Commercial Hotel Redevelopment

2011 –

The Commercial Hotel was a pub with residential rooms on its last legs. The building dating from the 1890’s had been seriously neglected and negatively altered, yet it still had a presence.

The first stage of this redevelopment was to find new and relevant uses for the building that would tie it back into the workings of the town of Castlemaine. This was to include maintaining a place for the small but loyal existing regulars most of who saw the Commercial as their living room and some as their home.

The first physical change was to reinstate one of the shop fronts. The pub maintained trading through the preliminary changes.

Since then we have achieved a planning permit for five appartments on the first floor and a new double storey extension to the east.

Photography

Geoff Crosby