A brief history of Hotel LA (Lord Alfred Hotel), Petrie Terrace

The hotel was originally called The Prince Alfred Hotel and was probably named in honour of Queen Victoria’s son, Alfred. His Royal Highness, Prince Alfred toured Australia in the 1860’s. The original builder of the hotel was Robert Brady, who bought the corner block of land from John Dowling in September 1867, and took out a mortgage, for one hundred and fifty pounds. The original premises was a simple rectangular wooden building with a gable-end, and was presumably replaced by the present building around 1887-88 when Castlemaine Brewery bought the property. The two storied brick building with stone cellars was redeveloped and the bull nosed street awning and corner entrance were removed, as well as the upper verandah, cast iron balustrade, French doors and chimney stack.   The Prince Alfred was renamed in late 1988 (BHG 1989). I was unable to verify when the hotel’s name changed to “Hotel LA” as it is known today.

Photo: Prince Alfred Hotel, Brisbane, ca. 1929. State Library of Queensland, negative number 1873

This information can be found in the collections of the John Oxley Library:-

• Queensland Post Office Directories
• Brisbane Hotels and Publicans Index 1842 – 1900.
• Views of the Prince Alfred, P  647.94  vie (short history of the hotel) by Base Line Books
• The Ups and Downs of the Petrie-Terrace Walk/Drive Heritage Tour / by (BHG) The Brisbane History Group, which is held in the John Oxley Library collection.