Carrington Hotel, Katoomba

The original land grant of was made to James Henry Neal on 10 October 1877 under the provisions of the Volunteer Force Regulation Act 1867. On 8 January 1881 the land was transferred to Frederick Clissold of Ashfield, who subdivided the entire portion. He went to India in about 1845 and lived in Bombay for over thirty years working in the English Civil Service. In the late 1870s he migrated to Sydney with his wife Frances and their children and became the owner of the Oxford Hotel in King Street which was a large Victorian establishment (since demolished). Tenders were called later in 1882 by Kirkpatrick for additions to the hotel, possibly the stone wing. On 24 April 1883 Rowell purchased Lots 1 & 2 of Section 2 of Deposited Plan 292 from Frederick Clissold. The couple had five sons and one daughter and for 25 years lived in Melbourne. With his hotel and sporting interests Frederick became very prosperous. In 1881 he and his sons decided to sell all their Melbourne interests and buy a sheep property in the Warrego region of NSW. However this was not a success and when he had the chance to take over the hotel he seized the opportunity. With the permission of Lord Carrington who visited the premises in 1886 in his capacity as Governor of NSW Carrington gave permission for Goyder to change its name to The Carrington Hotel. In 1927 Sir James Joynton Smith made further major additions which were described in a feature article in a building journal. Many famous people visited the hotel including the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Elizabeth the Queen Mother). A photo of this event in 1927 is shown. Sir John Joynton Smith (1858–1943) was born in London in 1858. His father was a master brass fitter. He worked in his father's shop for some time and tried several other jobs before signing on as a cabin boy on a steamer. He worked on ships until 1874 when he settled in New Zealand. Here he prospered as an hotelier in Wellington. In 1890 he came to Sydney In 1892–96 he managed the Grand Central Coffee Palace Hotel in Clarence Street. In 1893 he married Nellie Eloise Parkes whose family were experienced hoteliers. In 1896, by now known as Joynton Smith, he laid the foundation of his fortune when he leased, the run-down Imperial Arcade Hotel, renamed the Arcadia, between Pitt and Castlereagh streets and turned it into a good residential establishment. He continued to acquire properties and in the Blue Mountains as well as buying the Carrington Hotel he also bought the Imperial Hotel at Mount Victoria and leased the Hydro Majestic. He loved motor cars and owned many including a Pierce Arrow, Bentley, Cadillac, Rolls-Royce and Lasalle, and invested in a company selling them. He was a very flamboyant man and did magic tricks, sang comic Cockney songs and played the concertina. He smoked cigars but rarely drank alcohol. He enjoyed boxing, kept fit with a masseur and sauna and was a good billiards player. He owned three mansions in Sydney one of which was called Hastings at Coogee Beach. He died here in 1843. Although in a time of decline in Mountains tourism, The Carrington remained popular through the 1950s and 1960s. On 18 December 1967 the property was transferred to six people, one of whom was Theodore Constantine Morris, a property developer, who held a half share. On 5 May 1969 the entire property was transferred to Morris. In 1968 the swimming pool was constructed and a general redecoration was undertaken. Mr. Leach would not say what the restoration has cost, but claims it is less than the "$6m to $8m" he says is being spent on that other fabulous mountains hotel, the Hydro Majestic Hotel. In 2002 a master plan for a new town square was approved and implemented, partly imposing inside the Carrington's lower garden and involving its redesign, relocation of the intrusive bus shelters, ramps, paving and widespread replanting. In 2004 Leach's interest was purchased by Michael Brischetto and Mark Jarvis, who announced ambitious new plans for a backpackers' hostel, a large number of bedrooms, new retail facilities and a drive-through bottle shop in the former power house. The partners have achieved some of these aims, while also devoting their energies to the conservation of the hotel's original fabric. In July 2010 a bottle shop was opened in the former boiler room of the power house facing Parke Street. This involved the stabilisation of portions of the internal and external fabric of the structure. == Description ==

