Federal Coffee Palace

Federal Hotel and Coffee Palace
Federal Coffee Palace, 1890s
General information
Location	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Address	555 Collins Street
Opening	27 July, 1888[1]
Demolished	1973
Cost	£150,000
Owner	Federal Coffee Palace Company
Management	Federal Coffee Palace Company
Height	165 ft (50 m)
Technical details
Floor count	9
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Ellerker & Kilburn in partnership with William Pitt
Developer	Federal Coffee Palace Company
Other information
Number of rooms	560
Number of suites	370

The Federal Coffee Palace was a large, elaborate French Second Empire style 560 room temperance hotel in the city centre of Melbourne, built between 1886 and 1888 at the height of the city's 1880s land boom, and demolished in 1972-73.^[2] Located on the corner of Collins and King streets, near Spencer Street station (the address is now 555 Collins Street), it is prominent in lists of the buildings Melburnians most regret having lost.^[3]

The Federal Coffee Palace was by far the largest and grandest product of the late 19th century temperance movement in the southern hemisphere. The Age wrote that the £150,000 hotel was one of "Australia's most splendid" buildings; in fact, it was "one of the largest and most opulent hotels in the world".^[4][5]

With seven main floors and two more in the corner tower, it was the most massive of the rash of large tall buildings built in the central city in the 1880s boom. The height to the top of the corner dome was 165 ft (50 m),^[6] its height to roof of 48m exceeded the 43m Fink's Building completed the previous year making it briefly Melbourne and Australia's tallest building until completion of the Australian Building in mid 1890, which measured 53m to the top of its corner spire.