172 York Street, corner Northumberland Street, South Melbourne
MEL: 2K B1
It is unknown
when this hotel was originally built, although it was rebuilt in 1869, after
which it was known as the Albion.A three-storey brick building comprising a
bar, dining room, lounge, 11 bedrooms, kitchen and bathrooms, the hotel’s first
licensee was Henry M. Prendergast on 6 June 1869, yet
by the end of that year the hotel was sold and William Molloy became the new
publican.The noted Melbourne architect
M Hennessy, designer of Meagher’s Family Hotel (now
the Palace) in City Road, Freer’s (now Bell’s) Hotel
and the Maori Chief, both in Moray Street, called for tenders for additions to
the site in 1875.These included eight
more rooms and a cellar.Architect
Norman Hitchcock called for tenders for painting and graining in 1885. In 1888,
a new three-storey building, designed by the architectural firm Powell and
Whitaker, was erected on the site. This hotel has retained most of its 1880s
detailing. In March 1980, it was renamed the Roxy.It became a nightclub called the Motel in the
early 1990s.
