Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle

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Coordinates: 32°55′38″S 151°47′06″E / 32.9273°S 151.7849°E / -32.9273; 151.7849
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Great Northern Hotel
Location89 Scott Street, Newcastle, City of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates32°55′38″S 151°47′06″E / 32.9273°S 151.7849°E / -32.9273; 151.7849
Official nameGreat Northern Hotel
Typestate heritage (built)
Designated2 April 1999
Reference no.507
Typehistoric site
Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle is located in New South Wales
Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle
Location of Great Northern Hotel in New South Wales

Great Northern Hotel is a heritage-listed hotel at 89 Scott Street, Newcastle, City of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.[1]

History[edit]

The current Great Northern Hotel opened in February 1938. It is the third hotel of the same name to occupy the site, its predecessors having been in operation since 1863.[2][3][4] The hotel was designed by Sydney architects Rudder and Grout and built by contractors Kell & Rigby.[5]

The hotel was a prominent feature of Newcastle nightlife through the twentieth century. It has been described as "once Newcastle's grandest and most luxurious hotel".[6] Actress Susie Porter was a barmaid at the hotel while studying at university.[7]

Owners during the 1970s and 1980s struggled with the cost of upkeep of the heritage hotel.[5] The hotel was then damaged in the 1989 Newcastle earthquake, after which the upper levels of the hotel were closed.[8]

The hotel closed in 1993 after a dispute between the owner and council over fire regulations, and suffered significant damage due to vandalism in the subsequent years, with most items of value stripped from the building. A multimillion-dollar refurbishment under a new lessee began in 1996, which after delays due to disputes with the council over incentives and assistance eventually saw the ground floor of the hotel reopen as an Irish-themed pub in November 1999.[9][10]

In March 2000, the NSW Heritage Council took legal action against the lessee, claiming that unauthorised works had been undertaken on two bars on the lower level and the lobby. It was the first time criminal proceedings had been launched under the Heritage Act, though the power to use them had existed since 1977. The developer delayed plans to refurbish the first floor of the building as a result of the litigation.[11][12][13][14] In January 2001, the lessee opened a linked nightclub in the adjacent former Tattersall's Club building.[15] In March 2001, the owners lost the Heritage Act case, resulting in the lessee being discharged without a conviction, but facing a $5000 fine and $13,000 in court costs.[16][17]

In 2002, a dispute between the hotel owner and lessee wound up in the New South Wales Court of Appeal, with the owner attempting to have the lessee evicted. The owner won on both first instance and a September appeal, resulting in the hotel's closure on 31 October 2002 after the lessee was formally evicted.[18][19][20][21] The hotel was subsequently sold to Kurt Braune.[6]

The hotel reopened under new ownership on 28 March 2003, having been stripped of the Irish pub fitout.[22] The owners proposed the refurbishment of the upper levels in 2005 and got development approval in 2008, but were delayed by the Global Financial Crisis. The hotel was described in 2007 as having been "allowed to fall into a state of significant disrepair".[23] It reopened under new lessees after another period of closure and repairs on New Year's Eve 2009.[24] Braune sold the hotel to Sydney developer Bass Elhashem in 2013, but remained involved with the refurbishment as project manager.[25][26]

In October 2015, Elhashem announced another proposal to refurbish the hotel.[26] The proposal hit a problem in 2017 when the owners were informed that they would have to build a substation in order to connect power to the upper floors, but was resolved by an agreement to share facilities with an adjoining building.[25] In January 2018, the owners applied to build a cantilevered swimming pool over Scott Street as part of an extension to the building.[27] The refurbished building reopened in November 2018.[28]

Description[edit]

The Great Northern Hotel is a six-storey Art Deco hotel consisting of a central wing and two side wings (initially five-storey, later increased to six). It is a dominant element of the townscape. It has a rare "Jazz style" interior.[3]

Customs House, Watt Street, Newcastle, NSW, looking towards the Great Northern Hotel

The original shape of the building has been altered by the 1950s additions to the wings.[3]

Heritage listing[edit]

Great Northern Hotel was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.[1]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Great Northern Hotel". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Department of Planning & Environment. H00507. Retrieved 1 June 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence.
  2. ^ "GREAT NORTHERN HOTEL IS ULTRA MODERN". The Farmer and Settler. Vol. XXXIII, no. 1. New South Wales, Australia. 10 February 1938. p. 18. Retrieved 7 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ a b c "Great Northern Hotel". State Heritage Inventory. Office of Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  4. ^ "Then and Now". Newcastle Herald. 9 November 2000.
  5. ^ a b "Great Expectations". Newcastle Herald. 13 March 2010.
  6. ^ a b "New owner returns to art deco grandeur". Newcastle Herald. 19 February 2003.
  7. ^ "The Force Is With Our Susie". Newcastle Herald. 21 July 2000.
  8. ^ "Great Northern Hotel set for renaissance". Newcastle Herald. 25 February 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  9. ^ "Landmark Grand Plan". Newcastle Herald. 4 November 1998.
  10. ^ "Great Northern Hotel Open, To Be Sure". Newcastle Herald. 16 November 1999.
  11. ^ "Heritage Action Blasted". Newcastle Herald. 29 March 2000.
  12. ^ "Heritage Pub Battle Brews". Newcastle Herald. 13 December 1999.
  13. ^ "City Pub Shapes For Fight". Newcastle Herald. 24 November 2000.
  14. ^ "Hotel Firm Faces Fine Over Work". Newcastle Herald. 30 November 2000.
  15. ^ "Nightclubbers Ride The Retro Wave". Newcastle Herald. 30 January 2001.
  16. ^ "Test Case Finds Hotel Heritage Breached". The Newcastle Herald. 29 March 2001.
  17. ^ "Heritage Verdict On Hotel Upheld". Newcastle Herald. 2 August 2001.
  18. ^ "War of the Great Northern rages on". Newcastle Herald. 6 September 2002.
  19. ^ "Publican stays on despite decision". Newcastle Herald. 28 September 2002.
  20. ^ "60 jobs lost as city pub closes". Newcastle Herald. 1 November 2002.
  21. ^ "Publican's last round". Newcastle Herald. 2 November 2002.
  22. ^ "Great bash planned as pub re-opens". Newcastle Herald. 27 March 2003.
  23. ^ "$24m facelift for dilapidated sites". Newcastle Herald. 28 December 2007.
  24. ^ "Flow of history reopens". Newcastle Herlad. 26 January 2010.
  25. ^ a b "The Great Northern Hotel set to re-open". Newcastle Herald. 17 November 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  26. ^ a b "Great Northern Hotel revamp". Newcastle Herald. 19 October 2015.
  27. ^ "Great Northern owners want pool over Scott Street". Newcastle Herald. 20 January 2018.
  28. ^ Parris, Michael (5 November 2018). "Hotel reopening taps into city's revival". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 4 December 2021.

Attribution[edit]

This Wikipedia article was originally based on Great Northern Hotel, entry number 00507 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 1 June 2018.

External links[edit]

Media related to Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle at Wikimedia Commons

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