WHILE many believe that the added attraction of fashionable eateries into Australian pubs is a new phenomenon, here’s a little “advertorial” from Sydney newspaper, Australian Star on August 8 1903, that would suggest otherwise. Here’s a picture which partly shows the Crystal Hotel in George Street (to the extreme left) where a popular eatery once satisfied the palate of Sydney diners.
NEW DINING HALL.
Bateman’s Crystal Hotel
The new dining hall and private dining-rooms which have just been opened at Bateman’s Crystal Hotel are amongst the most magnificent in Sydney or Australia; In fact, their beauty is such that they compare favourably with any of those in Paris, or, in-deed, in any part of the world.
The dining-hall is fitted up in the most up-to-date fashion, and is situated on the first floor, overlooking George-street. The premises are decorated in cream, terracotta, and white, and the furniture is plain but it’s of the best.
On an ordinary day 120 persons can be seat-ed comfortably, but on special occasions the tables can be moved to allow of 200 persons sitting down for a meal. The room is hung with pictures, while mirrors are placed around. Experts and connoisseurs describe the room as having the most artistically appointed in the colonies, while the private rooms are considered, the most effective inventions of colouring.
The private rooms are decorated in the latest fashion, and coloured in blue, buttercup, pink, rose pink, and green, and all the fittings are blended in such a manner as to make them most pleasing. The cuisine is under the supervision of Mons Lacaton, late of the Maison Doree, of Melbourne, and the whole management is entrusted to Mr. Ger. Simons, whose Continental experience is well known.
* Picture supplied by Simon Gibbard
Australian Pub Project Facebook Group member, Sue Curr sent us another picture of the Crystal Hotel. She writes: “John Bateman’s Crystal Hotel at 432 George Street is in the foreground, with an unusual light fixture above the entrance. Publicans were required to have a light burning outside their premises from 1830. J S Abraham’s chemist shop next door (434 George Street) was demolished to make way for an extension to the hotel in circa 1901.”
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Categories: NSW hotels, Sydney hotels
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