Robert MacPherson Gift 1
Collection
A collection of photograph albums recording the personal and professional life of architect Charles Griffin showing many of the residences which he designed in Queensland. [Box 14278]. A framed pictorialist landscape photograph entitled "Mist O'Edinburgh" with the monogram of the Sydney Camera Circle. [Box 14280 O/S]; a framed compilation of photographs entitled "An Outing to the Blackall Range with the Electricity Supply Association" [Box 14281 O/S]; and a framed photograph of children feeding chickens [Box 14279 O/S].
The re-building of Lennons Hotel, Brisbane as a first-class air-conditioned hotel with 150 rooms designed by Emil Sodersteen, was for a Sydney proprietor Jack Kouvelis. The cost was to be met by the City Mutual Life Assurance Society, but after tenders closed in December, the Society sought to limit their expenditure to £150,000. This was less than any of the tenders, resulting in a claim from Kouvelis for damages. Subsequently changes were made to the plans, including a proposal to reduce the George Street frontage by 50% (reflected in plans held by the John Oxley Library), but instead, when construction commenced in April 1940, the height of the hotel was reduced by a storey and the intended roof-top swimming pool and tennis court deleted. Lennons Hotel re-opened in July 1941.
In copyright.