The Carrington Hotel is a heritage-listed former spa, hotel and power station and now hotel and public bar located at Katoomba Street, Katoomba in the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by John Kirkpatrick and Bosser in 1882; and by Edward Hewlett Hogben with Goyder Brothers in 1911–13; and built from 1882 to 1913 by F. Drewett in 1882; and by Howie, Brown and Moffit in 1912–13. It is also known as Great Western Hotel. The property is privately owned. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
The Carrington is the only 19th century grand resort hotel still in use in New South Wales. It also retains much of the fabric of its major phases of development and continues to occupy the commanding position in Katoomba that it has done since its construction. It was built in 1883 by Harry George Rowell, a large hotel owner from Sydney, and was owned by a series of prominent families over the next century. Today it is still operating as a hotel.
History The original land grant of was made to James Henry Neal on 10 October 1877 under the provisions of the Volunteer Force Regulation Act 1867. On 8 January 1881 the land was transferred to Frederick Clissold of Ashfield, who subdivided the entire portion.
The Victorian era
Tenders were called for the Western Star Hotel by J. Kirkpatrick of Kirkpatrick & Bossler, architects in September 1881. On 18 January 1882 Lots 10-15 of Section 2 was transferred to Harry George Rowell. The same year the hotel was constructed by F. Drewett, a builder from Lithgow, opening as the Great Western Hotel. The hotel was originally a large Victorian building called the "Great Western Hotel" with wrought iron lacework at the front. It was built in 1883 by Harry George Rowell (1827–1885). Rowell was born in England in 1827. His father James Rowell was an innkeeper in Hertford.England 1841 Census. He went to India in about 1845 and lived in Bombay for over thirty years working in the English Civil Service. In the late 1870s he migrated to Sydney with his wife Frances and their children and became the owner of the Oxford Hotel in King Street which was a large Victorian establishment (since demolished).
Tenders were called later in 1882 by Kirkpatrick for additions to the hotel, possibly the stone wing. On 24 April 1883 Rowell purchased Lots 1 & 2 of Section 2 of Deposited Plan 292 from Frederick Clissold. In 1884 the Great Western Hotel is described as accommodating seventy to eighty persons with nearly sixty rooms. Rowell died in 1885. On 9 September 1886 Thomas Frederick Thompson and Henry Moses, wine and spirit merchants, exercised Power of Sale under their Mortgage of 1 July 1885 and transferred the property to James Hunt and Henry Thorpe, hotelkeepers. On 6 October 1887 the property was leased to Frederick Charles Goyder (1826–1900) of Katoomba.
Goyder was born in 1826 in Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire. In 1856 he married Emily Stredwick in London and shortly after left England and came to Victoria. He was for many years landlord of the Victoria Hotel in Bourke Street. He was also closely connected to the sporting community and owned several racehorses one of whom was the champion called "Sussex". The couple had five sons and one daughter and for 25 years lived in Melbourne. With his hotel and sporting interests Frederick became very prosperous. In 1881 he and his sons decided to sell all their Melbourne interests and buy a sheep property in the Warrego region of NSW. However this was not a success and when he had the chance to take over the hotel he seized the opportunity. With the permission of Lord Carrington who visited the premises in 1886 in his capacity as Governor of NSW Carrington gave permission for Goyder to change its name to The Carrington Hotel.
From 1885 Carrington began to make additions to the premises including an additional wing, dining hall, two drawing rooms and a music room, resulting in 119 bedrooms and seven suites of rooms, two tennis courts and flower and vegetable gardens.. He told a newspaper reporter in 1890 of the improvements he had made. The article read: (ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENT TO THE SYDNEY MAIL)
On 30 April 1888 the property was transferred to F. C. Goyder and mortgaged to Hunt and Thorpe. In 1890 Goyder became the first Mayor of Katoomba and the hotel continued to prosper. On 10 March 1898 the mortgage was transferred to Henry Thorpe and Sydney Mansfield Rowell. On 24 July 1899 the property was leased to William Frederick Goyder, son of F. C. Goyder. F. C. Goyder died in 1900 and a year later Arthur Lawrence Peacock became the proprietor on 19 September 1901. The mortgage was foreclosed on 19 September 1901 and ownership passed to Thorpe and Rowell.
After 1900
Arthur Lawrence Peacock (1861–1913) was the owner between 1901 and 1911. During this time he carried out several alterations mostly relating to redecoration. The power station at the back of the Carrington Hotel was built in 1910. It provided the first electricity supply not only to the Carrington Hotel but also to Katoomba and other Blue Mountains towns. The octagonal brick chimney remains an important Katoomba landmark.
Between 1904 and 1911 Peacock carried out various alterations and additions, mostly redecoration and including services of lavatories, baths and water closets on each floor. In 1908 Edward, Prince of Wales stayed at the hotel. In 1911 Sir James Joynton Smith bought the hotel. From this time major alterations were made to the building. One of these is the famous art nouveau stained glass façade at the front of the hotel. In 1917 Laurel Pardey was playing at the hotel when she was spotted by George Horton. Horton employed both Laurel and her sister Edith Emma Pardey and they became well known as their arrangements were published on piano rolls.
