page_title: Criterion Hotel, Warwick
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Criterion Hotel, Warwick / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Criterion Hotel in Warwick, ca. 1925.
context_page_description: The Criterion Hotel is a heritage-listed hotel at 84 Palmerin Street in Warwick, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Dornbusch & Connolly and built in 1917 by Connolly & Bell. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
context_section_description: This two-storeyed brick hotel, prominently situated in Palmerin Street, the main street of Warwick, was erected in 1917 for the Allman family.
  It replaced a single-storeyed timber hotel, known also as the Criterion, which existed on the site from the 1860s, owned by David Bugden. Records indicate that although Bugden apparently left the Criterion in mid 1872, he retained ownership of the property and the hotel continued to be operated by members of the Bugden family until the early 1880s, then by JW Quinn until the mid 1880s.
  The hotel was acquired by Jeremiah Allman in 1887. Born in Ireland, Allman arrived in Australia in the mid 1860s, establishing himself on the Darling Downs and acquiring a hotel in Stanthorpe in the early 1870s. At around this time Allman married Mrs Mary Dwan, a Warwick widow and licensee of the Sportsman's Arms Hotel in Albion St, Warwick. The Allmans remained at the Sportsman's Arms until they moved to the Criterion Hotel in the mid 1880s.
  From the mid 1880s, Allman was also actively involved in the development of Warwick. Allman was elected an alderman of the Warwick Town Council in 1886, remaining with the Council until 1903 and serving as Mayor in 1895 and 1902.
  Mary Allman died in 1898. Some time after this Allman remarried to Catherine King, also known as Kate.
  In 1899 a notice appeared in the Warwick Argus advising that the goodwill and plant of the Criterion had been purchased by Perkins and Co, the reason for the sale given as Allman had decided to take a long holiday. The sale does not appear to have eventuated however, as there is no record of such transfer on the title documents.
  Another notice appeared in the Warwick Argus in 1900 from J Allman to inform customers and the public that "having purchased the above hostelry, he has had the premises thoroughly renovated, rendering the CRITERION one of the best appointed hotels in the district".
  The license of the hotel was transferred to Kate Allman in December 1908, prior to Allman's death in September 1910. Subsequent to Allman's death the property was transferred to Allman's son Daniel, Patrick Joseph Dalton and John Logan. During the early twentieth century the Allman family also owned the National Hotel and leased the Langham Hotel in Warwick.
  Tenders for a new (brick) Criterion Hotel were called by Warwick architects Dornbusch and Connolly in December 1912, and again in March 1916. The estimated price of the new hotel was £12,000.
  By February 1917 the original hotel had been demolished to make way for a more palatial structure. Erection of the new hotel was in progress by March that year, and it was noted that "even at this early stage the big structure has quite altered the aspect of Palmerin-Street ... An examination of the hotel shows it has been designed on most modern methods, the general arrangements being very up-to-date. When completed the new Criterion will be one of the most imposing and finest hotels in the State". The contractors for the hotel were Messrs Connolly and Bell.
  The ground floor of the new building also included shops to either side of the main Palmerin Street entry, and by the end of July 1917, letting notices for the shops in the new Criterion buildings appeared in the local press.
  The hotel remained in the Allman family until 1968. The hotel subsequently had a number of owners before being acquired by the present owners in 1989, by which time it is understood that the hotel was in poor condition. Alterations undertaken to the hotel at this time included the reorganisation of the main bar area and bar furniture to create two separate bar areas.
caption: Criterion Hotel in Warwick, ca. 1925
exif: {}