THE IMPERIAL HOTEL
A PUB IS BORN
1794-1930
1794 Crown Grant of 120 acres to Nicholas Devine
The site is part of the early land grant of the 120 acres to Nicholas Devine in 1794. In the 1830s the grant was subdivided for villa estates. In the 1880s following the completion of the railway, the estate was subdivided for residential estates. The section of the grant near Union Street was purchased by Samuel Joseph Toogood, Thomas Wilton Eady and John Booth Jones and was subdivided as small residential lots and known as the Toogood Estate.
1880 Robert George Mercer of Newtown, Bricklayer, purchases Lot 1 of Sec.1 of the Toogood Estate.
1881 George Henry Wright of Erskineville Road purchases Lot 1 of Sec. 1 of the Toogood Estate. First hotel built.
The block plan of 1890s shows the site well developed with a large building to the front of the subject site and a yard and outbuildings to the rear. There appears to be an adjoining terrace. Three entrances are indicated to the hotel and the area has been developed with a dense pattern of houses.
George Wright died in 1901 but the Hotel remained in the Wright family until 1924 when it was sold to Ralph Henry Hendra. Floor plans for the hotel are available at State Archives for 1915 that indicate the hotel was owned by Tooth and Co. The Hotel was purchased by Tooth and Co. in 1931 and leased to succession of landlords. The Hotel may have been remodeled in the 1930s as the deposited plan of 1939 shows a different footprint to that in the 1894 block plan, with a larger chamber to the street and simpler plan form.
1901 George Henry Wright dies, leaving the property (Lot 1 and Lot 2 of Sec. 1 of there Toogood Estate) to his wife Elizabeth Wright and to Joseph Wright.
1921 Elizabeth Wright dies, Joseph Wright becomes the sole proprietor of the property.
1924 Ralph Henry Hendra of Sydney, Investor, purchases Lot 1 and Lot 2 of Sec. 1 of Toogood Estate.
1930-1993
1931 Tooth & Co purchase Lot 1 of Sec. 1 of the Toogood Estate.
1931 Lease to Joseph James Bartimore of Erskineville, Publican
1937 Lease to Renewal of lease to Phillip Fine of Erskineville, Publican
1940 Tooth & Co purchase part Lot 2 of Sec. 1 of the Toogood Estate
1940 Lease to Thomas Walter Jones of Erskineville, Publican
1946 Lease to Harry Thomas Firkin of Erskineville, Publican
1961 Lease to Charles Edward Donnelly of Erskineville, Publican
1965 Lease to Robert Keith Winstonley of Erskineville, Publican
1967 Lease to Neville Hinchcliffe of Erskineville, Publican
1970 Lease to Harvey Edward Roberts of Erskineville, Publican
1973 Lease to Peter John Ryan of Erskineville, Publican
1978 Lease to Brian Leslie Hickson of Erskineville, Publican
1979 Lease transferred to Ronald Ernest Cameron of St Peters, Publican
1983 Property is purchased by Imperial Hotel (Dawn O’Donnell), Erskineville Pty. Ltd.
ERSKINEVILLE HISTORY
Int he late nineteenth century, the inhabitants were originally market gardeners, through brick making and tanning also become dominant industries. The Victorian cottages and small rows of Victorian terraces that dominate the built form of the suburb were the homes of the workers in these industries, which explains their smallness: a four metre wide terrace is large by Erskineville standards.
In the early twentieth century, manufacturing in the area diversified, and Erskineville became a resolutely working class inner city suburb, with a proud history of resistance, and a less proud history of street violence.
After World War II, Greek and later Yugoslav migrants found it an affordable place to settle, near the city.
From the 1970s, Erskineville underwent gentrification with new residents attracted to the village atmosphere, the excellent public transport links (three railway stations on two different lines within walking distance) and the proximity of Newtown. The gay and lesbian community were part of the first wave of gentrification and are still a component of the community. As the terrace houses were renovated, the narrow streets were cobbled and speed bumped and an urban forest of plantings grew in the streets and pocket parks.
