Coffee palace explained

A coffee palace was an often large and elaborate residential hotel that did not serve alcohol, most of which were built in Australia in the late 19th century.

A modest temperance hotel was opened in 1826 by activist Gerrit Smith in his hometown of Peterboro, New York, United States. It was not popular with locals, nor commercially successful.

Temperance hotels were first established in the UK in the 1850s to provide an alcohol-free alternative to corner pubs and residential hotels, and by the 1870s they could be found in every town and city, some quite large and elaborate. In the late 1870s the idea caught on in Australia, where the appellation "coffee palace" was almost universal, and dozens were built in the 1880s and early 1890s, including some of the largest hotels in the country. Due to the depression of the mid-1890s, some became ordinary hotels and others were converted to different uses. The name continued to be applied to smaller residential hotels and guest houses in the early 20th century, until the trend died out. As large old hotels that may never have been a financial success, many, including most of the largest, were eventually demolished.

History

In the 17th and 18th centuries, "coffee houses", which were like taverns, but sold the new beverage of coffee rather than alcohol, became popular in the United Kingdom, but died out by the late 18th century.

Beginning in the early 19th century in the United States, the temperance movement campaigned against the moral, economical and medical effects of overindulgence in alcoholic beverages, a campaign which soon evolved into the promotion of total abstinence. By the early 1830s the temperance movement began in earnest in the United Kingdom, starting in the north, and soon spread all over the country. The movement built or converted its own premises for meetings, entertainment, food and accommodations, with the first "temperance hotel" opening in 1833 in Preston, with 22 across the north and the Midlands by 1835 (though not all offered accommodation).[1]

Intended as an alternative to the corner pub, they were often about the same size, and just about every town of any size soon had at least one. As well as "temperance hotel", many other names were used such as temperance bar, coffee tavern, coffee rooms, temperance tavern, or just a named hotel that was advertised as a temperance venue. In the 1870s, with an established market, larger and more elaborate temperance hotels began to be built, a trend which continued into the 1880s, and some of these were called a "coffee palace". Examples included the 1872 French Renaissance style Trevelyan Temperance Hotel, Boar Lane, Leeds,[1] [2] and the Cobden Coffee Palace, Corporation Street, Birmingham, built in 1883 in a striking Gothic Revival style[3] (demolished).

The Temperance movement in Australia was established shortly after its beginnings in the UK, for instance, the temperance society in Melbourne was formed in 1837.[4] This was followed by the Melbourne Total Abstinence Society in 1842,[5] the Independent Order of Rechabites in 1847, and in 1885 the Women's Christian Temperance Union.[6] Tankard's Temperance Hotel, an alcohol-free residential hotel, was established in the 1850s, in the western end of the city.[7] [8]

In Australia, the same imperative for their construction applied as in the UK, as expressed at a meeting at the Melbourne Temperance Hall in October 1878, to build a place "... as attractive as possible for the working man, [which] should combine every facility for harmless amusement and intellectual enjoyment, with the advantages of a large hotel, the only difference being that coffee should be vended instead of intoxicating liquors".[9] A major point of difference to the UK examples however was that they were built "on a business basis" rather than as a subsidised or not for profit venture. The first "coffee house" companies were founded soon after that meeting in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide,[10] and the first to be built, the Collingwood Coffee Palace, opened in Smith Street, Fitzroy in 1879, followed by the grandly ornate Melbourne Coffee Palace in Bourke Street the city in 1882.[11]

Their promotion occurred at a time of great economic growth in Australia, which perhaps combined with the "moral superiority" behind them,[12] led to their rapid popularity and the construction of many often quite large and elaborate "temperance hotels" in the following decade, nearly always called Coffee Palaces. The greatest growth occurred in Melbourne, then in the throes of a "land boom", with land rising steeply in value and large buildings built to capitalise on that value.[13] This coincided with the popularity of what is now called High Victorian architecture, lavish buildings with richly ornamented facades and interiors, usually Renaissance Revival, perhaps combined with Second Empire elements. The coffee palaces were invariably built in this elaborate High Victorian style.[12]

The Scots Presbyterian James Munro, politician and leading Land Boomer, was a champion of the temperance movement in Victoria; in 1886 he formed a company that purchased an already prominent hotel, the Grand on Spring Street built three years previously, and converted it into a temperance hotel, the Grand Coffee Palace, reputedly burning the liquor licence.[14]

