The Star Hotel opened 150 years ago as the Builders' Arms Hotel, built by new publican James Walsh who also built St Patrick's Catholic Church in Albury.
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Walsh advertised in April 1874 that he "has pleasure in informing his friends and the public that his newly opened house has been fitted with every convenience and comfort for the accommodation of his friends and the public ... the cellar is stocked with the choicest wines, spirits, etc."
The hotel was advertised for sale in August 1879, noting that "the main building is of brick, substantially built, two storeys high, and contains 10 rooms and kitchen". New owner James Poole changed the name to the Star Hotel and advised patrons that the hotel "has been thoroughly renovated".
When the hotel opened in 1874, it was one of at least 15 hotels in Albury, providing for a population less than 3000, one hotel for about every 200 persons in Albury. The Star is one of only three of the 15 hotels that survive 150 years later as licensed hotels, the Star, Soden's and the Albion.
The Star joins thriving hotel trade
When the Star opened in 1874, the Advance Australia Hotel had already served locals for 16 years, built by James Layton and opened in 1858. James Soden became licensee in 1894 and remained for the next 50 years at the hotel that now carries his name.
On the future Albion site, Charles Schmiedt in October 1873 opened the Albury Hotel in premises previously occupied by William Jones' New Furniture Warehouse. Not long after, Schmiedt moved his hotel business a few doors east in Dean Street. The new licensee, Peter Griffith, changed the name to Tattersall's.
In 1880, Charles Duchatel became licensee and he changed the name to the Albion Hotel.
The Albion was demolished in 1940 and a new three-storey building opened in January 1942, still recognisable as the Albion Hotel of 2024.
Two former licensed premises of 1874 survive but not as hotels, the former Globe Hotel and Turk's Head Hotel. The derelict building near the Union Bridge was the Bridge Hotel.
The Imperial Hotel in Townsend Street was lost to fire in 1879, the rest of the hotels of 1874 have been demolished.
Patrick Baine, licensee of the Star Hotel in 1921, organised extensions to the hotel by noted Albury architect Louis Harrison with the street appearance at the end of 1921 being similar to what we have now.
