Most recent name: Gasometer Hotel (2010 to present)
Previous name(s): Gasometer Hotel (1861 - c.1997), Irish Murphy's (c.1997 - 2000), Father Flanagan's Hotel (c.2001 - 2010)
Current address: 484 Smith Street, Collingwood
When built/licensed: 1860/1861
When delicensed: N/A
Status of building: Existing hotel
Rebuilt/Altered:
Heritage Victoria Register: N/A
National Trust Register: N/A
Collingwood Conservation Study
1995: Part C, pp. 552-555
City of Yarra Heritage Review
1998: N/A
City of Yarra Review of Heritage
Overlay Areas, 2007 & Heritage Database: N/A
Maps: Kearney 1855: N
;
Hodgkinson 1858: N
; MMBW: Detail
Plan 1214, 1900
Photograph links: N/A
Comments: In 1859 architect Alfred
Kursteiner invited tenders for the erection of a public house for Mr C. A.
Mater. (
The Argus, 15 June 1859). The
owner was Charles Mater, who owned a large tract of land bounded by Reilly
Street (now Alexandra Parade) and Smith Street, and after whom Mater Street was
named. The hotel's name is a reminder of the former
Collingwood, Fitzroy and District Gas and Coke Company, which was established in 1859 and commenced supply
from its works (diagonally opposite the hotel) in May 1861. However there was
no denying that at the time of its erection, the hotel was in an area that was
under-populated, and it was advertised with the following inducements:
To LET, on
LEASE, erected as a pioneer to the settlement of a populous neighbourhood. The
whole paddock adjoining is surveyed, with plans for sale in allotments at a low
price with deferred payments. The new market contiguous is fenced. The great
and increasing traffic of Smith-street, with the numerous employees at the
gasworks, give assurance for the establishment of a good business within a
short period.
(
The
Argus, 20 March 1860, p. 1)
The promised trade may
not have eventuated, as there was a rapid turnover of publicans in the first
few years. James Lawlor, James Crawley, and George Pashley followed one another
in quick succession, while by August 1865 Mater and Co were again advertising
it to let. By 1869 it was bought by Richard Benham who was also the licensee;
it remained in Benham family ownership into the twentieth century.
The hotel is stuccoed
stone and brick. The corner splay is emphasized with quoins and pilasters.
After some years' flirtation with Irish-themed names, the hotel has recently
returned to its original name.
