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Windsor Hotel

Spring Street's Windsor Hotel was the first of the late 19th-century series of international grand European hotels that include Raffles, the Ritz and the Savoy, and is the last of its kind in Australia. During its long history the Windsor has played host to politicians, actors, writers, speakers, people with money and people without, and it remains a magnificent reminder of the Marvellous Melbourne era.

Constructed in 1883 for wealthy businessman George Nipper, to a design by Charles Webb, the Renaissance Revival-style building was extended north in 1888 after it had been bought by James Munro. It opened as the Grand Coffee Palace but temperance turned out to be an unprofitable ideal and it became a licensed Grand Hotel in 1897.

Its proximity to Parliament House has led to a long association with Australian politics. In 1898 the Federal Constitution was drafted in the hotel and later Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies and his wife, Dame Pattie, made the Windsor their Melbourne home. Other well known guests have included Nellie Stewart, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, Vincent Price, Anthony Hopkins, Gregory Peck, and a number of English cricket teams.

In 1920 Sydney property developer Sir Arthur Rickard's Melbourne Hotels Ltd purchased both the Grand and the neighbouring Old White Hart hotels. The Grand was internally renovated and renamed the Windsor. Between 1957 and 1963 the lobby and the north end of the hotel was restructured by Harry Norris to allow for the north-wing addition. In 1976 the Hamer State Government purchased the Windsor to save the site from redevelopment. Oberoi International became the operators in 1980 and, having spent some $8 million restoring the hotel in time for its centenary in 1983, bought the hotel in 1990.

Chrystopher J. Spicer

References
Spicer, Chrystopher J., Duchess: The story of the Windsor Hotel, Loch Haven Books, Melbourne, 1993. Details

See also

Windsor Place