Grounds The Carrington Hotel is sited on top of a small rise above and adjoining the main shopping street and railway station of Katoomba. The hotel's northern main entrance is landscaped with sweeping drives from Katoomba Street to the portico or colonnade of its front doors, terraced gardens and mature trees including two bunya pines (Araucaria bidwillii) on the southern upper slope, silver birch (Betula pendula) and Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara) on the upper northern slope. It remains much of the fabric of its major phases of development. Modifications and dates • 1882 – construction commenced • 1883 – construction completed • 1887–1889 – additional wing, dining hall, two drawing rooms and music rooms • 1904–1911 – various alterations, redecorations, including lavatories, baths and water closets on each floor • 1911–1912 – new Main Street bar, motor garage at rear and new driveways • 1912–1913 – construction of stone and wrought iron gates to Katoomba Street, front terrace, steps and balcony, stained glass to verandah, pine trees removed and garden redesigned • 1923–1927 – attic bedrooms enlarged, flat roof terrace built, additional bedrooms at southern end, dining room enlarged, lift installed. Western end of original north wing demolished and new wing added with 23 bedrooms. Walls removed to create cocktail lounge and ballroom. • 1970s – fifth front gate entry post removed (to widen entry) • 1993 – Repainting, lighting, carpet and doors and fireplaces restored. • 2002 – front garden redevelopment for Carrington Place town square, lowering of ground levels of old tennis court to provide flat area near street, part demolition of front wall to build new entry steps, new side entries off driveways, new paving and planting of lower front garden, new lighting, new public artworks. == Heritage listing ==

As at 30 September 1997, The Carrington Hotel is the only 19th century grand resort hotel still in use in NSW. It retains much of the fabric of its major phases of development and continues to occupy the commanding position in Katoomba that it has done since 1882. The buildings and grounds represent a wealth of evidence of attitudes to leisure and hotel operation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They also reflect the history of Katoomba and the work of a succession of notable families, and the lifestyle of the Blue Mountains as a recreation area during its period of greatest activity. The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. The present building is a rich physical embodiment of cultural attitudes over the century or so since it was built. The Carrington Hotel is symbolic of the importance of the Blue Mountains as a nationally recognised recreation area over the last century, and highly evocative of the lifestyle of the area during its period of greatest activity. The hotel also contains many items of furniture, fittings and ornaments which reflect the taste and technology of their period. The Carrington Hotel has importance on a local level for its association with the career of prominent landscape gardener Paul Sorenson as the first place he worked in the Blue Mountains and NSW. The garden and grounds have social significance on a local level for public appreciation of their landmark mature plantings, especially the bunya-bunya pines (Araucaria bidwillii) and chimney stack, sandstone walling and gates on Katoomba Street and for the contribution they make to the community appreciation of the Katoomba streetscape. Their size, layout and remnant character are appreciated for the provision of green space and evidence of a grander, more gracious and important role for the hotel – and the town as a whole – in the past. The grounds of Carrington, particularly the forecourt to Katoomba Street, have significance to the local community as a place for gathering to mark special community events such as the re-enactment in 1951 of the first crossing of the Blue Mountains in 1813. The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales. The front garden / grounds of the Carrington Hotel have considerable potential to provide information on earlier uses, layout and features of the site including key elements such as terracing, paths, croquet lawn and tennis courts, road and kerb detailing, gates and fences. The documentary evidence available indicates several phases of modification on the grounds. Physical evidence of older features such as terracing / paths, site of the croquet lawn and tennis court still survives and is evident in the surface contours, especially in the area of the grounds between the front of the main hotel and Katoomba Street. There are also areas of former hard-paved surfaces, kerb and guttering along the driveway and features such as the handsome gateposts. Blocks from the removed gate post are also extant. Landscape archaeology may also be expected to be able to clarify matters such as the precise position of now vanished plantings. The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales. The Carrington Hotel is the only 19th century grand resort hotel still in use in NSW and probably Australia. == See also ==