West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Thursday 6 March 1902, page 9


FREMANTLE IMPROVEMENTS. REBUILDING OF THE NATIONAL HOTEL. Messrs. Mulcahy Bros., the well-known hotel proprietors, have just made arrange-ments for the rebuilding of the old Na-tional Hotel, on the corner of High and Market streets, Fremantle. They en-trusted Mr. Louis Pearce, architect, with the preparation of plans for an up-to-date and commodious hotel, worthy of the position referred to, and Mr. Pearce succeeded in satisfying their wishes to such an extent that, in a few days, a contract will be let for replacing the pre-sent two-storied National Hotel with a handsome structure, to contain practical-ly five storeys, including a roomy base-ment. The property has frontages of 70ft. to High-street, and 56ft. to Market-street, and the plans provide for the eco-nomic utilisation of the whole of this space, either for building, yard, or right-of-way purposes. The new hotel will be constructed of stone and brick, the stone forming the foundations and the lower portions of the walls. It will contain be-tween fifty and sixty rooms, in each of which excellent provision has been made for lighting, ventilation, convenience and general comfort and, in addition, it will have spacious stairways and corri-dors, an asphalted and well-drained yard, a right-of-way (leading from Market-street), excellent sanitary arrange-ments, escape ladders, and a total length of 450ft. of balconies, of about 9ft. in width. The rooms range in height from 13ft. on the ground floor to 12ft. on the other floors, while the total height of the walls is 45ft., and the height from the pavement of the footpaths to the top of the dome, which will surmount the build-ing, is 70ft., the flagstaff on the dome be-ing provided to extend a further 21ft. into the air. The basement will contain a very large kitchen, scullery, storeroom, servants' dining-room, larder, three cel-lars, and two wine storerooms. On the ground floor will be a main public bar, bottling department, bar parlour, wide entrance halls, saloon bar (with a lift connecting with a smoking-room on the next floor), and a billiard-room. The next floor will contain, among other apartments, a dining-room (80ft. long by 22ft. wide), a drawing-room (16ft. long by 12ft. wide), and a commercial-room (20.6ft. long by 12ft. wide). On the next floor will be two sitting-rooms and 13 bedrooms, with bathrooms, lavatories, etc.; while on the top floor will be 11 bedrooms, a laundry, a drying loft, etc. The architect has, throughout, apparent-ly, striven to produce something which will reflect the highest credit upon his profession, and when the building is com-pleted, it should form a valuable addi-tion to the architecture of Fremantle. It is anticipated that the erection of the new hotel will cost between £7,000 and £8,000, and that it will occupy from four to five months. Messrs. Mulcahy Bros., who are the owners of the National Hotel property, conduct at the present time no less than seven large hotels in Western Australia, three of their houses being situated in Fremantle, three in Boulder, and one in Perth.