The Federal Coffee Palace, built in 1888 on the corner of Collins and King Street in the western end of Melbourne's CBD was the largest hotel built in Australia, and the Grand Coffee Palace at the other end of the city was the second largest in Melbourne, while the Queens Coffee Palace in Carlton was possibly the third (though it appears to never have opened as a hotel, instead becoming residential apartments[15]). In Sydney the Grand Central Coffee Palace built in 1889 was almost as big the contemporary Metropole and Australia Hotels, but they were the better known and patronised.[16]

The boom lasted a little more than a decade, ending with the banking crisis of 1893, and a severe economic depression. The coffee palaces lost custom to the licensed hotels they were sometimes built to compete with, while others were built for patrons that never came, and so struggled to survive. Some were converted into guest houses or private hotels (or in one case a school), while others applied for liquor licences and dropped the "coffee palace" title.[4]

The "coffee palace" title was however taken up in the early 20th century for usually small residential hotels / guest houses, often in resort or country towns, to indicate they were not licensed, but they fell short of the grandeur the name implied (such as the 1901 Yarram Coffee Palace, about the size of a corner pub).

The larger examples were essentially large Victorian-era hotels with numerous small rooms, and those that had not continued as hotels often became cheap boarding houses by the mid 20th century, especially in the Melbourne suburbs, and a few were demolished from the 1950s-1970s. Many significant examples still survive, though very few still operate as hotels. The most famous survivor is the Hotel Windsor, the renamed Grand Coffee Palace that James Munro had established, which re-gained its liquor licence in 1897, and changed name in 1920, and is Australia's major surviving grand 19th century hotel.

