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Produced and published by the School of Historical & Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne
Published July 2008
Published July 2008
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A three-storey hotel with distinctive arched façade, the Albion once stood on the site of the David Jones store on the north side of Bourke Street, across from its rival the Bull and Mouth. Its neighbour to the west was Cobb & Co.'s stagecoach office, for which the hotel acted as a terminus and depot. The first Albion Hotel was a large shingle-roofed, single-storey timber house built on the site in 1839 by carpenter James Westwood. It was rebuilt around 1851 by brewer Henry Condell, Melbourne's first mayor, as a larger hotel with 60 bedrooms. John Cleeland, licensee during the 1860s and 1870s, installed an American ice-cream soda fountain imported by George Coppin. The hotel closed in 1912 and the site was later occupied by Buckley & Nunn where a commemorative plaque was installed in 1946. Albion Lane once provided rear access to the hotel, and its builder is remembered by Westwood Place.