The fortunes of Hotels and the Brewing Industry followed the pattern of the Australian economy and were influenced by the rise of the temperance movement from the 1870s, changes in the licensing laws, changing social patterns and the economic depressions. Hotel building declined during the depressions of the early 1930s, but after 1936 there was a boom in the building and remodeling of hotels throughout sydney encouraged by low property and building prices.
The redevelopment of the hotel reflected the economic buoyancy of the time and the breweries desire to keep abreast of changing drinking patters, social behaviour and architectural trends.
The Imperial was redeveloped int eh style of the day, Art Deco, and incorporated all the contemporary requirements for a modern hotel.
Like their rivals, Tooth’s employed a select range of architects and were keen that their buildings were among the best of contemporary architecture.
The current hotel appears to have been constructed c. 1940 to the design of the architect Virgil D. Cizzio. He designed the Great Southern Hotel in George Street in the same year. Little is known about Cizzio int he salon 1912-1915 and a single reference to Virgil Cizzio 1913. The rebuilding extended the Hotel across the whole of the site and demolished the previous structures.
DAWN O’DONNELL
Born circa 1928 in the Sydney suburb of Paddington, Dawn O’Donnell’s career began as an international ice skater when she was a teenager. It was while touring Paris a performer in the Puss In Boots on ice show, she had her first romance with another woman.
After her promising skating career was cut short by injury, O’Donnell ran a butcher shop in Double Bay and a parking lot in Ultimo, before opening her first gay bar, The Trolley Bar, of Broadway in 1968. next she opened a lesbian bath house (above a cake shop in Bondi Junction, NSW), followed in 1969 by Capriccio’s, a gay night club on Oxford Street famous for its drag shows, which drew visiting celebrities from around the world.
She recognised the gay and lesbian potential of Oxford Street. At this time, homosexual acts between men were still illegal in New South Wales, and Dawn O’Donnell was known to pay bail to release gay men from police custody.
Her gan and lesbian venues gave many “a place to come out”.
In 2001 Dawn recounted, “The most fascinating thing in the world for me was eventually to see the New South Wales Police Force have a gay public relations officer. I never thought to my dying day I’d ever see that.”
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, O’Donnell controlled a string of lesbian and gay venues in East Sydney, including:
Jools on Crown Street
Flo’s Palace
The Exchange Hotel
Ruby Reds on Crown Street (Sydney’s first lesbian bar).
The clubs attracted gays and lesbians from across Australia and around the world.
During the 1980s, O’Donnell began to shift her focus from Oxford Street to the Inner-west suburb of Newtown. She bought the Newtown and Imperial Hotel (in nearby Erskineville) transforming the Newtown area into a gay precinct to rival Oxford Street.
In 1983 The Imperial was purchased by Dawn O’Donnell at a bargain basement price (due to planned road widening by the RTA which was later scrapped) and the venue entered a new Era.
Simone’s Rip Off Series and Skye Brookes and company bought people out to the suburbs and entertained the masses. The careers of Sydney’s Drag royalty were were born here. Skye Brooks, Tallulah Bright, Caroline Clark, Robyn Lee, Ginger Benson and Rose Leaf all performed at The Imperial.
Much of the movie was filmed on location on a bus owned by The Whitlams in various places in Australia. The opening and closing scenes were both filmed on the same day at the Imperial Hotel.
The filming was plagued by many problems due to time and location constraints. For example, Bill Hunter was filming Muriel’s Wedding and Priscilla at the same time, each requiring him to have different length hair and beard, and to be in different parts of the country.
The heavy filming schedule also required much of the filming to be done while the entire crew was on the road. Because the bus was such a small set, there was little room for the crew. Therefore, in many scenes, they actually in shot, hiding under clothes and other props.
1995. The Show that brings the world to Erskineville opens. “Priscilla Queen of the Imperial” ran on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays to packed houses. As the venue became more popular with international tourists new shows were introduced but “The Priscilla Show” ran until The Imperial closed for renovation on 9th September 2007.
