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The Imperial Hotel, Mount Victoria [Blue Mountains, NSW]

c1880. Lithograph, trade card format, text includes publisher’s line “John Sands, Lith., Sydney” and promotional information verso, 8.1 x 11.3cm. Slight soiling to image lower right, minor surface loss verso.

Text includes “W. Boles, Architect. J.G. Cousins, Proprietor” and a description which includes the quality of the accommodation: “comfortably furnished [rooms], all mattrasses [sic] being made of the very best curled horsehair.”

“Opened in October 1878 as a resort hotel with a private golf course, tennis court, croquet lawn, home farm and horse-drawn coaches to Jenolan Caves, the Imperial [Hotel in Mount Victoria, NSW] is the oldest tourist hotel in Australia. By the early 1900s, it was well established as one of the three grand hotels of the Blue Mountains along with the Carrington at Katoomba and the Hydro-Majestic at Medlow Bath, all of which were operated together for a time by Sir James Joynton-Smith (of Smith’s Weekly fame). In its heyday, The Imperial hosted prime ministers and royalty – including George V and George VI, as princes – and still proudly displays the Royal Coat of Arms presented in 1901.” It is a heritage-listed site, and the “only hotel in the Blue Mountains to trade continuously under its own name.” Ref: The Sydney Mail, 2.10.1880; Imperial Hotel website; Australian Town & Country Journal, 9.11.1878; Mt Victoria website; Wiki.

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Item #CL208-6

Price (AUD): $1,100.00  other currencies