123 Beaconsfield Parade, corner Kerferd Road, Albert Park
MEL: 2J J10
Mary McGregor opened
South Melbourne’s grandest hotel in its heyday, the VictoriaHotel, designed by Richard Speight,
in 1888.She and her husband were
well-known city hoteliers, and although elderly, she remained active and
embarked on the project of this seaside resort hotel in her widowhood.Two years after her retirement in 1912, she
died, bequeathing much of her estate to form a charitable trust to donate money
to the MelbourneHospital, the St. Vincent’s Hospital and the Benevolent Asylum.
It
is one of a few remaining examples of the recreational activities that centred
on this area in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The
Beaconsfield Parade beachfront area was a popular health and pleasure
resort.With the construction of the
long awaited Kerferd Road Pier in 1887 came the
establishment of sea baths, and McGregor cleverly capitalised on their
popularity by building the Victoria directly opposite the pier.The opening of the Victoria Avenue tramline in 1890 boosted the tourism
potential of the area significantly.The
very large three storeyed-rendered hotel is
architecturally notable, particularly for its elaborate corner tower capped by
an octagonal belvedere with a truncated spire roof that was demolished in the
1950s and rebuilt in the 1970s. In April 1998, the National Trust registered
the VictoriaHotel at state level.
VictoriaHotel as viewed from the Kerferd Road Pier, pre-1905
post card
