Darlinghurst Blog: Past and Present: Royal Sovereign Hotel

From the 1880s to the 1920s, The Royal Sovereign Hotel in Darlinghurst was the scene of numerous political speeches. Local council candidates would use the corner pub as a place to meet the electorate and would either speak from the bar or from the lace-metal balcony. At some meetings, crowds of up to 300 people would gather on the street to hear from the politicians on the balcony above. 

I love the picture above, from Trove, which shows the Royal Sovereign, St John's Church and Darlinghurst Road in the 1920s. Click on it to enlarge it so that you see the bill posters along the wall on the right. 

The other two archive pictures (at top and below) were taken in 1925 and are from the council's demolition books. The Victorian-era hotel was demolished soon after and a new, longer and higher hotel was built on its place. 

Almost 90 years later the hotel still stands on the corner of Liverpool Street and Darlinghurst Road, and while it remains the Sovereign Hotel, it is more commonly known as the Darlo Bar. 

The Darlo Bar is owned by the same group, Solotel, who own the Kings Cross Hotel and Green Park Hotel. 

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Links:

City of Sydney Archives

City of Sydney ArchivePix

Darlinghurst: Past and Present: Corner of Victoria and Liverpool Streets

How could you not recognise the intersection of Victoria and Liverpool streets? It hasn't changed much since 1976, except that today the trees are much bigger.

Incidentally there is a development application presently before council for what looks like a rather cool, rooftop cafe at 247 Victoria Street, above Kika the tapas place with the orange wall (above). 

And as usual, the development application provides a little bit of information about the building's history:

"The site was originally four terraces, three fronting Victoria Street and one fronting Liverpool Street (also known as 399 Liverpool Street)," the DA says.

''In the 1960s the three terraces on Victoria Street were converted to a picture framing/gallery on the lower floor and offices above and remained as this until it was sold to our client in 1993.

''In 1993, the ground floor was converted to a café, ʻFezʼ, with office on part of the first floor with the remainder being an office and residence for our client. For many years it was known as the ʻFez buildingʼ.

''In 1998, the adjoining property on Liverpool Street was purchased and the site was amalgamated. This address was known as 399 Liverpool Street. Initially this site was used as part of the adjoining café and in 2003 the ground floor was converted to a clothing retail outlet and in 2007 to its present use as a café."

The exhibition period for the proposed development closes on June 21. Have a look - through the link below - at the Statement of Environmental Effects, which has some groovy rooftop-cafe photographs taken in Morocco and is apparently how the architect envisages this site being transformed. 

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Links:

City of Sydney Archives

City of Sydney ArchivePix

Development Application for 247 Liverpool Street