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GRAND CENTRAL HOTEL
Date Opened : 1850
Date Closed : 1925
Address :
Corner Pultney and Rundle Streets, Adelaide
History
| YORK HOTEL | 1850 | 1910 |
| GRAND CENTRAL HOTEL | 1910 | 1925 |
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Hotel Photos
Schurgott Collection
Hotel Timeline
Publicans
| The Rundle Lantern and Hungry Jacks on the corner of Rundle and Pulteney Streets. This site was once home to one of South Australia’s most renowned establishments, the York Hotel. Originally built around 1839 as Miss Bathgate’s family boarding house, it quickly became one of Adelaide’s premier accommodations. By 1849, John Hornabrook was operating the boarding house and, in December of that year, applied for a hotel license, converting the existing building into the York Hotel. The hotel gained immediate popularity, and as demand grew, the original structure proved insufficient. In 1863, an extension was added along Rundle Street, but even this expansion could not keep up with the increasing patronage. By 1868, the original boarding house was demolished and replaced with a more modern hotel building. In 1878, William Ford purchased the hotel and spent the next two decades building its reputation. Through strategic advertising, particularly interstate, the York Hotel gained a nationwide clientele and became the preferred accommodation for visitors to Adelaide. Ford sold the hotel in 1898, and over the next decade, ownership changed hands multiple times. However, it became increasingly clear that the hotel was too small to accommodate its growing number of guests. In 1909, the York Hotel was demolished to make way for what was planned to be the largest hotel in Adelaide—the Grand Central Hotel. The site now occupied by the Rundle Lantern and Hungry Jack’s, at the corner of Rundle and Pulteney Streets, was once home to the Grand Central Hotel—one of Adelaide’s most prominent buildings of its time. In 1909, Victorian department store owner William Gibson purchased the York Hotel and redeveloped the site. The York Hotel was demolished that same year, making way for the construction of the Grand Central Hotel. This new four-story hotel was one of the largest buildings in Adelaide at the time. The Grand Central Hotel officially opened on June 20, 1911, with great fanfare. It boasted 150 rooms, two saloons, and a dining room capable of seating over 500 guests. Among its notable visitors were Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), was hosted there in 1920. Despite its grandeur, the hotel's size eventually became a challenge—keeping all 150 rooms occupied proved difficult. After just 13 years of operation, the hotel closed in November 1924. William Gibson and his business partner repurposed the building, establishing the South Australian branch of Foy & Gibson, one of Australia’s largest department store chains. Modelled on popular American and European department stores of the early 20th century, Foy & Gibson became a household name. The store even influenced South Australian slang, with the phrase "More front than Foy & Gibson’s" gaining popularity in the mid-20th century. In 1955, the Cox Brothers acquired the department store and relocated it to another Rundle Street location, a few hundred meters west. The Grand Central building remained vacant until the South Australian Government purchased it, later using it to accommodate several government departments. By the 1970s, the building had deteriorated significantly and was deemed beyond restoration. It was demolished in the mid-1970s, and a car park was constructed on the site—where the Rundle Lantern now stands today. A colonist of 1850 has mentioned that Miss Jane Bathgate (who appears to have been the principal), “had a tent put up for her boarding house, divided by a heavy curtain which was looped up by day and let down at night, she sleeping on one side and her gentlemen boarders on the other. Tills was superseded by a stone building of two stories, with verandahs and balcony facing both Rundle and Pulteney Streets." A water colour sketch of this interesting place may be inspected at the Archives Department. Mrs. Alfred Watts in her “Memories” states that the guest home was “frequented only by aristocratic visitors from the other colonies and the crème de la creme of Adelaide’s ‘swells.* The proprietress herself was a tall, buxom woman, who always dressed in the height of fashion, and got her bonnets direct from Paris. . . . She had agreeable, pleasant manners, and withal a keen eye to business. Money flowed into her coffers so fast that before long she started a phaeton and two horses (a riding and driving one) solely for her own use, and almost daily might be seen taking an airing, escorted by her man ’John.’ “ Miss Bathgate appears to have succeeded through the difficult early eighteen forties, but business letters written by her to the owners of the house she occupied (the S.A. Company) strongly suggest genuine difficulty in maintaining solvency. This pioneer subsequently returned to England and her death occurred in London in 1869. The decision of the Bench of Magistrates was not unanimous in granting a licence for Miss Bathgate's house, and upon the chairman casting a favourable vote, the hope was expressed that the high tone for which the place was noted would be carefully maintained. The applicant bowed acquiescence and lost little time in adapting the premises, at considerable expense, for its widened functions. But at the next quarterly meeting of the Bench (March 1850) these efforts rather displeased the magistrates - “a most conspicuous gin palace, and not the quiet lodging house the Bench understood it would be” one justice remarked. The “York,” however, in spite of early criticism, became in its day probably the city’s premier hostel. An early impression of the establishment is handed down to us by Miss Caroline Emily Clark, who, in narrating her arrival in Adelaide in June 1850, wrote:—“Our furniture had been sent out by a different vessel, she had not arrived, and as we could not stay on the ship, we all went to the York Hotel, a small building then, but very comfortably managed. I remember how delicious the tea and fresh bread and butter seemed after the ship’s tea diluted with preserved milk, sour bread. and salt butter, to which, during the voyage of 116 days we had become accustomed. The [York’s] small bedrooms, many of them with brick floors, and opening on to a verandah, with curtainless beds and one chair, had a poverty stricken look, but they were scrupulously clean, and compared with the ship's cabins, quite spacious.” By 1865 the additions that had been made to the hotel from time to time resulted in its appearance presenting anything but a harmonious whole. It was entirely rebuilt in 1868 at a cost of £4,000 when it comprised 46 rooms of various kinds, and, we are informed with some pride, "no less than five baths.” Photographs taken in the eighteen nineties reveal further extensions, and the provision of balconies. After the “York’s” demolition, towards the end of 1909, the palatial “Grand Central” was erected on its site, and it is interesting to recall that here, on July 13, 1920, the Puke of Windsor (at that time Prince of Wales) was tendered a brilliant State Dinner. In 1926 the “Grand Central” was absorbed by the business of Messrs. Foy & Gibson, and to-day its interior resounds with the clamour of shopping customers and busy assistants. The historic old “York” is perpetuated in York Street, a narrow thoroughfare running along the south side of the emporium, and continuing to Bent Street. J. McLellan 1941  c1852 State Library [B 3708] |