GRAND CENTRAL HOTEL
| 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.  c1852 State Library [B 3708] |
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| YORK HOTEL | 1850 | 1910 |
| GRAND CENTRAL HOTEL | 1910 | 1925 |
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c1842
National Library [NLA OBJ 134361933]
Sketch of the Boarding house that was on the site of the York Hotel
c1850
State Library [B 2024]
Sketch from the 1850
1866
State Library [B 17422]
Click here for a high resolution image
c1886
State Library [B 2585]
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1906
State Library [B 63531]
York Hotel being demolished in 1909
State Library [B 64333]
Grand Central Hotel being built in 1910
State Library [B 63531]
Click here for a high resolution image
1924
State Library [B 13016]
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Click here for a high resolution image
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| Publican Name | Start Date | Finish Date | Hotel |
| John HORNABROOK | 1850 | 1854 | York Hotel |
| John BRAY | 1854 | 1857 | York Hotel |
| Charles Atkins HORNABROOK | 1857 | 1878 | York Hotel |
| William Edward FORD | 1878 | 1898 | York Hotel |
| Charles Edwin PAGET | 1898 | 1899 | York Hotel |
| Percy A MCMEIKAN | 1899 | 1900 | York Hotel |
| Benjamin D ROENNFELDT | 1900 | 1901 | York Hotel |
| Thomas HEMING | 1901 | 1903 | York Hotel |
| Sydney William FERRY | 1903 | 1909 | York Hotel |
| Thomas T BAXTER | 1909 | 1911 | Grand Central Hotel |
| David Walker BELL | 1911 | 1913 | Grand Central Hotel |
| William H MESSENGER | 1913 | 1913 | Grand Central Hotel |
| William Cullen ETTERSHANK | 1914 | 1915 | Grand Central Hotel |
| Patrick HENNESSY | 1915 | 1925 | Grand Central Hotel |