Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Southern Cross Hotel
The Southern Cross Hotel was a hotel in Melbourne, Australia. It was opened by Prime Minister Robert Menzies on 24 August 1962 as Australia's first modern 'International' hotel, heralding the arrival of American-style glamour, the jet-set and international tourism. It occupied a large site on Bourke Street in central Melbourne, formerly occupied by the grand Eastern Market, and was the premier hotel in the city into the early 1980s. The Southern Cross was the preferred hotel for celebrities in this period, most famously The Beatles in 1964, and the ballroom was the preferred location for locally and nationally important events.
Closed on 1 April 1995 and partly demolished, the hotel tower remained standing and vacant until its demolition in 2003.
The half a city block site was occupied by the grand 1879 Eastern Market, and was owned by the City of Melbourne. Never having been successful as a food market, the structure had instead been the home of a variety of shops and entertainments, and by the 1950s it was seen as tawdry and outdated, and the Council began discussing what to do with the site.
In the 1950s, US based hotels such as Hilton and the Pan Am owned InterContinental created the first international hotel chains, bringing US-style modernity to cities around the world. With the increasing use of faster jet aircraft, the concept of international travel as a glamorous activity for both tourism and business purposes developed through the late 1950s and early 1960s.
In 1956, a vice-president of Pan Am visited Melbourne to explore the prospect of opening a hotel, and began negotiations with the Council over the Eastern Market site. A deal was eventually arranged in which a local consortium in partnership with InterContinental would build the hotel, leasing the land from the Council for 99 years, while InterContinental would provide management. In 1960, the Los Angeles architects Welton Becket & Associates, in partnership with local architects Leslie M. Perrot & Partners, were chosen, and demolition of the market commenced that year.
Billed as luxury hotel costing £5,250,000, that provided "comfort and service without equal", the completed building was opened by the Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies on 14 August 1962, live on television.
The Southern Cross was an immediate success, attracting the growing international 'jet set', and hosting most world-famous visitors to Melbourne in the following decades such as the Beatles, Judy Garland, Rock Hudson, David Cassidy, John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich.
The hotel is best known for hosting The Beatles on the Melbourne leg of their Australian tour in 1964. 'Beatlemania' reached a fever pitch in Melbourne, and huge crowds blocked traffic outside the hotel, and fainting girls had to be treated on the street. When they left, their bed sheets were torn up and sold for charity. In Beatle lore, their stay is important since it was the only hotel to host five of the Beatles at one time. (Jimmy Nicol was hired as a temporary drummer for an ill Ringo Starr).
Hub AI
Southern Cross Hotel AI simulator
(@Southern Cross Hotel_simulator)
Southern Cross Hotel
The Southern Cross Hotel was a hotel in Melbourne, Australia. It was opened by Prime Minister Robert Menzies on 24 August 1962 as Australia's first modern 'International' hotel, heralding the arrival of American-style glamour, the jet-set and international tourism. It occupied a large site on Bourke Street in central Melbourne, formerly occupied by the grand Eastern Market, and was the premier hotel in the city into the early 1980s. The Southern Cross was the preferred hotel for celebrities in this period, most famously The Beatles in 1964, and the ballroom was the preferred location for locally and nationally important events.
Closed on 1 April 1995 and partly demolished, the hotel tower remained standing and vacant until its demolition in 2003.
The half a city block site was occupied by the grand 1879 Eastern Market, and was owned by the City of Melbourne. Never having been successful as a food market, the structure had instead been the home of a variety of shops and entertainments, and by the 1950s it was seen as tawdry and outdated, and the Council began discussing what to do with the site.
In the 1950s, US based hotels such as Hilton and the Pan Am owned InterContinental created the first international hotel chains, bringing US-style modernity to cities around the world. With the increasing use of faster jet aircraft, the concept of international travel as a glamorous activity for both tourism and business purposes developed through the late 1950s and early 1960s.
In 1956, a vice-president of Pan Am visited Melbourne to explore the prospect of opening a hotel, and began negotiations with the Council over the Eastern Market site. A deal was eventually arranged in which a local consortium in partnership with InterContinental would build the hotel, leasing the land from the Council for 99 years, while InterContinental would provide management. In 1960, the Los Angeles architects Welton Becket & Associates, in partnership with local architects Leslie M. Perrot & Partners, were chosen, and demolition of the market commenced that year.
Billed as luxury hotel costing £5,250,000, that provided "comfort and service without equal", the completed building was opened by the Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies on 14 August 1962, live on television.
The Southern Cross was an immediate success, attracting the growing international 'jet set', and hosting most world-famous visitors to Melbourne in the following decades such as the Beatles, Judy Garland, Rock Hudson, David Cassidy, John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich.
The hotel is best known for hosting The Beatles on the Melbourne leg of their Australian tour in 1964. 'Beatlemania' reached a fever pitch in Melbourne, and huge crowds blocked traffic outside the hotel, and fainting girls had to be treated on the street. When they left, their bed sheets were torn up and sold for charity. In Beatle lore, their stay is important since it was the only hotel to host five of the Beatles at one time. (Jimmy Nicol was hired as a temporary drummer for an ill Ringo Starr).