Dating from at least 1871 and possibly incorporating earlier remnants, the Queen's Ferry Hotel is a key component of an important group of historically significant commercial buildings in Vulcan Lane off Auckland's Queen Street. Brick premises on the property were initially erected for John Robertson in the late 1850s as a retail store and were converted into a hotel in 1865. Remaining in use as a bar, the Queen's Ferry is an early surviving example of a continuously licensed building in central Auckland.
Prior to the founding of colonial Auckland in 1840, the Queen Street gully was known as Horotiu and was subject to intermittent Maori occupation. In June 1842 sawyer John Robertson (1795?-1877), who had participated in the founding the colonial capital at Auckland in 1840, purchased a small site in Vulcan Lane - a narrow thoroughfare forming part of the town's early street system. The timber dwelling he constructed there is said to have incorporated a shop, which was destroyed by fire in 1858. A replacement brick store was erected in circa 1858-9, a couple of years after regulations had been introduced requiring the use of appropriate construction materials to prevent fire in Auckland's commercial centre. Two storeys high with a slate roof, the building may have had a basement.
In 1865, Robertson converted the building into a public house naming it the Queen's Ferry after his Scottish birthplace. The hotel was of 'row' rather than of 'corner' type, being conjoined in a continuous terrace by other buildings. Commonplace at the time, row hotels were less prominently located than pubs on corner sites and may have retained a more intimate 'public house' tradition for longer than their corner counterparts. The Queen's Ferry became a popular venue for the meetings of mining companies and other groups. It was the first licensed premises in Vulcan Lane, an area that was becoming increasingly associated with the wine and liquor industry and which gained further notoriety subsequently. In 1870 the Occidental Hotel opened nearby as a competing establishment. This was also converted from earlier retail premises.
Perhaps in response, a two storey brick rear extension was added to the Queen's Ferry in 1871. This was designed by architect Richard Keals and accommodated a commercial room on the ground floor, and bedrooms and sitting rooms upstairs. In 1882, five years after Robertson's death, the place was altered to meet the requirements of the Licensing Act 1881. The works designed by prominent Auckland architect Edward Bartley added a third storey to the front of the building and a new façade, giving the hotel a more impressive appearance in keeping with new public houses of the time. It is unclear how much of the circa 1858-9 fabric remained. In general, colonial construction more often involved modification than total demolition.
By the 1890s the Queen's Ferry was popular with licensed bookmakers who transacted business there. Following internal alterations in 1902, the hotel had eleven rooms including the bars, a sitting room and a dining room. It was leased by Campbell and Ehrenfried, the first of several liquor concerns to hold a business interest in the establishment over the following decades. For most of the twentieth century the hotel remained popular as a working class pub, with patrons including sailors, bookmakers, journalists and others. It was evidently a popular drinking place for literary people for some decades commencing in the 1930s, and was frequented at various times by notable New Zealand writers including James Baxter, Denis Glover, Frank Sargeson, Rex Fairburn and typographer Bob Lowry.
In 1958, a guest lounge and women's bathroom were created on the first floor reflecting an increased patronage by women. In the 1960s, a period when hotels faced increasingly stiff competition from chartered clubs and restaurants, the two ground floor bars were converted into a single, less intimate bar, and the first floor bar was enlarged to encompass the entire floor. In many other pubs, these changes had occurred some decades previously. Between 1977 and 2003, the building was purchased and sold by several property and investment companies with extensive renovations occurring in 1998. In 2000 the second floor was gutted by fire and repaired. The building remains in use as a bar (2009), maintaining a continuous function established in 1865.
The Queen's Ferry Hotel has aesthetic significance for its ornamental nineteenth-century façade and its contribution to an important heritage streetscape. It has architectural significance as a rare surviving example of a Victorian-era 'row' public house in central Auckland. The place is historically important for demonstrating the impact of liquor licensing requirements, including the 1881 Licensing Act after which a new ornate frontage and other alterations were made. It also has considerable value for reflecting the development of the retail and liquor trades from the early colonial period, possibly as early as the 1850s, and extending to the present day. It has high social significance as a place of social interaction over a period of 150 years initially as the site of a general store, and subsequently as a popular place of recreation and gathering. It has value as an early continuously licensed building in central Auckland, reflecting the social importance of alcohol and drinking during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including among journalists, literary figures such as Bob Lowry, James Baxter, Frank Sargeson and Rex Fairburn, and within working-class male culture.
