Elizabeth Hotel
Elizabeth Hotel, opened on Thursday 22 August 1957, the first building to be erected in Elizabeth’s town centre. It was built as a cost of £500,000 by the SA Brewery Company. The hotel was designed by the architectural department of the SA Brewing Company, architect S. H Gilbert.
An official dinner was held the evening before, attended by the Premier, Sir Thomas Playford, members of the Board of the SA Brewing Company and officials of the SA Housing Trust.
The hotel's first manager Alan Wall and run by Clyderay Hotels Ltd. PH 0059
The hotel was built in the form of a cross with wings attached to the northern and eastern legs. The northern wing consisted of 16 public bedrooms. The peacock and blue carpets in the bedrooms were especially made in England, the walls painted soft pastel colours. A small guest lounge featured an open fireplace of Basket Range stone. A larger lounge could seat 200 people. The floors of both lounges were covered by British made carpets of Menzies tartan pattern. A small private dining room for 25 people was available and the main dining room could accommodate 65 people. The private dining room was called the Edinburgh room and was decorated with pictures of inns and castles. The main dining room was known as the Elizabeth room and displayed pictures of the royal family. New to Australia just four years earlier was the drive through bottle shop, a feature of the Elizabeth hotel.
North of the saloon was a garden lounge which could hold 500 people. The gardens had 400 trees planted, rose bushes, shrubs and other small plants. The eastern wing had bedrooms for staff.
Over 250 guests could be entertained in the main lounge and 50 staff were employed.
Three murals in the hotel were painted by Polish artist Stanislaw Ostaja-Kotkowski. The guest lounge near the main entrance contained a large bronze, copper and brass art piece. The design depicted the growth of Salisbury Plains, the smaller pieces of metal pointing upright were the shrubs as they first grew on the plan and the larger pieces are the trees as they developed. The large curved strips represented the industrial growth of the area. The Edinburgh contained a giant wall length aboriginal mural, carved of wood in various shapes.
Hotel was built in conjunction with SA Housing Trust, the SA Brewing Company, the PMG, and
Builders: C.O Yuncken and O’Neill & Clayton
Joinery by J. Grove and Sons
painting & Decorators A. H Nicholls & son,
Plumbing by Les J. Hill & Sons, Electrical contractors, W.J & V. Bert, grading and paving J.H Leverington
Interior Decoration & Colour design Langdon Badger
The hotel was closed on 16 September 1983 and demolished to make way for the expansion of the Shopping Centre.
Publicans
Alan William WALL 22 Aug 1957 – 27 Oct 1959
Harry Alder DUNN 28 Aug 1959 – 28 Aug 1961
Archibald JAMIESON 29 Aug 1961 – 18 Sept 1961
Harry Alder DUNN 19 Sept 1961 – 8 Sept 1962
Archibald JAMIESON 9 Sept 1962 – 30 Sept 1962
Harry Alder DUNN 1 Oct 1962 – 28 Feb 1965
Jack Hammond BENZIE 1 March 1965 – 7 March 1965
Laurence William Henry COLLIER 8 March 1965 – 4 June 1970
Donald Bruce FARROW 5 June 1970 – 29 March 1971
Donald Gordon PLUSH 24 April 1971 – 10 Jan 1972
Jack Hammond BENZIE 27 Jan 1972 – 20 Feb 1972
Con ARGY 21 Feb 1972 – 16 Oct 1977
Albert Arnold MAYHAM 17 Oct 1977 – 16 Sept 1983
