Hotel Canberra
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The Hotel Canberra, also known as Hyatt Hotel Canberra is in Yarralumla, near Lake Burley Griffin and Parliament House. It was built to house the politicians when Federal Parliament moved to Canberra. It was constructed by the contractor John Howie between 1922-1925. Originally opened in 1924 as Hostel no. 1, in 1927 it became known as the Hotel Canberra.
Other early hotels in Canberra include the Hotel Kurrajong opened in 1925. A number of other hotels opened in 1927.
In 1950 the government gave up the management of the hotel and the lease was taken over by "Hotel Canberra Ltd" a subsidiary of Tooheys Brewery, Sydney. In 1974 the lease was not renewed and the hotel was shut down. Between 1976 and 1984 it was used as an annexe for parliament house, providing office space for parliamentary staff.
A project was begun in 1982 to restore and extend the hotel to its former glory. After several years of troubles with the backers, Hyatt Hotels re-opened Hotel Canberra in 1987 as the new "Hyatt Hotel Canberra", the only five star hotel in Canberra.
[edit] Hyatt Catering
The Hotel Canberra isn't the only place that Hyatt Hotel Canberra employees work. Since the late 1990's and early in 2000's, the Hyatt has obtained the catering contracts for Parliament House, Australian War Memorial and the National Museum of Australia. Hyatt employees run both the banquet and the cafe establishment in these three buildings. The Hyatt previously had the contract for Madew Wines at Lake George, 30km from Canberra, but did not renew it in the early 2000's. The Hyatt Hotel has also had the contract for the AFL games played at Manuka Oval for the last couple of years, and will be catering the 4 games in 2006.
[edit] External references
- National Library of Australia - Records of Hotel Canberra
- Hyatt Hotel Canberra website
- Builders of Canberra 1909-1929, A Gugler, 1994.
- Westlake One of the Vanished Suburbs of Canberra, A Gugler, 1997.
This article relating to the city of Canberra or the Australian Capital Territory is a stub. You can help by expanding it. See the WikiProject Canberra for article coordination.
