Clarendon Lounge Bar, formerly
Albion Hotel, Glasgow Arms Hotel, Federal Hotel, Clarendon Hotel
and Intrepid Fox
Hotel 1861 -
209 Clarendon Street, corner York Street, South Melbourne
MEL: 2K C1
Clarendon Hotel, 1981
Charles Chessell established the Albion Hotel in
1861. Renamed the Glasgow Arms in 1866, in 1889 it was rebuilt to the design of
prominent Melbourne architect William Pitt, well known for his role in designing
the Princess Theatre and the Olderfleet and Rialto Buildings. The Glasgow Arms
became the Federal Hotel in 1913.
One of the most substantial hotels in the area prominently located on the uphill
corner of Clarendon and Market Streets, its architecture reflects its late
Victorian date of construction. With three storeys clad in render, its two main
facades are embellished and feature highly decorated windows.
It was known as the Clarendon Hotel for much of his existence, then renamed the
Intrepid Fox, yet maintained the same style as the Clarendon – a
seven-day-a-week venue with a central bar, a bottle shop and pub meals.
In 2001, it was bought by a division of Lion Nathan Australia, and was converted
into the Clarendon Lounge Bar. After a million-dollar refurbishment, not much of
the original interior has remained, yet there are apparently two ghosts haunting
the premises. The first is that of an elderly gentleman who passed away on the
second floor - footsteps and knocking are audible in a nearby function room,
which is always bitterly cold. The other ghost, reputed to be that of a former
proprietor of the hotel in the 1920s or 1930s, is a middle-aged man who carries
a pointer and inhabits the ground floor.
