The Bellevue Hotel, once Brisbane’s premier hotel, is remembered by many for its architectural elegance, impressive functions and contested demolition. Known for its decorative cast iron verandahs, wrapping around the building’s George and Alice Street facades, the Bellevue has remained entrenched in public memory since its demolition more than 45 years ago.
Built in 1886, the Bellevue Hotel opened during a time of great change in Brisbane. Between 1881 and 1889, the city’s population increased from 37,000 to 100,000 people. Simultaneously, the state’s agricultural and mining industries rapidly expanded. This surge in population and economy had wide-ranging consequences, including a major redevelopment of Brisbane’s CBD. Many private homes were replaced with warehouses, factories, churches and corner hotels, including the Bellevue.
The Bellevue Hotel was designed by architects Francis Frazer Holmes and John Jacob Cohen. Holmes and Cohen’s partnership only lasted 15 months, but during that time, they completed 10 projects including the Roseville (a private residence that was later converted into a popular restaurant) and Roslyn Building (another private residence now part of St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School).(1) Out of all these projects, the Bellevue Hotel resonated most strongly with the public.
As soon as it opened, the Bellevue was met with high praise. The Brisbane Courier (1886), for example, reported:
Among the more striking of the new buildings in Brisbane may be counted the Bellevue Hotel on the site of the old hostelry of that name at the corner of George and Alice streets. A better locality for a first-class house could not have been chosen, on two other corners of the streets being Parliament House and the Queensland Club and on the third the south-western corner of the Botanic Gardens. The new building is an imposing three-storied place with balconies on the first and second floors. On the ground floor is the main dining hall, one of the handsomest rooms in the colony, well lighted and ventilated, and splendidly furnished. It is beautifully furnished, and from the windows a fine view of the gardens, the river, and Kangaroo Point may be obtained. The building has been about twelve months in erection. Already rooms are booked by persons who intend living permanently at the hotel, and no doubt Mr. Collins [owner] will succeed largely in filling his house with resident guests.(2)
Throughout its history, the Bellevue Hotel supported numerous musicians. In the 1920s and 30s, one of the stars of Brisbane jazz, pianist Agnes ‘Nessie’ Smith, performed regularly in the ballroom. Later, during the Second World War, the Bellevue continued to be a popular venue for live music. The war saw 300,000 foreign Allied troops stationed in Brisbane, of which 100,000 were American. Jazz and dance music from the USA became increasingly popular, and was played at the hotel, as well as other venues including Brisbane City Hall, Trocadero Dansant and Coconut Grove. In turn, for several years after the war, Brisbane’s jazz scene was considered well ahead of those of Sydney and Melbourne.
Following the war, the Bellevue Hotel accommodated many touring musicians and actors, including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong. In 1955, leading British theatre company, The Old Vic Company, toured Australia. The company, starring Katharine Hepburn and Robert Helpmann, performed The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew and Measure for Measure in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. While in Brisbane, Hepburn stayed at the Bellevue.
A decade later in 1967, the Queensland Government acquired the Bellevue Hotel. It became a convenient place of accommodation for regional politicians, as the Parliament House bells could be heard ringing from across the street, summoning members to the Chamber. Moreover, the hotel was considered neutral territory and after Parliamentary sessions, politicians from opposing sides enjoyed the conviviality of the Bellevue and conversed into the early hours of the morning.
In 1973, the state government, under the leadership of Joh Bjelke-Petersen, announced that the parliamentary precinct would be redeveloped, and the Bellevue Hotel would be demolished. Although the proposal was opposed by the National Trust, a year later the building’s verandahs were removed. The hotel was in a vulnerable position, especially as the Queensland Heritage Act was yet to be introduced (only in 1992 was this significant piece of legislation enacted).
In April 1979, without warning, the Bellevue Hotel was knocked down. Despite being demolished in the early hours of the morning, 800 people turned up and tried to save the building. Undeterred by public pushback, and authorised by the state government, the Deen Brothers – a demolition company known for taking on some of Brisbane’s most controversial demolition projects – cut a swathe through the crowd and by morning the Bellevue was reduced to rubble. Amongst the protestors was an architecture student, Catriona McLeod, who salvaged fragments of the dismantled building. In 2015, McLeod generously gifted these relics to Museum of Brisbane.
These days, the Bellevue continues to live on in public memory, as well as through books, artworks, photographs and artifacts. These objects, carefully cared for by institutions across the country and here at Museum of Brisbane, will continue to ensure that the Bellevue Hotel and the stories it held are never forgotten.
Don’t miss the opportunity to see the Bellevue Hotel relic, now on display at Museum of Brisbane as part of Precious. Open daily, 10:00am–5:00pm. Free entry.
Written by Brian Ogden, Research Lead, Museum of Brisbane.
Footnotes
What makes a collection? Precious brings together thousands of remarkable items from more than 30 public and private collections.
