Criterion Hotel, Maryborough

Criterion Hotel is a heritage-listed hotel at 98 Wharf Street, Maryborough, Fraser Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by James Robertson and built from 1878 to 1883 by the Cooper Brothers. It is also known as Melbourne Hotel and Riverview Hotel. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.HistoryThe Criterion Hotel is one of only two three storeyed brick buildings in Maryborough, erected in two stages from 1878 to 1883 for the owner Neil Blue, to a design of local architect, James Robertson.The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established in 1847-8, to provide transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1852 the growing town was gradually transferred to the south of the river which was considered preferable for shipping. Development followed and by March 1861, Maryborough was declared a municipality, the Borough of Maryborough. The area in and around Wharf Street developed as a result of the wharves, and with the construction of the Customs House 1861 and Bonded Store in 1863.The land on which the Criterion Hotel, first known as the Melbourne Hotel, was later built was first acquired by ET Aldridge in May 1852 by a Deed of Grant. An earlier Melbourne Hotel was constructed on the site by 1868, which was a timber building whose proprietor was TN Milner. Neil Blue acquired the hotel in October 1877, and on 22 September 1878, the timber building was burnt down and another hotel was planned by him.