Site of the Bath Arms Hotel [Item 94]

Item details


Name of item:	Site of the Bath Arms Hotel [Item 94]
Type of item:	Built
Group/Collection:	Commercial
Category:	Inn/Tavern
Primary address:	352, 354 Parramatta Road, Burwood, NSW 2134
Parish:	Concord
County:	Cumberland
Local govt. area:	Burwood

All addresses

Street Address	Suburb/town	LGA	Parish	County	Type
352, 354 Parramatta Road	Burwood	Burwood	Concord	Cumberland	Primary Address
Burwood Road	Burwood	Burwood			Alternate Address

Statement of significance:


	The Bath Arms Hotel has local historical significance as it is located on the site of the Bath Arms Inn that previously occupied the site and it provides evidence of the growth of commercial activity along Parramatta Road and the suburb of Burwood during the 1920s. The hotel building has a moderate level of aesthetic significance as it embodies the characteristics of an Inter-War hotel building with Art Deco elements, which was popular for the design of hotel buildings during the period. It also has landmark qualities as the entry point from the main thoroughfare of Parramatta Road to the suburb of Burwood. As a place of public recreation that has retained its historical usage from the 1830s to the 21st century, the place has some social significance for the local community. The hotel is considered rare as the site has been in continued use as a hotel since the 1830s. The Bath Arms Hotel building is representative of an Inter-War hotel building with Art Deco elements.
	Date significance updated: 29 May 14
	Note: The State Heritage Inventory provides information about heritage items listed by local and State government agencies. The State Heritage Inventory is continually being updated by local and State agencies as new information becomes available. Read the Department of Premier and Cabinet copyright and disclaimer.

Description


Builder/Maker:	James Corner
Construction years:	1834-1834
Physical description:	The Bath Arms Hotel is a two storey corner hotel building on the corner of Parramatta and Burwood Roads. The site comprises the main Inter War hotel building, as well as a car park and a single storey restaurant/bottle shop building which has a frontage to Burwood Road. The exterior of the main hotel building embodies the key elements of an Inter War hotel building that was popular during the 1920s and 30s in Sydney. Key elements of the style include the face brick exterior; splayed rendered motif on the parapet; horizontally oriented timber sash windows; tiled ground floor facade; cantilevered awning and horizontal massing. The hotel interior has been largely modified including new walls and ceilings in several rooms of the original portion of the hotel and it is generally not recognisable as an Inter-War hotel building interior with the exception of some ceilings, windows and cornices. Some timber wall panelling exists in some of the rooms which date from the 1920s. The existing separate restaurant/bottle shop building is a brick building that is of no remarkable architectural style dating from the 1950s.

History

Historical notes:

The first land grants in the Burwood district included those to Thomas Rowley in 1799 and William Faithful in 1808. In 1812, Rowley’s ‘Burwood Farm’ was bought by Alexander Riley, who built the first house in the district, ‘Burwood Villa’ in 1814.

Early activity in the area included farming activities, collection of timber and the development of service industries along Parramatta and Liverpool Roads.

Alongside Parramatta Road during the 1820s and 1830s, roadside inns were established to service the coaches on the Parramatta run. The Bath Arms Inn was established on the corner of Burwood and Parramatta Roads by James Corner in 1834. Corner built the Inn for his son-in-law Emmanuel Neich. The original building was three sided enclosing a courtyard, with stables and grazing paddock at the rear. Neich was landlord for sixty years until 1893.

A railway was constructed in 1855 to link Sydney and Parramatta, with Burwood being one of the six stops. It became a passenger service for the wealthy city businessmen who lived in villa estates. A village subdivision was laid out around the railway line in 1854 and the area remained relatively open. Through to the 1880’s, a number of gentleman’s estates were established in and around Burwood.

By 1895 the villa estates had largely been subdivided. Burwood remained an attractive railway suburb of gentlemen’s residences and during the following two decades its character as a garden suburb developed as there was limited industrial development in the area, but there was a variety of service industries as well as some modest homes.

Expressionist architecture which emerged in Europe in the 1920s had its greatest impact in Australia in the l930s. Inter-War art Deco frequently appeared in commercial and residential interiors and in shopfronts in the 1920s – 30s. It was distinguished by the use of vivid decorative elements which served no particular function. Straight walls, often three in parallel were used horizontally, vertically or diagonally in conjunction with geometric curves. Low relief sculpture was popular as well.

The Bath Arms Hotel that now stands on the original site of the original Inn is a c1920 two storey building

Historic themes

Australian theme (abbrev)	New South Wales theme	Local theme
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	Roadside Villages-

Assessment of significance


SHR Criteria a) [Historical significance]	The Bath Arms Hotel has local historical significance as it is located on the site of the Bath Arms Inn that previously occupied the site and it provides evidence of the growth of commercial activity along Parramatta Road and the suburb of Burwood during the 1920s. The Bath Arms Inn was established on the corner of Burwood and Parramatta Roads by James Corner in 1834. The site has been in continued use as a hotel since the 1830s. Alongside Parramatta Road during the 1820s and 1830s, roadside inns were established to service the coaches on the Parramatta run. The current Bath Arms Hotel Building was built in the 1920s.
SHR Criteria c) [Aesthetic significance]	The Bath Arms Hotel has a moderate level of aesthetic significance as it embodies the characteristics of an Inter-War hotel building with Art Deco elements, which was popular for the design of hotel buildings during the period. Key elements of the style that are evident in the main hotel building include the face brick exterior; splayed rendered motif on the parapet; horizontally oriented timber sash windows; tiled ground floor facade; cantilevered awning and horizontal massing. The interior has been largely modified including new walls and ceilings and is not recognisable as an Inter-War hotel building interior.
SHR Criteria d) [Social significance]	The Bath Arms Hotel is a place of public recreation that has retained its historical usage from the 1830s to the 21st century. It has some social significance for the local community.
SHR Criteria f) [Rarity]	Hotels from the Inter War period are not rare in the local area; however, the continued use of the site for a hotel since the 1830’s along the historic Parramatta Road route gives the property rarity value.
SHR Criteria g) [Representativeness]	The Bath Arms Hotel building is representative of an Inter-War hotel building with Art Deco elements.
Assessment criteria:	Items are assessed against the State Heritage Register (SHR) Criteria to determine the level of significance. Refer to the Listings below for the level of statutory protection.

Recommended management:

[a] Architectural detailing and decorative elements of the building should be conserved. [b] The form, scale and character of the building, together with its curtilage and streetscape presentation should be maintained. [c] Any future additions should be generally confined to the rear of the building and should be subordinate to the principal building form. [d] Architectural details and decorative elements which have been damaged or lost should be repaired and/or reinstated (based on sound evidence/research). [e] Any new signage shall not obscure significant architectural elements and should be sympathetic with the character of the building. Any existing unsympathetic signage should be removed.

Listings

Heritage Listing	Listing Title	Listing Number	Gazette Date	Gazette Number	Gazette Page
Local Environmental Plan	Burwood Local Environmental Plan 2012	I94	09 Nov 12
Heritage study

Study details

Title	Year	Number	Author	Inspected by	Guidelines used
Burwood Heritage study	1986	1.47	Fox & Associates Architects/Planners Sydney		No

References, internet links & images

Type	Author	Year	Title	Internet Links
Written	Dunlop, E.	1974	Harvest of the Years - The story of Burwood

Note: internet links may be to web pages, documents or images.

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Data source


The information for this entry comes from the following source:
Name:	Local Government
Database number:	1250049

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