Coffee palaces

Victoria

Melbourne

Other

Tasmania

South Australia

New South Wales

Sydney

Country NSW

Queensland

Western Australia

United Kingdom

See also

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 'Try the alternative': the built heritage of the temperance movement . Brewery History . 1 January 2019.
  2. Web site: Trevelyan Temperance Hotel . Flickr . 2 September 2007 . 1 January 2019.
  3. Web site: Cobden Coffee Palace, Corporation Street, Birmingham, West Midlands . Historic England . 1 January 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190101193820/http://viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk/search/reference.aspx?uid=216016&index=60&mainQuery=corporation+street&searchType=all&form=home . 1 January 2019 . dead .
  4. Web site: Murdoch. Sally. Coffee Palace. Encyclopedia of Melbourne. School of Historical & Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne. 23 January 2018.
  5. Web site: Melbourne Total Abstinence Society, Victoria, circa 1842-1905 . Museums Victoria . 1 January 2019.
  6. Web site: Our History . WCTU . 1 January 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120317135117/http://www.wctu.com.au/pages/history.html . 17 March 2012 . dead .
  7. News: Warehouse Planned . 8 January 2019 . The Herald . 25 June 1914.
  8. Web site: Tankards Temperance Hotel . State Library Victoria . 8 January 2019.
  9. News: The Coffee House Movement . 5 January 2019 . The Argus . 8 October 1878.
  10. News: The Coffee House Movement . 20 October 2018 . The Argus . 9 October 1878.
  11. News: 1882-10-06 . New Coffee Palace in Melbourne. . 2024-03-28 . Evening News.
  12. Book: Goad, Willis . The Encyclopedia of Australian Architecture . 2012 . Cambridge University Press . 161.
  13. Web site: Davison. Graeme. Land Boom. Encyclopedia of Melbourne. School of Historical & Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne. 23 January 2018.
  14. Web site: Hotel Windsor . Victorian Heritage Database . 19 October 2018.
  15. News: QUEEN'S COFFEE PALACE - SOLD PRIVATELY . 9 January 2019 . The Argus . 20 July 1911.
  16. Web site: Lost Sydney: Hotel Grand Central. www.visitsydneyaustralia.com.au. 2020-01-11.
  17. News: VICTORIA. . . 13,046 . New South Wales, Australia . 24 January 1880 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
  18. News: 1881-03-01. VICTORIA COFFEE PALACE.. 2. Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954). 2021-05-07.
  19. Web site: Ibis Styles Melbourne, the Victoria Hotel- A Short History - ibis Styles Melbourne, the Victoria Hotel . 6 June 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160808145242/https://www.victoriahotel.com.au/a-short-history-of-the-victoria-hotel/ . 8 August 2016 . dead .
  20. South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900) Saturday 25 September 1880 p 1 Advertising
  21. News: 1888-03-27 . A NEW COFFEE PALACE. . 2024-03-28 . Herald.
  22. Web site: The City Of Richmond Coffee Palace, 232-234 Bridge Road, Richmond . 28 March 2024 . moorabool antique galleries.
  23. Web site: Former Oriental Coffee Palace. Victorian Heritage Database. 21 January 2018.
  24. Web site: Biltmore. Victorian Heritage Database. 21 January 2018.
  25. News: OPENING OF THE SOUTH YARRA COFFEE PALACE.. 26 January 2018. The Argus. 2 February 1887.
  26. News: Public Notice concerning West Melbourne Coffee Palace Management. 26 January 2018. North Melbourne Advertiser. 6 October 1888.
  27. News: Sandringham Coffee Palace Now Open. The Argus. 27 September 1889.
  28. News: Sandringham House (late Coffee Palace). The Age. 26 March 1894.
  29. Web site: Hobsons Bay Heritage Study Amended 2010- Volume 3. Hobsons Bay City Council. 21 January 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20130514133743/http://www.hobsonsbay.vic.gov.au/files/0d3a5e63-cbc9-4fbb-a3a4-9fd700cae7fa/Hobsons_Bay_Heritage_Study_Revised_2010_Part_6_HO229-HO252.pdf. 14 May 2013. dead.
  30. Web site: Grand Hotel – A Grand Old Lady. Mainstreetmornington.com.au. 3 November 2016. 30 July 2019.
  31. News: Untitled . . XXXI . 246 . Victoria, Australia . 21 October 1886 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
  32. News: A Ballarat Coffee Palace Burnt. . . 921 . Victoria, Australia . 13 April 1888 . 1 (Supplement to Kerang Times & Swan Hill Gazette.) . National Library of Australia.
  33. Web site: FORMER REIDS COFFEE PALACE. Victorian Heritage Database. 11 March 2018.
  34. Book: Ballarat: A Guide to Buildings and Areas, 1851-1940. 10 July 2013. 1981. Jacobs Lewis Vines Architects and Conservation Planners. 978-0-9593970-0-0. 90.
