Regatta Hotel, 543 Coronation Dr, Toowong, QLD, Australia
S 27° 28.950 E 152° 59.775
56J E 499629 N 6960121
Regatta Hotel is a heritage-listed hotel at 543 Coronation Drive on the corner of Sylvan Road, Toowong, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It faces the Toowong Reach of the Brisbane River and was named after the rowing regattas held there.
Waymark Code: WMVEBP
Location: Queensland, Australia
Date Posted: 04/08/2017
Views: 2
This old hotel draped in layers of lacy wrought iron is significant for its architectural merit. Along with Buchanan's Hotel, Townsville, and the Bellevue and Prince Consort Hotels in Brisbane, it represents a building type in which cast iron received its most lavish use throughout Australia.
The Regatta was designed by Richard Gailey and built in 1886 by George Gazzard. The three storey rendered brick hotel has wide, white cast iron ornamented verandahs, stacked one upon the other looking like an over-sized, elaborately iced, 3 tiered wedding cake.
From the Visit Brisbane website: For almost 140 years, Brisbane people have met, mingled and created memories in the Regatta Hotel's historic bars and on her ornate iron-laced verandahs. Many patrons will have their own stories from the Regatta. On scenic Coronation Dr, overlooking the magnificent Brisbane River, the hotel is accessible from Brisbane's CBD by CityCat, with only one stop to the ferry terminal opposite. Recently renovated, the heritage-listed building offers diners and party-goers numerous bars, a dance floor, restaurant and cafe. The Boastshed restaurant specialises in dry-aged steak, with a whopping 17 steak dishes to choose from, including the 1kg rump and the 1kg rib-eye on the bone. Without a doubt, the Regatta Hotel is the Grand Lady of the Brisbane River – the beers are always cold, the kitchen busy and her hospitality as warm as ever.
** This hotel brings back special memories for us. Punga worked nearby at Arnotts biscuit factory and this was the regular waterhole for gatherings of administration staff at lunchtimes. It was also the venue for his Stag do, he recalls playing two-up and lots of noise, lots of singing. At one stage he counted 12 different nationalities in his "party", typical of the multi-cultural Brisbane we lived in 50 odd years ago. We lived several years in Toowong and regularly drove past this eye-catching building, a landmark of the riverside of Brisbane. We were also living in the area when it was innundated in the big floods of January 1974 in Brisbane. Large areas were inundated, with at least 6,700 homes flooded. Around 13,000 buildings were affected by flooding in some way. Buildings in the Brisbane central business district were particularly hard hit. People would even flock to the pub to celebrate big storms and floods, the Regatta going under water well up to its first floor in the 1974 flood. **
Register of the National Estate (Non-statutory archive)
Class Historic
Legal Status Registered (21/10/1980)
Place ID 8390
Place File No 4/01/001/0066
List: Register of the National Estate
Place ID: 8390
Place File No: 4/01/001/0066
URL database reference: [Web Link]
Status:
Registered
Year built: 1886
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