Windsor Hotel (Perth)

The Windsor Hotel was designed by prominent architect J. J. Talbot Hobbs, and built for George Strickland in 1898 at a cost of £4,050. The hotel opened on the corner of Mends Street and Mill Point Road at a time when the popularity of South Perth was increasing; by the mid-1890s the suburb was well established.[1] In 1898, the Perth Zoo opened, along with a post office, which operated out of the hotel for a period of time.[2] Part way through World War II, the Strickland family sold the hotel to Mary Thomas (later Mary Raine),[2] who willed it to the University of Western Australia.[3] Major works have taken place since the Windsor was constructed in 1898, with renovations carried out in 1962, 1965, 1970, the 1980s and 1991.[1]

The building was designed in Federation Filigree style. The building is constructed with tuck-pointed brickwork in Flemish bond and its corrugated iron roof is concealed behind a parapet. The veranda and balcony extend along both street facades and are covered with a lean-to roof. The veranda roof is broken by gables, which highlight the main entrance to each street facade and the truncated corner. The veranda roof is supported on fine, ornamental cast-iron posts with capitals and cast-iron balustrading.[1] Its intact street veranda and roof details are now very scarce and so have rarity value. The Windsor Hotel is representative of the Australian pub tradition: a two-storey hotel with verandas, usually located on a prominent street corner in a suburb or country town.[1]

It was listed with the Heritage Council of Western Australia in 1995.[1]

• Official website