Commercial Real Estate ran a longer historical piece on the Terminus Hotel in Pyrmont, which I read with interest. The article was where I first saw notice that the hotel was being sold at auction. That tip is what led me to contact JLL, the agent handling the campaign. Everything that followed for Lost Collective's Terminus Hotel gallery, including the access to photograph inside, came from that one inquiry.
Image credit: Noel Butlin Archives, Australian National University, Tooth & Co. Yellow Cards, Terminus Hotel Pyrmont (AU NBAC N60-YC-700).
Ways Terrace in Pyrmont, around the 1920s. Photo: National Library of Australia.
The strongest part of the article was the explanation of what working-class pubs like the Terminus did in their day: the corner pub as the de facto living room for terraced housing without the room to host. Jack Cremona's read on that pulled the building into the longer arc of inner-Sydney social history.
"All Sydney pubs have a story to tell, but it's likely none has as many colourful chapters in its history as the Terminus Hotel in Pyrmont. Abandoned since 1984, the ivy-covered Terminus has always piqued the interest of those passing by the corner of Harris and John streets. Interest was revived last month when the property was put on the market, and the first images inside the forgotten pub were revealed after more than three decades. This week, it was announced that the property had been sold for $5 million to a private developer who is reportedly considering a number of uses, including the reactivation of the still-licensed premises."
The National Trust welcomed the prospect of the Terminus, described in the piece as a "fine example of an early 20th-century hotel", being put back into use. "There is ample scope for additional social and entertainment venues in the vicinity, now that the peninsula has been redeveloped as a residential area," the National Trust's Graham Quint said.
Read the original at commercialrealestate.com.au.
