Early history of the site:
Prior to European settlement in 1840 successive Maori groups are believed to have occupied Horotiu, an area on Auckland's present-day Symonds Street ridge and Queen Street gully. The site later occupied by the Queen's Ferry Hotel lies a short distance to the east of the Waihorotiu creek, which ran down the length of the gully into the Waitemata Harbour. Traditions mention a small settlement a short distance upstream, on or near the site of the current Auckland Town Hall. Archaeological material from this period has been recovered from several places nearby. Traditions also refer to a food gathering place and waka mooring site located near the mouth of the Waihorotiu. In 1837, Te Taou (a section of Ngati Whatua) planted crops in the area at a time when food was grown to supply the increasing number of Pakeha visiting the Waitemata Harbour. Ngati Whatua's offer to transfer a large area of land to the British Crown for the creation of a colonial capital at Auckland was formally agreed in September 1840.
Vulcan Lane was established in the first few years of Auckland's development, being part of the initial street system for the colonial city as proposed by the Surveyor-General Felton Matthew. Unlike the broad roads that served most of the settlement, it consisted of a narrow side alley linking the main commercial thoroughfare formed by Queen Street with a back lane, High Street, to the rear. Land adjoining the northern side of Vulcan Lane was initially granted by the Crown to William Mason, New Zealand's first Superintendent of Public Works. As early as 1841 Mason subdivided this to create smaller lots fronting the northern side of lower Vulcan Lane with a narrow alley along their rear boundaries.
John Robertson (1795?-1877) purchased the site of the Queen's Ferry Hotel from Mason in 1842. Robertson was originally from Queens Ferry, Scotland and initially emigrated to New South Wales. In March 1840, a month after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, he moved to New Zealand to work as a mechanic with Captain William Hobson (1783-1842), New Zealand's first colonial Governor. After six months in the Bay of Islands, Robertson relocated to Auckland where he was one of the earliest arrivals and participants in the founding of the new colonial capital.
A sawyer, Robertson is likely to have had a role in the construction of the early township. He is said to have distinguished himself for his bravery in helping to save the fledgling settlement from fire within days of the founding party's landing in 1840. He may have been based in Vulcan Lane from 1845 and was certainly resident there by February 1857, when he established his own sawpit on the foreshore in Fort Street. An initial timber building erected by Robertson on his property was in place by 1845 and was one of 50 or so premises destroyed by a fire in the area in July 1858. Although a contemporary newspaper account lists the building as a 'dwelling', an obituary published in 1877 states that Robertson conducted a store in the Vulcan Lane premises for many years prior to the fire.
Construction of Robertson's Store (circa 1858-9):
Robertson is reported to have constructed a two-storey brick building in circa 1858-9 as a replacement structure. As money from a fire relief fund was not paid out until December 1858, it is probable that construction either took place at the end of that year or in early 1859.
Under the City of Auckland Building Act 1856, timber buildings could no longer be erected within the commercial centre. Brick structures were comparatively unusual prior to passage of the Act. In 1849 there were just 21 brick residences noted in Auckland itself. Most of Auckland's early brick buildings were confined to the town's commercial centre, or took the form of building types such as hotels and industrial buildings where brick was seen as desirable for its fireproof qualities.
Robertson's store occupied the front (southern) half of the Vulcan Lane lot. Described in 1866 as a two-storey brick building with a slate roof, there is no record of the design or appearance of the premises when it was first erected. In accordance with common practice, the Robertsons lived above the shop. The range of goods sold in the store is unknown, but it included groceries such as cheese. Like other commercial premises erected immediately after the 1858 fire, the shop is likely to have been constructed in a simple Georgian style and may have had a basement cellar from the outset, particularly as Robertson sold perishable goods that would have benefitted from cool storage. Robertson also had his own water well, a feature that may have been established in the 1840s to serve the earlier timber building on the site.
During another general conflagration in 1863, an attempt was made to pull Robertson's building down as a fire break. Substantial damage was caused to the interior, and the roof was reported to have been almost entirely torn off and cut away. This suggests that, in spite of the damage caused, the building was too substantial to be knocked down. By mid 1864, the store was again in operation and incorporated an internal counter.
Conversion to the Queen's Ferry Hotel (1865):
In 1865 Robertson reopened the brick building as a hotel. It was the first such establishment to be created in Vulcan Lane, which was that time becoming increasingly closely connected with the liquor trade. Robertson named his hotel the Queen's Ferry, after his home town in Scotland. As a hotel, the building's external appearance and ground floor layout is likely to have been little different from its earlier incarnation as a general store.
Auckland's earliest hotels had a domestic visual appearance similar to early nineteenth-century pubs in Britain, reinforcing the view that they were literally 'public houses' whereby the owner of a house made some of his rooms available for drinking. By the 1860s, more specifically urban types of public houses had appeared in Auckland, characterised by a more commercial-style frontage with large plate glass windows, parapets and, subsequently, gas lighting on the façade. Such elements advertised the recreational activities carried out inside the building, as well as making such behaviour appear less secretive. Counters were introduced with such developments, as pubs became more like shops.