  35. News: A COFFEE PALACE AT BARWON HEADS. . . 13,149 . Victoria, Australia . 15 April 1889 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
  36. News: FIRE AT BARWON HEADS. 11 March 2018. Geelong Advertiser. 1 December 1928.
  37. News: OCEAN GROVE. . . 2032 . Victoria, Australia . 22 December 1894 . 3 (THE LEADER SUPPLEMENT) . National Library of Australia.
  38. Web site: Ocean Grove: Chalet. BELLARINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC. 11 March 2018.
  39. News: QUEENSCLIFF. 11 March 2018. The Age. 22 December 1928.
  40. News: SEA VIEW COFFEE PALACE. 11 March 2018. Weekly Times. 23 December 1899.
  41. Web site: MIDLAND PRIVATE HOTEL. vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au. 2020-03-16.
  42. Web site: FEDERAL COFFEE PALACE, HISTORIC FEDERATION BUILDING, YARRAM, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA. yarrampa.customer.netspace.net.au. 2019-10-15.
  43. News: GEELONG GRAND COFFEE PALACE COMPANY, LIMITED. 11 March 2018. Geelong Advertiser. 25 Jan 1889.
  44. News: GEELONG GRAND COFFEE PALACE.. 11 March 2018. Geelong Advertiser. 10 July 1891.
  45. News: BAIRNSDALE GRAND COFFEE PALACE. . . 1077 and 1665 . Victoria, Australia . 2 November 1889 . 9 March 2018 . 3 (morning.) . National Library of Australia.
  46. News: Opening of the Kyneton Coffee Palace . 8 January 2019 . Kyneton Guardian . 28 September 1881.
  47. Web site: Marnoo . Victorian Places . 20 October 2018.
  48. News: MILDURA. . . 14 . 46 . Queensland, Australia . 17 November 1888 . 28 . National Library of Australia.
  49. News: ICONIC MILDURA HOTEL UP FOR SALE . 20 October 2018 . Domain Commercial Real Estate . 18 April 2017.
  50. Web site: Murtoa & District Historical Society. www.facebook.com. en. 2020-01-11.
  51. Web site: Plaque - Ozone Hotel. Victorian Collections. Museums Victoria. 11 March 2018.
  52. News: Our history – the camera remembers: The Ozone Hotel. 11 March 2018. The Standard. 18 December 2015.
  53. News: COFFEE PALACE SENSATION. . . Victoria, Australia . 21 December 1901 . 12 January 2020 . 1.
  54. News: The Wimmera Coffee Palace, Horsham. . . 5941 . Victoria, Australia . 9 April 1918 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
  55. Web site: Miranda Morris-Nunn . C.B.Tassell . amp. 1982 . Launceston's Industrial Heritage: A Survey Part One . 15 January 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160317085812/http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/upfiles/qvmag/cont/publications/research_reports/ltonheritage_part1_1.pdf . 17 March 2016 . dead .
  56. Web site: HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS - BISHOPSBOURNE. - Daily Telegraph (Launceston, Tas. : 1883 - 1928) - 30 Jan 1904 . 2023-12-10 . Trove . en.
  57. News: An Important Judgement. The Cyclorama Case. . . 23 November 1906 . 19 March 2015.
  58. Web site: Temperance . Adelaidia . 8 January 2019.
  59. Web site: Former West's Coffee Palace - 104-120 Hindley Street ADELAIDE . Experience Adelaide . 16 September 2019 . 17 December 2022.
  60. Web site: Coffee Palaces in Adelaide . WeekendNotes . 21 October 2012 . 17 December 2022.
  61. News: Advertising . . XLIV . 10,166 . South Australia . 14 June 1879 . 7 (Supplement to the South Australian Register.) . National Library of Australia.
  62. Web site: Kieselbach Coffee Palace (photo) . State Library South Australia . 8 January 2019.
  63. Web site: A Chronology of Semaphore . Semaphore Mainstreet Association . 8 January 2019.
  64. News: Advertising . . 12,850 . New South Wales, Australia . 9 June 1879 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
  65. News: The Sydney Coffee Palace Hotel . 8 January 2019 . The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser . 4 October 1879.
  66. News: Coffee Palace No. 2 . 8 January 2019 . Australian Town and Country Journal . 17 July 1880.
  67. News: Another Coffee Palace in Sydney. . . XXX . 1045 . New South Wales, Australia . 17 July 1880 . 131 . National Library of Australia.
  68. Web site: Hotel Grand Central . Pocket Oz . 20 December 2018.
  69. Web site: Former York Hotel Façade NSW Environment, Energy and Science. www.environment.nsw.gov.au. 2019-10-15.
  70. News: COFFEE PALACE ALIGHT. . . 261 . New South Wales, Australia . 1 May 1911 . 7 (LATEST EDITION) . National Library of Australia.
  71. News: GREAT WESTERN COFFEE PALACE. . . 10826 . New South Wales, Australia . 3 February 1914 . 5 . National Library of Australia.
  72. Web site: Coffee Palace . City of Sydney Archives . 8 January 2019 .
  73. News: The Town Hall Coffee Palace, Sydney. . . 5465 . New South Wales, Australia . 20 November 1884 . 3 . National Library of Australia.
