The Guildford Hotel

159 James Street, Guildford, Western Australia

The story of the Guildford Hotel, at 159 James Street, Guildford, Western Australia, stretches back 139 years and is interwoven with one of the great characters of the area in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the hotel’s veteran licensee Mr George Hiscox.

The town of Guildford, 12 kilometres north-east of Perth, was established in 1829 as a market centre for the surrounding agricultural areas, making it crucial to Western Australia’s trade and prosperity.

With its intact 19th and 20th century buildings, Guildford has been described as one of the most important towns of first settlement in Australia.

The Guildford Hotel, built in 1885-86, has always been at the centre of the town’s life and so, too, was one of its most renowned licensees, George Hiscox.

George took ownership of the hotel in 1891. Born Arthur George Bruton in England, for reasons unknown he changed his name when living in Victoria between 1882 and 1889. George also built other hotels in the district and in Perth.

In 1889 the gold rush boom allowed George the wealth to develop the hotel including adding the two-story verandah. The imposing structure demonstrates the prosperity of the town in this era.

The Guildford Hotel was a popular gathering place in the developing settlement town, and if running the hotel was all he did he would still be regarded as a much-admired Guildford pioneer.

But theatre was another of George Hiscox’s passions. To the excitement of the locals, in 1898 George built The Vaudeville Theatre next door to his hotel at a cost of 1300 pounds.

“This new theatre, which faces the main road and is alongside the hotel almost directly opposite the railway station, is to be known as The Vaudeville,” announced The Western Mail in December 1897.

In the early years of the 20th century the town was well serviced by entertainment. As well as The Guildford Hotel and other new pubs and the new theatre, an open-air cinema playing silent movies was built just to the west of The Vaudeville Theatre.

In the final years of the 1800s Guildford was an exciting centre. Newspaper reports of the time reveal the pride Guildford had in its new theatre, as well as the regard in which George Hiscox was held, and not just as a popular publican.

“Through the enterprise of Mr George Hiscox, the proprietor of the Guildford Hotel, a theatre for the suburb is now fast approaching completion, and will be ready for occupation by Boxing Night,” noted The Western Mail on 10 December 1897.

It continued: “The structure is being erected under the supervision of M.G.W.B. Broome, architect, formerly of Melbourne. The main walls are 16 ft high, while the stage, which is equal to anything out of Perth, rises to 22 ft.”

The report allows us an intimate insight into the building of the auditorium and even the introduction of electricity, first experienced in Western Australia in 1888.

The report said the theatre, provides “seating accommodation for upwards of 600 visitors. The floor… is of the best New Zealand kauri and will be available for balls, dancing assemblies and the like.”

The report noted that for initial performances “kerosene will perforce have to be the lighting agent, though it is intended to run a dynamo to provide electric lighting in the near future.”

The theatre’s grand opening was held on 3 January 1898 and a packed house cheered a burlesque production of “Sleeping Beauty”.

One can imagine the buzz around the district as people visited The Guildford Hotel for a pre-show drink and then went next door to a highly contemporary theatre to see a show.

The Vaudeville Theatre soon became a popular social venue, staging concerts – including Gilbert and Sullivan – and dances, many organised by the Hiscox family.

George Hiscox’s role as an admired town leader is clear from newspaper reports. The Western Mail noted on 10 December 1897 that most of its readers would be familiar with the Guildford Hotel, “so long and ably conducted by Mr George Hiscox”.

It added that the new Vaudeville Theatre will be “quite a complete revelation”. “Theatrical companies, when going on tour, will have an opportunity of playing a night at Guildford in a well-constructed building with a very ample stage and all accessories”.

The Guildford Hotel received a glowing notice in the same report. “The adjoining on the left [the hotel] has for a long time been an ideal residence and it is here that birthday parties, cycling tourists, picknickers and the like love to congregate, for no suburban hostelry can be found more homely in its character nor more comfortable to halt at.

“With its capacious and lofty bedrooms, its wide balconies, its smoking, reading and billiards rooms, its large bathroom and, aided by excellent cuisine, with the Swan River almost at its door, available for swimming, boating and fishing.”

It noted the pub had “exceedingly good liquors”. “Presided over by Mr Hiscox [it] has become not only a familiar institution but is a permanent landmark of that charming and most picturesque of all suburbs, to wit Guildford.”

In 1915 George made some improvements to the hotel, adding some Italian Renaissance-style touches and an eight-sided “belvedere” tower (which has since been reconstructed).

Another of George Hiscox interests harness racing. He ran a large stud farm called Ventnor Lodge in Belmont, about eight kilometres from Guildford. He trained many horses and won prizes in trotting.

“There are few, if any, better known men throughout the length and breadth of Western Australia than the genial, bluff and hearty George Hiscox,” reported ‘WA Sportsman’ on 21 September 1917.

“It can safely be said that the best string of horses in Western Australia is stabled by George Hiscox of Belmont,” said ‘Truth’ newspaper on 25 September 1926.

George was a busy man. In 1896 The West Australian reported his nomination as a councillor in the Guildford Municipal elections. He later became the town’s mayor.

Trotting and horse breeding took a lot of his time and took him to places few Western Australians had visited at that time.

In 1923 he travelled to Melbourne to attend races at Flemington and also to Sydney where he bought some horses to add to his stable including “the black stallion Black Childe and the bay mare Theckla Maid”, both pacers.

He also visited New Zealand where he ‘won several thousand pounds in tote dividends”.

In July 1927 George died. His death was reported in a tone of genuine sadness. “Widespread regret was expressed in trotting circles on Monday when the news of the death of Mr George Hiscox was received in the city,” said The Western Mail on 21 July 1927.

The Daily News of Perth on 29 July 1927 reported on his funeral, saying “the respect and esteem in which the deceased was held was revealed by the large number of friends who were gathered at the gravesite and the numerous floral wreaths received.”

On 27 June 1929 The Daily News reported that “The Guildford Hotel and adjoining Vaudeville Theatre went to public auction”, under instructions from the administrators of the estate of the late George Hiscox”.

“There was a good attendance and spirted bidding which commenced at 12,000 pounds and rose to 20,000 pounds,” the paper noted.

Both properties were sold to the Swan Brewery Co Ltd for 25,000 pounds.

For The Guildford Hotel, The Vaudeville Theatre and the WA trotting industry, it was the end of an era.

Eighty years later – in August 2008 – a fire could have meant the end of the structure itself. The first floor of the hotel was gutted. For years it sat vacant and fell into disrepair. The local community ran a fierce campaign urging the owners to restore the building.

The hotel’s history is never far away. When this work began in 2016 some significant discoveries were made. Under the plasterwork were found original handmade bricks made by convicts.

The Guildford Hotel re-opened in May 2016 and today remains a much-loved icon of the town.

If you sit in the hotel today and listen carefully you might hear George Hiscox organising a show for his theatre, some support for his mayoral candidacy or a tip for one of his pacers.

Written by Peter Wilmoth