Hotel Broadway, Woolloongabba

Another of Brisbane's classic old hotels is featured in our historical photo today. It is Woolloongabba's Hotel Broadway, shown here in 1929 or thereabouts. I'm finding it interesting that, in pursuing this search of historical images and information, the buildings most likely to be still standing after decades are churches and pubs! The Hotel Broadway is situated on busy Logan Road, just an outfield throw from the famous Gabba cricket ground. It was built in 1889-90 for £4,820 by Messrs Wooley and Whyte to a design from John Hall & Son who had designed other licensed establishments in the town, such as the Pineapple Hotel, the Edinburgh Castle Hotel and one that we have already seen in this series, Burke's (Red Brick) Hotel at Annerley. You will see similarities between the Red Brick and the Broadway if you compare the two.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #1887)

The history of the hotel has been recorded on the State Government's EPA web site, and you can read it here. The hotel originally offered accommodation, and would have been a great place to stay for country visitors to Brisbane. For more modern information on the Broadway, you can click here to be transported to the hotel's web pages.
(Photo: © 2009 the foto fanatic)


My recent photo, above, shows that the late-Victorian lines of the hotel remain, although the original brick work has been painted over. I don't care too much for the colours, but I find the original gabled architecture to be quite attractive. Although I have seen the inside of many hostelries in my time, I haven't been inside this one. I'd venture to say that the place buzzes during the cricket test matches and when the local AFL team, the Brisbane Lions, play their home matches here.

EDIT: Sunday 11 July, 2010 - A severe fire damaged the Broadway in the early hours of this morning. Here is a photo, reproduced from the web site of The Courier-Mail:(Photo: Courtesy N Terehoff and www.couriermail.com.au)

Click here for a Google Map.

tff

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