  74. News: COFF'S HARBOUR. . . New South Wales, Australia . 11 November 1911 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
  75. News: BOARDING-HOUSE FIRE. . . 27,560 . New South Wales, Australia . 5 May 1926 . 16 . National Library of Australia.
  76. News: WINE AND BILLIARD SALOONS BURNT. . . 28,881 . New South Wales, Australia . 29 July 1930 . 10 . National Library of Australia.
  77. News: Coffee Palace for Goulburn. . . New South Wales, Australia . 22 September 1893 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
  78. News: CENTRAL COFFEE PALACE, MURWTLLUMBAH. . . 933 . New South Wales, Australia . 6 November 1913 . 44 . National Library of Australia.
  79. 25 June 2015.
  80. News: YESTERDAY —and the DAY BEFORE . . 49 . 2,532 . Western Australia . 30 August 1934 . 51 . National Library of Australia.
  81. News: Matthew Burnett . . 49 . 2,531 . Western Australia . 23 August 1934 . 51 . National Library of Australia.
  82. News: A New Coffee Palace. . . 306 . Western Australia . 15 November 1903 . 12 . National Library of Australia.
  83. News: Classified Advertising . . 13 . 3,610 . Western Australia . 21 September 1897 . 8 . National Library of Australia.
  84. News: THE RECHABITE ORDER. . . VII . 349 . Western Australia . 20 August 1892 . 30 . National Library of Australia.
  85. News: Advertising . . XXVI . 7,646 . Western Australia . 29 September 1910 . 10 . National Library of Australia.
  86. News: Advertising . . 393 . Western Australia . 14 January 1911 . 7 (CITY EDITION) . National Library of Australia.
  87. News: Advertising . . XXX . 3,845 . Western Australia . 11 August 1914 . 10 . National Library of Australia.
  88. News: Advertising . . XLIV . 8,133 . Western Australia . 11 July 1928 . 18 . National Library of Australia.
  89. Web site: Grand Central Coffee Palace. Eddie. Dodgy Perth. en. 2019-10-15.
  90. Web site: 025585PD: The Royal Coffee Palace, 165-167 Murray Street, Perth, 1911. In the same building is the Kilty store and next building is the Australia Hotel :: slwa_b3016904_1. WA. State Library of. purl.slwa.wa.gov.au. 2016-04-16.
  91. Web site: A—ROYAL COFFEE PALACE. - Advertising - The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954) View title info - 29 Sep 1910. Trove. 2017-08-20.
  92. News: MIDLAND JUNCTION WANTS . . XXV . 9696 . Western Australia . 25 June 1906 . 4 (SECOND EDITION) . National Library of Australia.
  93. Web site: BUSINESS ANNOUNCEMENTS. - The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954) - 14 Sep 1901. Trove. 2016-04-17.
  94. Web site: SUNDAY TRADING. - PUBLICANS PROSECUTED. TWO CONVICTIONS. - The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954) - 14 Jul 1904. Trove. 2016-04-17.
  95. Web site: Classified Advertising - The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954) - 3 Aug 1897. Trove. 2016-04-17.
  96. Web site: POLICE INTELLIGENCE. - CITY COURT. THURSDAY, MARCH 4TH. (Before Messrs. M. F. A. Canning and J. Quinlan. J's.P.) - The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954) - 5 Mar 1897. Trove. 2016-04-17.
  97. Web site: BUSINESS ANNOUNCEMENTS. - The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954) - 23 Feb 1900. Trove. 2016-04-17.
  98. Web site: LICENSING DAY. - PERTH. - The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954) - 6 Dec 1898. Trove. 2016-04-17.
  99. News: Over the New Railway Bridge. . . 116 . Western Australia . 7 October 1905 . 3 (CITY EDITION) . National Library of Australia.
  100. Web site: The Western Australian Directory. Wise. 730–731. 1904.
  101. News: SERFS of the SODDEN SCONE . . 559 . Western Australia . 20 September 1908 . 3 (FIRST SECTION) . National Library of Australia.
  102. Web site: Douglas Coffee Palace . A Manx Note Book . 1 January 2019.
  103. Web site: Douglas Borough Council Online - Tel: 01624 696300 . 2008-12-11 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110721150202/http://www.douglas.gov.im/GalleryShowCat.asp?Cat=Streets&ID=46 . 21 July 2011 . dmy-all .
  104. Web site: The Coffee Palace, Townsend Street, Dublin . archiseek . 1 January 2019.
  105. Web site: 1882 – Coffee Tavern & Hostelery, Newark on Trent, Nottinghamshire . Archiseek . 20 October 2018.
  106. Web site: The Coffee Palace, Townsend Street, Dublin . Archiseek . 20 October 2018.
  107. Web site: Coffee Palace & Workman's Hall, Kensal Green, London . Archiseek . 20 October 2018.
  108. Web site: 1880 – Coffee Tavern, Cranbrook, Kent . Archiseek . 20 October 2018.
  109. Web site: 1887 – Coffee Tavern, Farncombe, Godalming, Surrey . Archiseek . 20 October 2018.
  110. Postcard printed by Albert Flint, Photographer and Publisher, 68 Church Street, Camberwell, London