Orient Hotel, The Rocks

The Orient Hotel site was classified in the general surveys of the town undertaken in the 1830s, ostensibly to formalise land boundaries and entitlements, as Lot 1 of City Section 85. By the time of the survey the allotment was in the ownership of the merchant Frederick Wright Unwin. Unwin had acquired the property from Mary Reibey in November 1828. Reibey's interest in the property lasted a matter of five months, over which time its value had increased from £2,025 in June 1828 to £2,500 on its sale in November. Reibey's intentions had been more long term however for she proposed to erect three houses along the George Street frontage. Owing to a problem with the land title (it not been issued and the extent of the George Street frontage was in dispute) Reibey evidently decided not to proceed further.[1]

Unwin retained ownership over the boom years of the 1830s, only selling when the inevitable crash came in the early 1840s with total debts mounting to £45,000. Unwin was a solicitor and had come to the colony in 1827. Over the 1820s and 1830s he invested heavily in property in both the town and country. The George Street property was one of his earliest investments. Unwin's purchase in 1828 was inclusive of a stone building in the course of construction. Then construction of this building had in fact commenced during Piper's ownership and was described as "a building of great extent and expense". It was reported in the Sydney Gazette in 1826 that Piper had engaged 30–40 mechanics (carpenters, stonemasons, etc.) in its construction. It seems unlikely that this building was on the Orient Hotel site, and the exact use of the site during Unwin's ownership is not known. It would seem the building on the site may have been required to be demolished for the widening of George Street for which Unwin was compensated £800. Prior to the sale of the property in 1841, Unwin subdivided the land to form a number of allotments of which Lots 1 and 2 are historically associated with the Orient Hotel site.[1]

The pair of allotments were bought by the carcass butcher James Chapman in February 1842 for £1,101. It was Chapman who erected, probably in 1842, a three-storey residence of ten rooms and a neighbouring single storey shop, which were the first stage of what evolved over the nineteenth century into the Orient Hotel. The residence was one of the most valuable on George Street North on its completion and fitted, according to the council assessor, with every convenience on its first entry in the rate book for Gipps Ward in 1845.[1]

Chapman by the 1840s had arguably some standing in the local community for he was a foundation councillor of the City Corporation (Council) in its first term of 1842–1845; he represented Gipps Ward that took in The Rocks. His business was evidently quite extensive in maintaining slaughter yards at Blackwattle Bay and was a large cattle buyer at Smithfield market. Over the mid-1840s Chapman had developed his land holding on George Street to benefit his business with the 1848 rate assessment noting the rear yard area with a brick stable and wooden shed. Chapman died in 1856 but for some years after his estate was contested by the property developer Andrew Hardie McCulloch. Henry Milford was subsequently appointed by the Supreme Court in June 1858 as trustee of Chapman' estate.[1]

The Chapman family continued to own the property until his estate was settled in 1858. The shop at 87 George Street was retained by James' widow, Esther, but the family residence at 89 George Street was sold to James Kelly in April 1859; the purchase price was £2,700 (inclusive of other neighbouring properties). By this time the building had been converted to licensed premises trading under the sign of the Marine Hotel since 1853 under the management of the following licensees:

The impetus for Chapman's move into the licensed hotel trade undoubtedly was associated with the discovery of gold and the wealth generated in the southern and western goldfields of NSW. In the gold rush decades of the 1850s and 1860s, businesses in the City readily met the demands for accommodation and other services and goods generated by the influx of gold seeking migrants. The association between The Rocks and the sea and seafarers is also clearly demonstrated in the name of the hotel. This association is also demonstrated in the establishment of the Sydney Sailors' Home in 1865 and the Bethel Chapel (Mariners' Church) in 1859, both fronting George Street and near the Orient Hotel.[1]

While James Kelly continued to own the hotel until 1876 the hotel was managed by a succession of publicans, inclusive of:

Kelly sold the hotel to Gustave Buckham in March 1876 for £2,400. Buckham then renamed it Buckham's Hotel. Buckham evidently arranged for alterations to the hotel increasing the number of rooms to 21 from the 10 under Kelly's ownership. As with the previous ownership, Buckham managed the hotel through a succession of publicans. This practice resulted in the frequent renaming of the hotel, evidently to entice trade on the good reputation of the publican. Over 1877-79 it was known as Buckham's, and then May's Family Hotel under publican James H. May until 1881, Pries' Family Hotel between 1882 and 1883, and Brown's Family Hotel under Peter Brown. These publicans had long standing associations with Sydney's hotel trade. John H. P. Pries for example had started in the trade at the now demolished Woolpack Inn in Haymarket. He then opened the Pries' Family Hotel and afterwards moved back to southern end of the town to manage the Golden Gate on Brickfield Hill.[1]

In 1885 the hotel was renamed the Orient under the new licensee Walter McCombie. The name change reflects the broader changes occurring in the wharf area relating to the development of Campbell's Wharf, which had been sold in 1876 to the Australasian Steam Navigation Company. (ASN Co.). The ASN Co. rebuilt the wharf and moved its operations from Darling Harbour and also it to international shipping companies. From 1877 the steamers of the Orient Steam Navigation Line berthed here, hence, evidently, the name of the hotel. The licensees after McCombie were:

