Devonshire Arms, Fitzroy

The Devonshire Arms Hotel was a public house located in Fitzroy, in the state of Victoria, Australia.

Devonshire Arms Hotel
General information
AddressFitzroy Street, Fitzroy, VIC 3068, Australia
Coordinates37°48′25″S 144°58′34″E
Opened1843 (1843)
For the Irish hotel that once had this name, see Lismore House Hotel.

History

The Devonshire Arms was located on Fitzroy Street, south of Gertrude Street. It opened in 1843, and although ceases to operate as a hotel, is currently Fitzroy's oldest surviving building. It is also Melbourne's oldest known extant hotel. [1]

The hotel was erected and owned for 50 years by local entrepreneur Francis Clark.[2] Clark had arrived in Melbourne in 1840, and became manager of James Palmer's lemonade and soda factory. He opened a butcher's shop near the corner of Bourke Street and Elizabeth Street in 1845, and later another shop in Richmond. He bought speculative property around Fitzroy and Alphington, and lived a prosperous life. Although he hailed from Essex, the hotel was given the name Devonshire Arms, owing to the pre-goldrush population of the area being principally from the south-west of England.

The building is now part of St Vincent's Hospital, housing the hospital's Department of Addiction (ironic considering the building's past).

The site is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and is included a Heritage Overlay. [1]

References
  1. "Former Devonshire Arms Hotel, Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number H0528", Victorian Heritage Database, Heritage Victoria, retrieved 13 September 2010
  2. "PETTY SESSIONS". The Melbourne Courier. II (150). Victoria, Australia. 3 December 1845. p. 2. Retrieved 11 August 2019 – via National Library of Australia. ,...Transfer of licenses; Mr. Joseph Cowell Passmore applied for the transfer of the license of the Devonshire Arms, now in the possession, of - Mr. Francis Clark. Granted...
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