The Alexandria Hotel Is Facing the Wrecking Ball
The longtime Sydney local is earmarked for demolition.
One of Sydney's solid locals could be calling last drinks. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Alexandria Hotel has been earmarked for demolition after changing ownership just last week.
Standing at the corner of Henderson Road and Garden Street in Alexandria, the Alexandria Hotel has been a modest, unpretentious Sydney watering hole for about 145 years — the original building was erected in the late 1870s, NSW brewers Tooth and Co. took over in the '20s. Owner Ray Masters bought the pub in 1988 and just last week handed over the deed to a company owned by Centennial Property Group. According to SMH, these new owners are planning to demolish the pub to make way for a $8 million four-storey apartment building, with 29 new residences and commercial ground floor space.
It'd be a real shame to lose this Sydney gem; there's so much history here (and one of the best beer gardens in Sydney). One of the key game pubs for Sydney Swans fans, the Alexandria has been leased for the last 15 years by former Swans player Darren McAsey. The pub's seen its fair share of AFL finals and State of Origin matches, but it's not without its music history — Future Classic's regular Sunhaze Sundays saw the beginning of the now bigtime Sydney label. But the pub's history goes way, way back; SMH points out the pub is also Henderson Road's last remnant of Alexandria's pre-war industrial heritage (and that workers would hang their singlets on the pub's own clothes line).
Whether the Alexandria's history will save it remains to be seen, apparently the building's '20s/'30s-style architecture is 'common' and the heritage value has been lessened by the redevelopment of the surrounding area (something we don't really get, someone please explain this to us kthnx). If you're keen, you can see the Centennial Property Group company's Alexandria development application on public display at the City of Sydney council. It'll be there until July 14.
In the meantime, have a schooner and a bistro dinner at the Alexandria Hotel while you can. Look, it's so part of the Sydney furniture, it's even in this VB ad:
And this (admittedly sexist) ad for Smith's chips:
Via SMH.
Images: Alexandria Hotel.
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