{{Short description|Hotel in Northern Territory, Australia}} {{Use Australian English|date=January 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}} {{coord|12.465814|S|130.840987|E|display=title}} thumb|Hotel Darwin, 1941 '''Hotel Darwin''' was a hotel located on the Esplanade in central Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. It was commonly known as the "Grand Old Duchess".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lea|first1=Tess|title=Darwin|date=2014|publisher=NewSouth|isbn=9781742241739|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rMmDAwAAQBAJ&dq=darwin+nostalgia&pg=PT77}}</ref> Despite surviving the Bombing of Darwin and Cyclone Tracy, the hotel was demolished in 1999. A bar at the rear of the original site formerly known as the Hot & Cold Bar<ref>{{cite web|title=Hotel Darwin|url=http://www.territorystories.nt.gov.au/handle/10070/28172|website=Territory Stories|publisher=Northern Territory Library|hdl=10070/28172|accessdate=6 August 2016}}</ref> now functions under the name Hotel Darwin.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehoteldarwin.com.au/|title=WELCOME TO HOTEL DARWIN|website=Hotel Darwin|accessdate=6 August 2016}}</ref>
==History== thumb|The Green Room at the Hotel Darwin The Hotel Darwin was designed by D. K. Turner of Messrs. Stephenson and Turner.<ref name=architects>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49469008 |title=ISSUED IN COMMEMORATION of the OPENING of the NEW HOTEL DARWIN |newspaper=Northern Standard |issue=51 |location=Northern Territory, Australia |date=9 July 1940 |accessdate=6 August 2016 |page=1 (THE NORTHERN STANDARD Hotel Darwin Supplement) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> It was built on the site of the old Club Hotel<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49454315 |title=HOTEL DARWIN, LTD. |newspaper=Northern Standard |issue=23 |location=Northern Territory, Australia |date=21 March 1939 |accessdate=6 August 2016 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> at a cost of between £50,000<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49451840 |title=DARWIN'S NEW HOTEL |newspaper=Northern Standard |issue=94 |location=Northern Territory, Australia |date=29 November 1938 |accessdate=6 August 2016 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and £85,000.<ref name="architects" /> Two hundred people attended the opening of the hotel, which was officiated by Northern Territory Administrator Charles Aubrey Abbott. His wife Hilda Abbott opened the doors with a golden key, which is now on display at the Defence of Darwin Experience.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46725764 |title=DARWIN LUXURY HOTEL OPENED |newspaper=The West Australian |volume=56 |issue=16,853 |location=Western Australia |date=10 July 1940 |accessdate=11 August 2016 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Controversy erupted when several prominent Darwin figures did not receive an invitation. This was described as:
<blockquote>a very serious matter. These influential men might think that they have been deliberately ignored... the Post Office official cannot be too severely censured for their negligence.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49464373 |title=IT'S THE PUBS AGAIN |newspaper=Northern Standard |issue=52 |location=Northern Territory, Australia |date=12 July 1940 |accessdate=6 August 2016 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref></blockquote>
In 1947, the Communist Party petitioned to turn the Hotel Darwin into a community hotel, which was signed by more than 300 people.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49980021 |title=Demand For Hotel Darwin |newspaper=Northern Standard |volume=2 |issue=6 |location=Northern Territory, Australia|date=7 February 1947 |accessdate=6 August 2016 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Paspalis and Stanley Thomas Laurance were successful in their tender for the hotel.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49980642 |title=LAWRANCE AND PASPALI GET HOTEL DARWIN |newspaper=Northern Standard |volume=2 |issue=15 |location=Northern Territory, Australia |date=11 April 1947 |accessdate=6 August 2016 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> In 1948, Lawrance was charged for failing to display a price list. The publican stopped serving beer while the case was before the courts, a period in the hotel's history described as "beerless, cheerless days".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49986903 |title=PRICES CHARGES AGAINST HOTEL DARWIN WITHDRAWN |newspaper=Northern Standard |volume=3 |issue=127 |location=Northern Territory, Australia |date=29 October 1948 |accessdate=6 August 2016 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
The Hotel Darwin featured 'The Pickled Parrot', a piano bar and a fine dining restaurant called 'The Green Room'.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Malusa|first1=Jim|title=The Green Room, Hotel Darwin, Autstalia|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/intothickair/2594961286/|website=Flickr|date=12 May 2008 |accessdate=11 August 2016}}</ref>
==Demolition== By the 1990s, the Hotel Darwin reportedly was "riddled with cancer" and was "structurally unsafe". The owners, Paspalis Hotel Investment group, announced their intention to demolish it on 9 September 1999 after receiving two reports "confirming serious doubts about the structural integrity of the building". The National Trust of the NT called for Planning Minister Tim Baldwin to intervene through use of the Heritage Conservation Act.<ref>{{cite news|title=We'll bulldoze Hotel Darwin|agency=Northern Territory News|date=9 September 1999}}</ref> A Supreme Court injunction on 10 September failed to stop the building's destruction, which began almost immediately after the ruling. Outraged protesters tried to save the hotel and police tried to defuse the situation. By the morning of 11 September the Hotel Darwin had been demolished in what was seen by many as an act of vandalism.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Bannister|first1=Brooke|title=Hotel Darwin lives on|url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/09/16/2365797.htm|accessdate=6 August 2016|agency=105.7 Darwin|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|date=18 September 2009}}</ref>
==References==
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==External links== * [http://www.thehoteldarwin.com.au/ Hotel Darwin Official Website] * [http://www.singingquilter.com/god.htm ''Grand Old Duchess'' - a song about the Hotel Darwin]
Category:Hotel buildings completed in 1940 Category:Hotels in the Northern Territory Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1999 Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Darwin, Northern Territory Category:Defunct hotels in Australia Category:Pubs in the Northern Territory