Freemasons Hotel

Freemasons' Hotel is a historic building on Stirling Terrace in Toodyay, Western Australia. It was built for William Tregoning, and originally licensed in 1861 as the Newcastle Hotel. In 1977 the building was classified by the National Trust and given a permanent listing on the Register of the National Estate. It is also listed on the Australian Heritage Database.The building is a double height red brick structure with corrugated iron roof and a decorative parapet of classical influence. There are verandahs at ground and first floor levels with timber posts and balustrades. The ground level also has an additional set back verandah with brick columns and arches. There is a rear verandah to both upper and lower levels and a single storey brick extension. The building's Federation Filigree façade was restored in 1994.HistoryThe first owner of the hotel was William Penphrase Tregonning, a publican formally of York and Beverley. In 1860 Tregonning bought at auction lots 6, 7, 8 and 14 in the new town of Newcastle. Three weeks later on 24 October 1860 he called for tenders to build a 15 room hotel. A single storey public house with stables and a large enclosure was constructed and Tregonning was granted a license in the name of the Newcastle Hotel in April 1861.In 1862 Tregonning sold the hotel to Thomas Mead of Northam for two thousand pounds.That same year J.T. Monger opened a second hotel at the southern end of Stirling Terrace, also naming it the Newcastle Hotel. (Later it was renamed the Toodyay Tavern). Due to a hiatus caused by a change of ownership of the first Newcastle Hotel, the new owner Thomas Mead, was forced to bestow the name "Freemasons' Tavern and Newcastle Hotel" on the older public house. Water supplies were a constant issue in Toodyay. When the town well ran dry in 1869 permission was given by the Freemasons' Hotel licensees, Samuel and James Gregg, for people to draw their drinking water from the private well behind the hotel. It was equipped with a pump and was used often.