The Tower Hotel (Beaconsfeld Hotel)
1878
The Beaconsfield Tower was built.
1881
The Tower (Beaconsfeld) Hotel at Doncaster was built in
Doncaster Road at the corner of the present Tower Street. The Hotel was
built by Alfred Hummel, a gentleman farmer, who had
built the Doncaster Tower.
Hummel had provided refreshment rooms at the base of the Tower but,
after visitors had climbed the Tower, the strenuous exercise made them
feel in need of something stronger than a cup of tea. Seeing large
parties ignore his facilities and go off to a hotel was too much for
Hummel. He was a proud Englishman who did not like to be beaten.
The Hotel that Hummel built was bigger and better than any other in the
district. There were thirty nine rooms and stables for twenty horses. He
called it the Beaconsfield Hotel.
His decision to build a hotel, however, caused considerable criticism
both from his family and the community. Hummel had been a supporter of
the temperance movement in Doncaster. The Hotel had caused them to lose
credibility and his wife Jane was one of the Lawford family who were
strict teetotallers.
1885
Hummel began to have financial problems. He had invested heavily with
the Tower, the Hotel, and his many land holdings. In 1885, he sold up
all his properties and moved to Tasmania where he lived for the rest of
his life.
1886
The Hotel was bought by William Meader, a man with much experience in
the hotel business. Meader had come from Dorset at the age of 24 and arrived at the time of the gold rushes. Meader became
more
interested in the land boom than in being a publican. He leased the
Hotel, now called the Tower Hotel, to John Nicholls.
Nicholls was an auctioneer and land agent who already owned a large
orchard in Reynolds Road, alongside Deep Creek. He lived at South Yarra
and employed G. Edwards and his wife to run the Hotel.
1887
A party who visited Doncaster while Nicholls was host wrote a description of the Tower Hotel:
“…. I say Doncaster Tower is the place for us all. The hills are
beautiful and green, the sea breeze is fresh and cool in the town, and a
wire before we start to Host Nichols will find a splendid spread waiting
for us on our arrival. What better can we require.”
One hour from the start from town, our friends were seated in one of the
numerous large summer houses attached to the hotel, indulging in
various beverages suitable to their several tastes…..
1889
This property contains 13
acres of splendid land, with flower garden, picnic grounds, swings, track
for foot and bicycle races. A roller skating track is about to be laid,
and my intentions are to erect an extensive coffee palace, to be lit
with electricity, for the accommodation of all classes of society.
This
tower, which has a world wide reputation, gentlemen runs up to a
height of 219 feet, and is over 700 feet above the level of the sea. We
have a splendid Assembly Hall, which will seat two hundred people, and
is used by our guests for balls and parties in the season, several
pianos, public dining hall, and private parlors. We cater for one or
four hundred. Every delicacy that can possibly be procured at town
establishments, we supply here at a very short notice, and no expense is
spared to make this what it undoubtedly is - as near as poor mortals
have to that desired goal - perfection.”
1895
In 1895 the Tower Hotel was owned by C C Nisson and Passmore was the
caterer and licensee. Alongside the bar was a small room where lamps
were stored during the day and filled with kerosine. On January 25,
Nisson lit a lamp and returned to the bar to serve a customer. He looked
back and saw the room filled with a mass of red flames. It was a hot
north-wind day and soon the Hotel was blazing. Nisson tried to beat out
the fire but was overcome with smoke and had to be carried out.
A bucket brigade was formed to carry water from the Hotel's large well
to the fire. One of the Petty boys worked the pump. He pumped so hard
that he broke the pump.
At the Box Hill Fire Station, the lookout saw the flames and rang the
fire bell to call the fire crew from their homes. The men grabbed the
first available horses and quickly harnessed them to the fire engine.
The Fire Brigade set off, hurrying along the tram line straight for
Doncaster. It was a hard pull up the long hill to Doncaster Road and the
horses were uneasy. They were accustomed to working on their own,
pulling bakers' carts and farm carts, and did not like being harnessed
alongside strange horses. Nearing Serpell's Corner, the horses jibbed
and started to play up. By now the flames from the fire at the top of
the hill were roaring up into the sky, all the brighter in the darkening
light of evening, making the firemen aware of the urgency, but
frustrated by unco-operative horses. The Captain, a large, portly man,
struggled to control them, when from the side of the road a voice called
out "Get off and walk. They'll go better without your weight!"
As the firemen once more got the team going, the engine moved forward to
the scene of the fire, with a crowd running alongside. Amongst it,
eight-year old Ted Galbus from the dairy.
At the fire; the hose was quickly dropped into the underground tank. The
fire crew, despite the intense heat, manned the engine's pump. Two men
on each side worked the rocking bar that forced water along the hoses.
The building was a blazing inferno. As the hoses poured water onto the
fire, part of the roof collapsed, sending sparks high into the sky.
The flames on the top of Doncaster Hill were seen by look-outs at Kew
and Hawthorn.who sent their Brigades. It was too late to save the Hotel
but they were able to stop the fire.spreading to the Recreation Hall.
1896
The Tower Hotel was re-built. An elaborately decorated brick building
was erected in front of the old Recreation Hall. A curved drive led into
the entrance with a light on a post to welcome visitors at night and
there was a horse trough to refresh their horses.
I898
A
local man, Edward Kent; took over the Hotel and ran it until 1904 when Wenke became the licensee.
1914
The
Tower was
dismantled
1917
The Hotel was delicensed.
The building
became Thomas' Grocery Store and a shop-front was added on one side.
Later the shop was used by the Doncaster Mower Service
1969
When
Doncaster Road was widened, the building was demolished.
[Abridged from a story in the Australasian Sketcher, August 21, 1880 and DTHS)