In 1927 Sir James Joynton Smith made further major additions which were described in a feature article in a building journal. Many famous people visited the hotel including the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Elizabeth the Queen Mother). A photo of this event in 1927 is shown.
Sir John Joynton Smith (1858–1943) was born in London in 1858. His father was a master brass fitter. He worked in his father's shop for some time and tried several other jobs before signing on as a cabin boy on a steamer. He worked on ships until 1874 when he settled in New Zealand. Here he prospered as an hotelier in Wellington.
In 1890 he came to Sydney In 1892–96 he managed the Grand Central Coffee Palace Hotel in Clarence Street. In 1893 he married Nellie Eloise Parkes whose family were experienced hoteliers. In 1896, by now known as Joynton Smith, he laid the foundation of his fortune when he leased, the run-down Imperial Arcade Hotel, renamed the Arcadia, between Pitt and Castlereagh streets and turned it into a good residential establishment. He continued to acquire properties and in the Blue Mountains as well as buying the Carrington Hotel he also bought the Imperial Hotel at Mount Victoria and leased the Hydro Majestic. He loved motor cars and owned many including a Pierce Arrow, Bentley, Cadillac, Rolls-Royce and Lasalle, and invested in a company selling them. He was a very flamboyant man and did magic tricks, sang comic Cockney songs and played the concertina. He smoked cigars but rarely drank alcohol. He enjoyed boxing, kept fit with a masseur and sauna and was a good billiards player. He owned three mansions in Sydney one of which was called Hastings at Coogee Beach. He died here in 1843. Although in a time of decline in Mountains tourism, The Carrington remained popular through the 1950s and 1960s.
On 18 December 1967 the property was transferred to six people, one of whom was Theodore Constantine Morris, a property developer, who held a half share. On 5 May 1969 the entire property was transferred to Morris. In 1968 the swimming pool was constructed and a general redecoration was undertaken.Orwell & Peter Phillips 1987:7-12
During the later years of the 20th century elements such as the pergola, trellis and some garden beds were removed and the swimming pool (since filled in) were added to the upper terrace. New trees were planted, some, e.g. the Himalayan cedars (Cedrus deodara) placed with respect for the symmetrical nature of the 1911-13 design and others planted seemingly at random. From the 1960s onwards there was a gradual erosion in the level of garden maintenance, resulting in a loss of detail. The introduction of public bus shelters on Katoomba Street in front of the early 20th century stone wall of the Carrington Hotel obscured and detracted from traditional views to the place.
The hotel was closed in 1986 under then owner Theo Morris for non-compliance with fire regulations. It was boarded up,O'Brien, 1995 and remained empty and derelict until 1991 when it was purchased with the aim of restoring and relaunching it to its former glory.
Revival In 1992, Geoffrey Leach, a building contractor, began a process of restoration said to have cost rather less than $8m. In December 1998, the ground floor and one floor of guest rooms was re-opened, with other areas following as progress and finances permitted.EJE, 2013, 10 Mr. Leach would not say what the restoration has cost, but claims it is less than the "$6m to $8m" he says is being spent on that other fabulous mountains hotel, the Hydro Majestic Hotel.
Leach's first task was to restore the pub at the driveway's entry on Katoomba Street, which has been generating income for the project for some years now. Inside the hotel, the art nouveau windows to the enclosed verandah have been replicated and the black and white tiled bathrooms - many with original fittings - restored. Upstairs one large room - the "treasure room" - was used to stockpile any original items - light fittings, clocks, items of furniture, a pair of genuine Ming vases, and the silver plate that now sits in a glass-fronted cupboard in the dining room. Vast Victorian oil paintings went off for cleaning and restoration, chandeliers were cleaned and re-hung, silver polished, clocks returned to working order, and pieces of furniture copied for the guest rooms (the bedheads even have the CH logo).O'Brien, 1998
In 2002 a master plan for a new town square was approved and implemented, partly imposing inside the Carrington's lower garden and involving its redesign, relocation of the intrusive bus shelters, ramps, paving and widespread replanting. In 2004 Leach's interest was purchased by Michael Brischetto and Mark Jarvis, who announced ambitious new plans for a backpackers' hostel, a large number of bedrooms, new retail facilities and a drive-through bottle shop in the former power house. The partners have achieved some of these aims, while also devoting their energies to the conservation of the hotel's original fabric. In July 2010 a bottle shop was opened in the former boiler room of the power house facing Parke Street. This involved the stabilisation of portions of the internal and external fabric of the structure.
Description Grounds The Carrington Hotel is sited on top of a small rise above and adjoining the main shopping street and railway station of Katoomba. The hotel's northern main entrance is landscaped with sweeping drives from Katoomba Street to the portico or colonnade of its front doors, terraced gardens and mature trees including two bunya pines (Araucaria bidwillii) on the southern upper slope, silver birch (Betula pendula) and Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara) on the upper northern slope.
Broadly the upper terraces and flanks of the hotel car parking areas are shrubberies and the lower terrace is grassed, with direct stairs connecting to the footpath on Katoomba Street.Stuart Read, pers.comm., 24/8/2015
Power Station