Central Court

The two-storey brick hotel was completed in 1909 for Cairns businessman William Munro. Munro, with partners R and J Gordon had established a pastoral empire in North Queensland and wholesale and retail butcheries in Cairns. His other business interests included sugar, mining, dairying and real estate. He was chairman of the Cairns Shire Council for 17 years; the equivalent of Mayor. The building was designed by architects Tunbridge, Tunbridge and Lynch and built by Mr W Phillips. Townsville building suppliers Rooney and Sons provided many of the decorative features internally, including the bar. All was transported by schooner from Townsville. The hotel had a bar and parlours on the ground floor. The first floor contained an expansive verandah, dining room, kitchen & serving rooms, sitting room, 27 guest bedrooms, bathrooms, and accommodation for the lessee and staff. The dining room, which featured a domed roof and glass front to the verandah, could accommodate 100 diners. The hotel remained substantially intact until 1975, when the ground floor interior was remodelled. Then, in 1988, the building was transformed into a ground floor shopping mall with restaurant and entertainment facilities on the first floor.