Prior to the founding of colonial Auckland in 1840, the Queen Street gully was known as Horotiu and was subject to intermittent Maori occupation. In June 1842 sawyer John Robertson (1795?-1877), who had participated in the founding the colonial capital at Auckland in 1840, purchased a small site in Vulcan Lane - a narrow thoroughfare forming part of the town's early street system. The timber dwelling he constructed there is said to have incorporated a shop, which was destroyed by fire in 1858. A replacement brick store was erected in circa 1858-9, a couple of years after regulations had been introduced requiring the use of appropriate construction materials to prevent fire in Auckland's commercial centre. Two storeys high with a slate roof, the building may have had a basement.
In 1865, Robertson converted the building into a public house naming it the Queen's Ferry after his Scottish birthplace. The hotel was of 'row' rather than of 'corner' type, being conjoined in a continuous terrace by other buildings. Commonplace at the time, row hotels were less prominently located than pubs on corner sites and may have retained a more intimate 'public house' tradition for longer than their corner counterparts. The Queen's Ferry became a popular venue for the meetings of mining companies and other groups. It was the first licensed premises in Vulcan Lane, an area that was becoming increasingly associated with the wine and liquor industry and which gained further notoriety subsequently. In 1870 the Occidental Hotel opened nearby as a competing establishment. This was also converted from earlier retail premises.
Perhaps in response, a two storey brick rear extension was added to the Queen's Ferry in 1871. This was designed by architect Richard Keals and accommodated a commercial room on the ground floor, and bedrooms and sitting rooms upstairs. In 1882, five years after Robertson's death, the place was altered to meet the requirements of the Licensing Act 1881. The works designed by prominent Auckland architect Edward Bartley added a third storey to the front of the building and a new façade, giving the hotel a more impressive appearance in keeping with new public houses of the time. It is unclear how much of the circa 1858-9 fabric remained. In general, colonial construction more often involved modification than total demolition.
By the 1890s the Queen's Ferry was popular with licensed bookmakers who transacted business there. Following internal alterations in 1902, the hotel had eleven rooms including the bars, a sitting room and a dining room. It was leased by Campbell and Ehrenfried, the first of several liquor concerns to hold a business interest in the establishment over the following decades. For most of the twentieth century the hotel remained popular as a working class pub, with patrons including sailors, bookmakers, journalists and others. It was evidently a popular drinking place for literary people for some decades commencing in the 1930s, and was frequented at various times by notable New Zealand writers including James Baxter, Denis Glover, Frank Sargeson, Rex Fairburn and typographer Bob Lowry.
In 1958, a guest lounge and women's bathroom were created on the first floor reflecting an increased patronage by women. In the 1960s, a period when hotels faced increasingly stiff competition from chartered clubs and restaurants, the two ground floor bars were converted into a single, less intimate bar, and the first floor bar was enlarged to encompass the entire floor. In many other pubs, these changes had occurred some decades previously. Between 1977 and 2003, the building was purchased and sold by several property and investment companies with extensive renovations occurring in 1998. In 2000 the second floor was gutted by fire and repaired. The building remains in use as a bar (2009), maintaining a continuous function established in 1865.
The Queen's Ferry Hotel has aesthetic significance for its ornamental nineteenth-century façade and its contribution to an important heritage streetscape. It has architectural significance as a rare surviving example of a Victorian-era 'row' public house in central Auckland. The place is historically important for demonstrating the impact of liquor licensing requirements, including the 1881 Licensing Act after which a new ornate frontage and other alterations were made. It also has considerable value for reflecting the development of the retail and liquor trades from the early colonial period, possibly as early as the 1850s, and extending to the present day. It has high social significance as a place of social interaction over a period of 150 years initially as the site of a general store, and subsequently as a popular place of recreation and gathering. It has value as an early continuously licensed building in central Auckland, reflecting the social importance of alcohol and drinking during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including among journalists, literary figures such as Bob Lowry, James Baxter, Frank Sargeson and Rex Fairburn, and within working-class male culture.
