ASN Hotel Building, Heritage-listed building in Sydney, Australia
The ASN Hotel Building stands at 91 George Street in The Rocks, on the corner of George and Argyle Streets. It was built in 1839 and substantially rebuilt around 1890–91. The two-storey corner building has a cream-painted upper facade with tan quoins, a dark brown ground floor with arched windows and a curved corner entrance, and a round Guylian sign above the corner.
The site held the Assistant Surgeon's House, built soon after the First Fleet arrived in 1788, and later was occupied by architect Francis Greenway until the Crown recovered it after his death in 1837. Frederic Unwin was granted the land in 1838 and leased it to carpenter Michael Gannon, who built the New York Hotel at 91 George Street, licensed in 1840. Renamed the Liverpool Arms in 1869 and the ASN Co's Hotel in 1879, the building was substantially rebuilt around 1890–91.
The building takes its name from the Australasian Steam Navigation Company, which operated major facilities nearby and shaped the area's trading activity. This reflects how pubs served as gathering places where commerce, travel, and local life intersected in the city's early development.
The building stands at the corner of George and Argyle Streets in The Rocks, with Greenway Lane running off Argyle Street to the former rear yard. The ground floor is occupied by a pizzeria and a chocolate shop, so the facade is best seen from the public pavement at the intersection.
The building's name recalls the Australasian Steam Navigation Company, whose hotel occupied 91 George Street from 1879. Earlier it was the New York Hotel, licensed to carpenter Michael Gannon in 1840, then the Italian Hotel and the Liverpool Arms. A 1875 photograph shows the original Georgian hip-roofed building before the c. 1890-91 rebuilding.
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