Occupying a central lot within a city block, Robertson's establishment was a hotel of 'row' type. Making up some 40 percent of the total number of hotels in central Auckland during the 1860s, row hotels were almost as common as hotels on corner sites. Evidence from elsewhere is said to indicate that while corner pubs increasingly looked like shops, pubs within street rows were more likely to retain aspects of a domestic appearance. Less prominently located than their corner counterparts, row hotels may also have preserved other aspects of a more intimate 'public house' tradition for longer. This was perhaps particularly true for establishments in urban backstreets, where there was less reliance on passing trade and hostelries of a greater domestic character persisted.
Rear extensions to the Queen's Ferry Hotel (1871):
In 1871, tenders were invited for additions to the Queen's Ferry Hotel. The work comprised a two-storey rear extension and was designed by Richard Keals (?-1885), one of Auckland's notable early architects. Having arrived in New Zealand in 1858, Keals established an architectural practice in the colonial capital in 1863, where his New Zealand Insurance Company Building (1870) was to become one of the grandest commercial buildings in late-Victorian Auckland.
The additions to the Queen's Ferry Hotel provided a commercial room with fireplace on the ground floor, and more bedrooms and sitting rooms upstairs. The work may partly have been a response to the establishment of the rival Occidental Hotel a few doors away in Vulcan Lane the year before.
Following the additions, the New Zealand Herald described the Queen's Ferry as providing 'first-class accommodation' for families and the commercial public. The paper was particularly impressed with a new commercial room, where business transactions could be undertaken conveniently. The Queen's Ferry became a popular meeting venue for businesses, including the gold-mining companies who were profiting from the gold rush at the time. It was also popular with patrons of Scottish descent, perhaps due to Mr Robertson's Scottish background. The hotel was the birthplace of the Scottish Volunteers of the Auckland Militia, at which one of the volunteers played a number of Scottish tunes on the bagpipes.
John Robertson died in 1877, aged 82 years. Mr Robertson's wife, May, managed the hotel until she died at her residence there in 1880.
Late nineteenth-century remodelling (1882-1899):
Charles Sutherland and his wife Elizabeth took over the management of the Queen's Ferry Hotel in 1880. His heavy involvement with the Masonic fraternity and the United Service Lodge meant that the hotel became popular with Masons and Lodge members. Sutherland died suddenly in 1881, aged 32, leaving Elizabeth to manage the hotel.
Alterations were made to the Queen's Ferry in 1882 in response to the requirements of the Licensing Act 1881. Enforced by the City East Licensing Committee, which was heavily influenced by the temperance movement, the regulations required that staircases in existing establishments be widened wherever possible. Emphasis was also laid on hotels being places of public refreshment, with food and lodging always being available.
At a cost of £980, several important alterations were undertaken at the Queen's Ferry, including at least the construction of a third storey on the hotel's front (south) section and the simultaneous remodelling of its main façade. It is unclear how much of the pre-existing 1860s structure was incorporated into the new works, although the rear 1871 section appears to have been retained. Side walls of the 1860s or earlier structure at ground and first floor level may have been kept. Earthworks were carried out, perhaps for construction of the front façade. In general, colonial buildings were more often modified than completely rebuilt.
Designed by prominent Auckland architect Edward Bartley (1839-1919), the modifications provided further bedroom and sitting accommodation, an improved entrance and staircase, and a modern bathroom. The new façade was created in an Italianate architectural style common for commercial buildings of the time. This gave the hotel an ornate appearance more in keeping with the decorative style of many new public houses designed in late-Victorian Auckland. Flanked by pilasters, its apertures were provided with different types of visual detailing, with a dentilled cornice on its upper storey supporting a decorative parapet with open plasterwork that incorporated the name of the establishment.
At a similar time to his work on the Queen's Ferry, Edward Bartley designed a number of notable new buildings including St John's Church, Ponsonby (1881), the Jewish Synagogue (1884), Opera House (1884) and Auckland Savings Bank (1884), all in Auckland. He was also responsible for erecting several new hotel buildings as well as modifying existing hotels as the latter were modernised in response to tougher licensing regulations. Examples included the Custom House Hotel in Fort Street (1878), the Flagstaff Hotel in Devonport (1879), the Swan Hotel in Mechanics Bay (1880) and the Masonic Hotel in Devonport (1883). Like the Queen's Ferry, his work on the Waverly Hotel in Queen Street in 1879 involved designing a new frontage.
A tender for construction of the additions was won by Alex Maguire, who began work on the site in September 1882. During excavations several ti-tree house blocks, thought to have been from the original wooden structure built in the 1840s, were uncovered. The alterations were completed by December 1882.
