A crowd outside Revington's Hotel in Greymouth.

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DescriptionA crowd outside Revington's Hotel in Greymouth around the turn of the 20th century.

Pubs were at the centre of communtiy life on the West Coast. This image shows a crowd outside Revington's Hotel in Greymouth around the turn of the 20th century. The hotel is decorated with banners that read 'V.R.' (Victoria Regina) and 'Cead Mille Failthe' (100,000 welcomes). The photograph was probably taken during Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee in 1897.

Revingtons Hotel, built in 1938, is located in Greymouth’s central business district at 45-49 Tainui Street and is historically significant as one of the West Coast’s leading hotel establishments.
The ancestry of Revingtons Hotel can be traced to a timber hotel built on this site by John William Oliver in 1876 called the Post Office Hotel. It was taken over by Tom Jones in circa 1885. In the mid 1890s, the hotel was purchased by William Daly Revington, who added his name to its title to become ‘Revington’s Post Office Hotel’, shortened to ‘Revingtons’. Revington made large additions to the hotel building. In 1901, it was described as being ‘probably the quietest, most dignified and generally excellent establishment … [it is] far above what would be generally expected in a town the size of Greymouth’. At this time, it was a two storeyed structure with a large balcony overlooking the thoroughfare, and comprised about 25 bedrooms, as well as apartments. On the ground floor was a large dining room, billiard room, commercial room, four sitting rooms, pantry, kitchen and servants rooms. A major flood in 1936 saw waters rising high enough for the chairs in the dining room to float around. It is possible that this event led to the decision to replace the hotel a year later.
In 1938, the owners of the day, Allan and Margaret Marshall, replaced the original hotel building with a new Spanish Mission-Art Deco style building. The architects were the Christchurch firm of Collins & West. Two storeys in height and V-shaped in plan, this replacement hotel building is rendered and has a ceramic tiled roof. The main façade fronts Tainui Street and contains a central entrance leading to the hotel’s foyer, with a balcony at the centre above. Smaller doorways are located at either end of the west façade’s ground floor, and there are sash windows on both the ground and first floor above. The first floor balcony doorways are flanked by colonnades and above is applied decoration in the form of a curved pediment. The central portion of the façade protrudes from the main roof line. Original architectural drawings, dated January 1937, show the layout of the building with its near-triangular footprint. The ground floor contains a central entrance foyer, two bars, bar parlour, commercial room, lounge, dining room and kitchen. A staircase in the foyer leads to the first floor which contains 25 bedrooms.
The hotel has a long history of hosting dignitaries. Probably the most famous guests were Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, who were photographed on 18 January 1954, waving to a large crowd from the hotel’s balcony.
A number of interior modifications have taken place in the building since it was first constructed, including renovations in 2008. On the exterior west façade, a fire escape with simple geometric metal balustrading has been removed. Lower down, overhanging the footpath, a rectangular canopy has been added at a level that obscures the upper part of the ground floor windows. While most buildings in downtown Greymouth are on Maori reserve land, Revingtons Hotel is unusual in that an auction in 2008 saw part of the land going into private ownership.Photographer Unidentified photographerDate of PhotoBetween 1st January 1897 and 31st December 1897Map^[1]ContributorHeather Newby

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Location (city or town)GreymouthLandmark (Place)Revingtons Hotel (aka The Post Office Hotel.) Last edited by: Tracey Butler

EventQueen Victoria`s Jubilee celebrations.

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MenuBy Topic | Leisure Time | TravelBy Location | Greymouth Last edited by: Tracey Butler

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