no longer intact. The multi paned windows have stucco architraves.
The West Australian, Saturday 20 July 1901, p. 12:
THE P. & O. HOTEL, FREMANTLE.
The P. and O. Hotel, which has been in course of erection for some time past, at the corner of High-street and Mouatt-street, Fremantle, is completed, and is one of the best fitted hotels in Perth or Fremantle. The building covers half the High-street frontage between Mouatt-street and Henry-street, and extends along Mouatt-street for a distance of 110ft. The public accommodation provided contains two public bars, a large saloon; three private parlours, a lavatory and dressing-room on the ground floor, and on the upper floor a large saloon, with space for two billiard tables. There are also three shops in High-street. The residential portion of the house contains sitting rooms, and a smoking room, all opening on to the balconies, 21 bedrooms, baths with hot and cold water laid on, and every other convenience. The large dining-room, which is approached through the private entrance in Mouatt-street, is one of the best features in the building, well lighted and ventilated, and away from the public portion of the house. The kitchen, sculleries, pantries, servery, and kitchen cellar, are all very conveniently arranged in this wing. In the yard, stables and coach-houses and forage and boot rooms, etc., are provided, and in the basement under the hotel are the bar cellars and store rooms. On the frontages spacious balconies extend along High and Mouatt streets, and the building has been kept from the street line so as to give greater width to the footpaths and balconies. Oh the yard side there are also wide balconies the full length of both wings. The entrance doors, staircases, and other fittings are in polished cedar and jarrah. The ceilings of the principal rooms are in moulded metal, and have been handssomely decorated by Craig and Co., of Fremantle. The same firm has also executed some beautiful stained glass work for the upper saloon and corridor windows. Electric light and bells are fixed throughout. Hot and cold water is laid on. The yard is paved with Trinidad asphalt. A separate drainage system has been laid on to the sea. Large tanks are provided for the storage of rain water. Altcgether the hotel is a very complete and comfortable one, with every facility for carrying on the work of the house and at the same time keeping the residential and dining portion quite separated from the bar business of the hotel. The style of the design is what is known as Victorian Renaissance, and the building with the ornamental gables and angle tower, is a very effective feature in the street architecture of Fremantle. The cost has been about £8,000. The contractor is Mr. Harry L. Roe, of Fremantle, and the building has been designed by and carried out under the supervision of Messrs. M. F. Cavanagh F.R.T.R.A. (London) and J .C. Cavanagh, architects of Perth and Fremantle.
In 2023, Daniel Goodsell's bar Ode to Sirens is operating in the front bar.
References and Links
as above
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 18 September, 2014 and hosted at freotopia.org/hotels/p&o.html (it was last updated on 24 November, 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.