Hotel Metropole, Ipswich

Hotel Metropole is a heritage-listed hotel at 253 Brisbane Street, West Ipswich, City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by George Brockwell Gill and built in 1906. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.HistoryThe two storey brick hotel was constructed in 1906 to the design of prominent Ipswich architect George Brockwell Gill. In 1915 part of the surrounding property was resumed by the Queensland Railways Department. In 1925 the brewers Perkins and Co took over the lease until 1935 as part of a widespread accumulation of hotels by the company throughout Queensland. When Perkins & Co. merged with Castlemaine in 1928 to form Castlemaine Perkins the brewery held licences for 19 freehold hotels and 50 leasehold hotels including the Hotel Metropole in Ipswich.The architect, George Brockwell Gill, designed many of the grand residences and public buildings in Ipswich from the 1880s to the 1930s. Some of his works include "Brynhyfryd" for Lewis Thomas (1889/90), Ipswich Girls' Grammar School (1890/91), St Paul's Rectory (1895), the Ipswich Club House (1916), The Ipswich Technical College (1901), and supervision of the construction of the Walter Burley Griffin Incinerator in 1936. Gill emigrated from London and settled in Ipswich in 1886 where he commenced work as an architect for the firm of Samuel Shenton. Gill took over Shenton's practice in 1889 when Shenton retired. Gill had been elected Associate of the Queensland Institute of Architects in 1904 and Fellow by 1913. He was its Vice-President in 1914-16 and President in 1918-19.