The Oriental Hotel was undoubtedly one of the most exuberant buildings of goldrush Dunedin.
In existence for only 24 years, it dominated its neighbours and magnificently thumbed its nose at any dourness that might, fairly or unfairly, have been associated with the established settler society.
The eccentric four-storeyed timber structure was built in 1863 for John Sibbald (1822-1892).
Born at Abercorn, near Edinburgh, Sibbald arrived in Dunedin on the Clutha in 1854 and ran a tailoring business before taking on Stafford House, which he later named the Provincial Hotel.
Sibbald also owned the Princess Theatre for nearly 20 years.
He took a keen interest in politics and was a supporter of James Macandrew.
According to an obituary, "his liberal-handedness was almost proverbial".
Construction of the Oriental was nearly complete by December 1863, and the following month Harriet Cooper became the licensee.
The design of the building was so eclectic that it has been variously described as Gothic, Continental, Renaissance, Old English, American and, yes, Oriental.
It even had ironwork with shamrock motifs.
The Otago Daily Times described it as "very pretty" and an example of what might be termed "Continental Gothic", a departure from the ordinary Gothic style.
The great variety of detail included barley twist columns, grotesque heads, a representation of Bacchus, balcony stick work, Tudoresque chimneys, gablets, an elaborate cornice, and a crowning platform with iron railings.
Stacpoole and Beaven (1972) noted that the oriel windows with connecting balconies, together with the cornice, were "as far East as Gothic could go".
Whether or not the name of the hotel was inspired by its design is not recorded.
The question of who designed the building has been one of the puzzles of Dunedin’s architectural history.
Stacpoole and Beaven suggested Edward Rumsey as a possibility, and there are stylistic similarities with his Supreme Court building in Auckland.
Rumsey left Melbourne in 1862 and may have arrived in Otago that year, possibly spending time on the goldfields.
His earliest advertisement as an architect in Dunedin (or at least the earliest found so far) dates from August 1864, some months after the completion of the Oriental.
Another, and on balance more likely, candidate is William Henry Clayton.
Clayton worked in Dunedin from May 1863, and of all the architects in Dunedin at the time, his use of the gothic style is the best fit for the Oriental.
Clayton later became colonial architect and he designed many public buildings throughout the country, including the Chief Post Office in Christchurch, and the Old Government Buildings in Wellington.
There are particularly striking similarities between the Oriental and Clayton’s unrealised concept drawing for Government House in Wellington (c.1869).
So far only one piece of documentary evidence has been found to support his authorship: in August 1863 Clayton called for tenders for "Lowering an Hotel to the permanent level".
It was at this time that the section of Princes St known as the Cutting, in which the Oriental was built, was lowered to the line of the street on either side.
Was the Oriental the hotel referred to in the tender notice?
The Oriental was one of Dunedin’s larger hotels.
It had a bar and a restaurant, and was the venue for lodge meetings, coroner’s inquests, the organisation of walking races, and its fair share of disorderly behaviour.
It was a mostly respectable establishment, however, and its accommodation included "private rooms for families".
In 1883, an English artist who had toured New Zealand described the hotel as "rather of an American type, and, I must say, the most elegant building of the kind I have seen since leaving San Francisco".
The first licensee, Harriet Cooper, went broke within a few months.
She was succeeded by Horace Bastings, and he was followed by another 16 proprietors over the next 23 years.
In its early years, Princes St was plagued by fires, some of which swept through entire city blocks.
Deaths and great loss of property were the result, and it is unsurprising that wooden buildings came to be seen as a liability, with more fire-resistant brick construction promoted on safety grounds.
In the 20th century, unreinforced masonry buildings were widely identified as performing poorly in earthquakes, but in the 19th century fire was the better understood and more often experienced danger.
The Oriental nearly burned down on no fewer than four occasions (1865, 1880, 1883, and 1885), and at the time of its demolition in 1887 it was described as a standing menace.
By this time blasting works had been carried out to extend Dowling St past the hotel.
Its land was very valuable, and owner John Donaldson decided to demolish and build something new.
The replacement building was the original corner portion of the Excelsior Hotel, and it stands to this day, still bearing Donaldson’s name.
• For more from David Murray go to builtindunedin.com.
Oriental Hotel
Built: 1863
Address: 152 Princes St
Architect: Possibly William Henry Clayton (1823-1877)
Builder: Not identified
Demolished: 1887