Elizabeth Sutherland married Walter Stimpson in 1883, and the two held the licence for the hotel until 1902. During this period the Queen's Ferry was popular with licensed bookmakers who used it and the nearby Occidental Hotel as a base for doing business. The Queen's Ferry had a reputation for after-hours drinking, with Walter Stimpson being charged but not convicted with serving alcohol after-hours in 1889.
Walter and Elizabeth Stimpson and their two small children lived on the second floor of the hotel, which comprised four rooms, including Mrs Stimpson's bedroom, her dressing room, the children's bedroom and one other room. In 1893, a large fire damaged the upper storeys of the hotel. The blaze began in the bedroom of one of the barmaids, one of several employees living in the hotel.
Twentieth-century alterations and use (1900 onwards):
In 1902, the rateable value of the hotel increased from £250 to £370, probably due to internal improvements designed by Robert de Montalk. Less prominent than Keals or Bartley, de Montalk nevertheless went on to design the Premier Building in Durham Street East (1907) and the Cargen Hotel (circa 1910) in Eden Crescent. Following this work the hotel comprised eleven rooms, including the bars and a sitting room and dining room.
In February 1902, Campbell and Ehrenfried took over the Queen's Ferry lease for a period of 12 years. Campbell and Ehrenfried was the colony's largest brewery and had strong associations with notable Aucklanders Sir John Logan Campbell and Sir Arthur Myers. The firm's involvement reflected a growing trend of large brewery companies taking over individual hotels, partly in response to the increasing pressures of the temperance movement and a decreasing number of liquor licences.
For most of the twentieth century, the hotel remained popular as a working-class pub, with patrons including sailors, bookmakers, journalists and others. Under the management of Thomas Markwick (1907-1912), the hotel was also known as the 'Hole in the Wall', evidently due to its tendency to allow late-entry drinking.
In 1915, the year after the lease had been transferred to a consortium of Wellington-based wine and spirits merchants and Dunedin-based brewer James Speight Limited, the rateable value of the hotel increased from £460 to £580, suggesting further alterations. The internal layout now comprised front and back bars on the ground floor; a bedroom, living room, office, kitchen, parlour, dining room and bathroom on the first floor; and four bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor. From 1919 until the early 1940s, a number of different hoteliers held the lease. After the First World War (1914-1918) the Queen's Ferry and Occidental Hotels became popular with Auckland journalists.
Long before 1919, however, congestion, rowdiness and obstruction in Vulcan Lane had become a problem, particularly on race days. The lane is said to have been known as 'Vulture's Lane' as early as 1898 due to the number of bookmakers, prostitutes, juvenile delinquents, cock-fighters and pedlars that frequented it. In the 1920s, all the buildings on the opposite (south) side of Vulcan Lane were demolished when the lane was widened from about 5 metres to 9.75 metres (16 feet to 32 feet) in 1928, to provide access for motor vehicles.
The hotel is said to have been a popular drinking place for literary people for some decades from the 1930s and was visited by notable New Zealand writers including James Baxter, Denis Glover, Frank Sargeson and Rex Fairburn. In 1951 minor work was carried out to meet fire regulations. In 1958, commencing a period when hotels faced competition from the growing number of chartered clubs and restaurants, a renovation designed by Sargent and Smith and Associates saw the demolition of a brick wall that separated the front and back bars. Both bars on the ground floor were renovated. A 'guest lounge' and separate women's bathroom were created on the first floor, reflecting an increased patronage by women. This occurred as Vulcan Lane became increasingly occupied by fashion-conscious businesses as Auckland's new 'street of distinction'.
Errol and Pauline Boyd held the lease at the Queen's Ferry Hotel from 1961 to 1970 and lived in the top storey, which had three bedrooms. The front of the first floor had been converted into a 'house bar', and continued to attract people of national literary importance such as typographer Bob Lowry. The premises underwent extensive renovations in 1968, converting the two ground floor bars into one large, less intimate bar. A bottle store and office were installed at the front of the building and new toilets at the rear. On the first floor the 'house' bar was similarly enlarged to encompass the entire floor. The bars of most other public houses in Auckland had been opened out or enlarged several decades earlier.
At the same time (1968) Vulcan Lane was converted back into a pedestrian thoroughfare, reinforcing its distinctive nature. In 1994, the lane's heritage qualities were recognised through its registration as a historic area by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. The Queen's Ferry Hotel was successively purchased and sold by several property and investment companies between 1977 and 2003. Extensive renovations carried out in 1998 and 2000, included repairs after the interior was damaged following a fire on the second storey.
The hotel was purchased by London Property Investments Limited in 2003 and remains in use as a bar, maintaining a continuous function on the site since 1865. The Queen's Ferry Hotel is an early surviving example of a continuously licensed building in central Auckland.
