Published on Tuesday, 2 March 2021 at 4:03:00 AM
Freemasons Hotel Crowned Again by Tanya Henkel
Do you know that feeling when an outfit simply needs a hat to be complete? Or a cupcake needs that final cherry on top? Well that was what Geraldtonians wondered in 1973 when the grand circular tower with its soaring cone-shaped roof was removed from the Freemasons Hotel. Gracing the landmark building since its construction in 1896, the elaborate tower, with its distinctive red tiled roof topped by decorative wrought iron capping and a flagpole, was an important feature of the building designed by prominent Western Australian architect Henry Stirling Trigg. Providing both a focal point and vantage place for numerous panorama and streetscape photographs of Geraldton for almost 80 years, the tower had been damaged during the 1968 Meckering earthquake and was removed five years later due to safety fears. However the loss of the tower resulted in a stunted, squat appearance to the formerly grandiose hotel. In 2004 the owners set about restoring the dignity and grandeur to the building with a new tower designed and constructed to resemble, rather than replicate, the original. Thus the Freemasons Hotel was crowned again.
Photo Caption: Freemasons Hotel tower being taken off 1973, courtesy of Martin Gregory.
Caption by Tanya Henkel.
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