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Regatta Hotel
Regatta Hotel is a heritage-listed hotel at 543 Coronation Drive on the corner of Sylvan Road, Toowong, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It faces the Toowong Reach of the Brisbane River and was named after the rowing regattas held there. It was designed by Richard Gailey and built in 1886 by George Gazzard. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
The first hotel was established on the site in 1874, as a single-storey wooden building.
In 1886, the current and second Regatta Hotel, three-storeyed brick building, was erected for Brisbane publican William Winterford. The first building was removed to make way for the new premises. The new Regatta was designed by Brisbane architect Richard Gailey, who called tenders in February 1886. It was constructed by contractor George Gazzard, at a cost of £4,800.
The Regatta was one of a number of large, masonry, first-class hotels designed by Gailey in the 1880s. Amongst these were the Wickham Hotel (1885), Prince Consort Hotel (1887), Jubilee Hotel (1888) and Empire Hotel (1889). They were designed not just for local patronage, but to attract travellers and visitors. Each replaced an earlier and much humbler hotel on the site, and in their ornate exteriors, they reflected the optimism and bravado of the booming Queensland economy of the 1880s.
Winterford opened his new hotel in 1887, anticipating a clientele who would be enticed by the river views, the proximity to town and to the Toowong railway station, the weekend regattas on the doorstep, entertainments such as billiards and boating, a well-stocked wine cellar, large well-ventilated bedrooms, family suites, the luxury of hot and cold baths, and good stabling accommodation. However, neither the hotel's comforts nor the Toowong scenery succeeded in attracting the desired patronage.
It was first flooded in 1887, then again in 1893. Lack of wider custom, the financial depression of the early 1890s, and the floods of 1893, nearly ruined Winterford. In 1897, he forfeited the Regatta to his mortgagees.
Ultimately, the Regatta survived and flourished through a number of owners and lessees.
A famous women's liberation protest took place in the public bar in 1965, when two women, Merle Thornton and Rosalie Bognor, chained themselves to the public bar footrail in protest at Queensland's restriction of being served drinks in public bars to men only. The protest was the starting point which led to the law being changed in Queensland in 1970. In 2014 the hotel celebrated the protest by renaming the bar at the hotel Merle's Bar. In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, "All chained up for women's rights" was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as a "Defining Moment".
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Regatta Hotel
Regatta Hotel is a heritage-listed hotel at 543 Coronation Drive on the corner of Sylvan Road, Toowong, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It faces the Toowong Reach of the Brisbane River and was named after the rowing regattas held there. It was designed by Richard Gailey and built in 1886 by George Gazzard. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
The first hotel was established on the site in 1874, as a single-storey wooden building.
In 1886, the current and second Regatta Hotel, three-storeyed brick building, was erected for Brisbane publican William Winterford. The first building was removed to make way for the new premises. The new Regatta was designed by Brisbane architect Richard Gailey, who called tenders in February 1886. It was constructed by contractor George Gazzard, at a cost of £4,800.
The Regatta was one of a number of large, masonry, first-class hotels designed by Gailey in the 1880s. Amongst these were the Wickham Hotel (1885), Prince Consort Hotel (1887), Jubilee Hotel (1888) and Empire Hotel (1889). They were designed not just for local patronage, but to attract travellers and visitors. Each replaced an earlier and much humbler hotel on the site, and in their ornate exteriors, they reflected the optimism and bravado of the booming Queensland economy of the 1880s.
Winterford opened his new hotel in 1887, anticipating a clientele who would be enticed by the river views, the proximity to town and to the Toowong railway station, the weekend regattas on the doorstep, entertainments such as billiards and boating, a well-stocked wine cellar, large well-ventilated bedrooms, family suites, the luxury of hot and cold baths, and good stabling accommodation. However, neither the hotel's comforts nor the Toowong scenery succeeded in attracting the desired patronage.
It was first flooded in 1887, then again in 1893. Lack of wider custom, the financial depression of the early 1890s, and the floods of 1893, nearly ruined Winterford. In 1897, he forfeited the Regatta to his mortgagees.
Ultimately, the Regatta survived and flourished through a number of owners and lessees.
A famous women's liberation protest took place in the public bar in 1965, when two women, Merle Thornton and Rosalie Bognor, chained themselves to the public bar footrail in protest at Queensland's restriction of being served drinks in public bars to men only. The protest was the starting point which led to the law being changed in Queensland in 1970. In 2014 the hotel celebrated the protest by renaming the bar at the hotel Merle's Bar. In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, "All chained up for women's rights" was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as a "Defining Moment".
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