The residential nature of The Rocks area is demonstrated at the Orient Hotel site in the shop/store (now removed) at 87 George Street. The Chapmans retained this property until November 1861 when the trustee for the late James Chapman sold it to Thomas Andrew Drysdale of Melbourne for £825. Drysdale retained ownership until the resumption in 1900. Over this period the premises housed a diverse range of uses that in many instances used the rear yard area to undertake light manufacturing. The uses were inclusive of the following:

A longstanding use of note here is Alexander McLeod's Canonside Foundry that operated for most of the 1880s and 1890s as it relates to the provision of marine engineering services. Initially the commercial licensed operation continued under the management of the publicans listed above. Around 1920 Resch's Limited entered into a head-lease with the Housing Board over the property. Associated with the coming of Resch's was the completion in 1922 of major additions to the hotel. This work was undertaken for the Housing Board, William Henry Foggitt being its architect at the time. This was the first of a number of alterations undertaken over the following years in 1929, in 1940 and 1961. The role of the hotel in this era continued as both licensed premises and as a place of accommodation. In 1930 the head lease was acquired by Tooth and Co. and then in 1948 it was taken on by British Breweries Pty Ltd. Over this period and up to the 1970s the licensees were held by:

While The Rocks was administered parsimoniously by the government, the potential of West Circular Quay for international shipping and for its administration headquarters was actively pursued. In the decades following the World War II the Maritime Services Board built a new international passenger terminal in 1961 and new administrative offices in the mid-1950s. Coincidental with the shipping terminal development was a change in the management of the Orient Hotel with the head-lease being taken on by Miller's Brewery Pty. Ltd. in 1960. Miller's were formerly British Breweries Ltd. with the new company being founded by Robert W. Miller around 1951. Over the 1950s and 1960s the brewery provided serious competition to Tooths and Tooheys who traditionally dominated the Sydney market. Their former brewery still stands atop Taverners Hill on the Parramatta Road at Petersham. Miller's ownership would seem to have had only a marginal impact on the building with only the bar area being altered in 1961.[1]

Since the mid-1970s the Orient Hotel has undergone numerous changes to enhance the popularity of the hotel to the broader public. The changes were overseen by the government authorities of the Sydney Cove Redevelopment Authority(SCRA), Sydney Cove Authority (SCA) and its successor the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority (SHFA). The SCRA was established by the Robert Askin-led Liberal Coalition government in 1968 and came into being in January 1970. Its origins date to the mid-1960s and the instigation of concept plans (the Wallace (1964) and Overall (1967) Schemes) for the redevelopment of The Rocks to provide high-rise office and residential blocks. The new Authority was given most of the state-owned property in The Rocks, with a charter to restore, renovate and redevelop the area. Public disquiet about the future direction of The Rocks under SCRA erupted in 1973 in organised community protests supported by the NSW Branch of the Builders Labourers' Federation. By 1975, SCRA's planning outlook had evolved to take into consideration cultural, social and historical values, but large scale developments continued.[1]

The Orient Hotel with its corner location and historic street presentation has contributed to the public's association of The Rocks with a unique historic neighbourhood. Around 1976, a company named Rocks Hotels Pty Ltd. took on the management of the hotel and in 1979 extensive alterations valued at $120,000 were completed to provide street facades approximating its nineteenth-century appearance and undertake alterations to the basement, ground and first floors. The architects were Colin Graham and Partners Pty Ltd. There were other changes over the 1980s as follows:

• 1980 – Renewal of veranda and stairway
• 1981 – Reconstruction of the street paving lightwells
• 1983 – Removal of an internal wall
• 1984 – Relocation of entry doors and alterations to the bar

Another major change came in 1988, the bicentennial year, again for Rocks Hotels Pty Ltd. This work, valued at $1,500,000, was designed by architects Howard Tanner and Associates Pty Ltd.[1]

• 1848: Addition of brick stable with two-roomed loft and open wooden shed; 1864-78 - external walls faced with cement render;
• 1922: Major extensions (Argyle Street) over site of stable, shed, courtyard (minor changes to original premises);
• 1930: Shop/sheds demolished; 1930s: Additions on George Street shop site; 1840s: Ground floor altered with enlarged bar, externally modified;
• 1978: Extensive renovations, interior/exterior restored to original elevation as far as practical, doors/windows restored to original width;
• 1981: Awning removed;
• 1988: Internal alterations removed much original fabric.[3][1]

• "Orient Hotel". 2007.
• Note: Documentary evidence for early alterations to the Hotel is scarce.
• Sydney Post Office Directory.
• Attraction Homepage (2007). "Orient Hotel".
• Paul Davies Pty Ltd (2007). Conservation Management Plan Orient Hotel 87-89 George Street, The Rocks.
• Rod Howard Heritage Conservation Pty Ltd (1993). Orient Hotel Conservation Plan.
• S Collingridge & D Sheedy (1976). National Trust Classification Card: Orient Hotel, 87-89 George Street, The Rocks (Part of the George Street Kendall Lane Precinct).
• SCRA (1979). Building Data Sheet KL/01.
• Sydney Cove Authority (SCA) (1998). SCA Register 1979-1998.
• SCA. SCA Building Data Sheets.
• Anglin & Associates (1990). Central Sydney Heritage Study.

This Wikipedia article was originally based on Orient Hotel, entry number 1567 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 14 October 2018.