P&O Hotel (Fremantle)

P&O Hotel
P&O Hotel from High Street, 2012
General information
Architectural style	Federation Filigree
Address	25 High Street
Town or city	Fremantle
Country	Western Australia
Current tenants	University of Notre Dame Australia
Completed	1901
Opened	1 July 1901
Renovated	1938
Cost	£8,000
Renovation cost	£1,600
Technical details
Floor count	2
Design and construction
Architecture firm	Cavanagh and Cavanagh
Main contractor	Harry L. Roe

The P&O Hotel is a heritage listed building located at 25 High Street on the corner of Mouat Street in Fremantle, Western Australia. It was one of many commercial buildings constructed in Fremantle during the gold boom period in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

The corner building is a two storey Federation Filigree style structure. The highly decorative parapet has five large pediments featuring stilted arches with columns and decorative stucco along with balustrade and columns. The corner of the building parapet has the remains of a dome inscribed with the name The P&O Hotel in decorative stucco. The top of the dome has been removed. Both storeys feature large multi-paned windows with stucco architraves. The High Street and Mouat Street frontage features a bull nose veranda with extensive iron lacework and a truncated corner main entrance.

When it opened in 1901 the hotel's frontage along High Street took up half of the block to Henry Street, with a 110-foot (34 m) frontage along Mouat Street. The building consisted of two bars, a large saloon, three private parlours, lavatories, a dressing room, dining rooms, and three shops on the ground floor. Upstairs there was another large saloon with two billiard tables, sitting rooms, bathroom and 21 bedrooms. The kitchens, sculleries and pantries were located at the rear of the building with the interior yard containing stables and coach houses. The entire street frontage of the building was surrounded by wide verandahs. The building was completed at a cost of £8,000 by contractor Harry L. Roe under the instructions of the architects Cavanagh and Cavanagh.

The site was originally occupied by a much smaller establishment, the Victoria Hotel, which was built in the 1870s. In 1888 it was owned by Patrick Hagan, who was also the licensee. Hagan died in 1891 and left his entire estate, including both the P&O and the National Hotel, to his brother James. The brother sold both the Victoria and the National Hotel in 1893. Nicholas Gilbert became the licensee of the Victoria Hotel in 1895 and remained there until 1896. The Victoria Hotel was sold again in 1898 then rebuilt to the current exterior and renamed the as the P&O Hotel. John Quigley was granted a licence for the hotel in the same year. The P&O Hotel was opened on 1 July 1901, and consisted of two bars, accommodation upstairs and stables at the rear. A number of shops and restaurants occupied the High Street frontage. A new publican's licence had been granted to W.A. Grenike in early June, prior to the hotel opening.