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The Beaconsfield aka Moondyne Joe’s – Commercial Building, Wray Avenue, Fremantle by
Andrew Priest, on Flickr
Street art near the bottle shop at Moondyne Joe’s, formerly The Beaconsfield Hotel from 1894 until 2007 when its name was changed.
I was surprised to find that the Beaconsfield Hotel was so old and had a heritage listing. I should not be surprised as an assessment of the building was undertaken in 1998 by the City of Fremantle to address an application for development. It was noted at that time that the building bore little resemblance to the original form.
The Beaconsfield Hotel was designed by Fremantle architect, Herbert N Davis for the owner E E Davies. The Hotel keeper at that time was James Davey.
The hotel was owned by Davies until 1903/4 when it was subsequently transferred to Arthur E Davies and Frederick Jones. Hotel Keepers during the early 20th century included, George B Beard and William McKenzie. Services offered at that time included, bedrooms, sitting rooms, billiards and bars.
In 1920 the hotel was owned by the Castlemaine Brewery and in 1929 was acquired by the Swan Brewery. The manager in 1920/21 was Margaret Herlihy.
The Hotel manager in the 1940s and 1950s was Michael Byrne.
In 1960, architects Allen & Nicholas prepared plans for the removal of the verandah and balconies on the Wray Avenue and Hampton road facades. A new awning was to be installed in its place. Additional features of this project were the removal of the original windows to the south of the main entrance and their replacement with a single large pane window and the conversion of the upper balcony access doors to windows.
In 1965, plans were prepared by architects Hobbs, Winning & Leighton for the addition of a new Winter Lounge. This was located on the Wray Avenue elevation on the eastern side of the existing building. The finish of this façade was brick and concrete block panel.
In 1968, the winter lounge was again extended on the Wray avenue elevation. The finish of this exterior matched the concrete and brick extension of 1965. The owners, Swan Brewery Co Ltd designed this extension.
In 1990, the property was for sale and at that time it was noted that the property included 12 upstairs rooms, some of which were rented, three bars, a drive-in bottle shop and an extensive parking area
The property changed ownership in 1994 and again in 1995 and was transferred to Richard and Elena Bennett who undertook a major renovation of the interior. The remodelling was undertaken by architect Bruce Arnold and included a wide range of facilities.
