24/09/2023
Talking Walls had the privilege of researching one of the most iconic hotels in East Sydney. The Strand Hotel (William Street and Crown Street, Darlinghurst).
There has been a hotel at the location since 1874 when it was known as the Rose & Crown Hotel. It was renamed The Strand in 1913. In 1919 it was resumed by the City of Sydney and demolished in 1922 as part of the project to widen William Street to its present 100 ft width (prior to 1922, William Street was only 41ft wide and was buzzing with retail trade). The City of Sydney rebuilt The Strand Hotel in 1923 and kept it in its portfolio until 1935 when it was sold to Tooth & Co.
The hotel became infamous in 1929 when it was the scene of a gangland hit. Razor gangsters Jim Devine and Frank Green shot Kate Leigh's associates, Bernard Dalton and Walter Tomlinson, as they exited the hotel in what became a major moment in the Razor Wars of the 1920s and 30s. Dalton died on the Crown Street pavement.
