Seagren's Building
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| Seagren's Building | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Seagren's Building, 2010 | |
| Location | 124 Charlotte Street, Cooktown, Queensland, Australia |
| Coordinates | 15°28′01″S 145°15′00″E / 15.4669°S 145.25°E |
| Design period | 1870s–1890s (late 19th century) |
| Built | 1880s–c. 1900 |
| Official name | Motor Inn Motel, Seagren's Building |
| Type | state heritage (built) |
| Designated | 21 October 1992 |
| Reference no. | 600420 |
| Significant period | 1880s–1900s (fabric) 1880s–1930s (historical) |
| Significant components | workshop, shop/s, residential accommodation – house/quarters above shop/s |
  Location of Seagren's Building in Queensland  Seagren's Building (Australia) | |
Seagren's Building is a heritage-listed workshop at 124 Charlotte Street, Cooktown, Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1880s to c. 1900. It is also known as Motor Inn Motel and Seagren's Inn. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.[1]
This two-storeyed timber and galvanised iron building was constructed in the 1880s for Cooktown cabinet maker and furniture dealer, Pher Erick Seagren (Sjorgren), who acquired the site (allotment 11 of section 3, parish of Cook) in 1880. Photographic evidence reveals that the building was extant by the late 1880s at least, although the northern side verandah was not added until around the turn of the century. The upper level of the building was the Seagren family residence, with the lower level a furniture display room/shop. A c. 1888 photograph also indicates a large workshop attached to the rear of the building. Whether part of this survives in the present rear extension has yet to be determined.[1]
PE Seagren was born in Sweden in 1845. Following an apprenticeship in cabinetmaking, he worked in his trade in Copenhagen before emigrating to the Queensland in his mid-twenties, arriving at Rockhampton in 1871. In 1873, he married, at Rockhampton, Rosetta Bradish, a London emigrant who also had arrived in Rockhampton in 1871. Intending to join in the Palmer River goldrush, Seagren travelled to Cooktown in February 1874, but chose instead to establish himself in his trade at the burgeoning port. He was one of the town's earliest citizens, and according to local tradition his son, William Erick Endeavour, was the first white male born at Cooktown, on 26 August 1874.[1]
Cooktown was founded in October 1873 as the Endeavour River port for the Palmer River goldfields, and within six months had 20 restaurants, 12 large and 20 smaller stores, 6 butchers, 5 bakers, 3 tinsmiths, and chemists, fancygoods shops, watchmakers, bootmakers and saddlers; 65 publican's licenses had been issued for the Cooktown-Palmer River district, with 30 more applied for by April 1874. Two Cooktown newspapers were established in 1874, and the town was declared a municipality on 5 April 1876. A railway was constructed from Cooktown to Laura between 1884 and 1888, further opening the port to development. By the turn of the century the Cooktown-Palmer River district had a population of 35,000 (15,000 Europeans and 20,000 Chinese) and Cooktown had become the important centre not only of a thriving mining district, but also of pearling, beche-de-mer, and pastoral activity.[1]
In the 1880s, Queensland Post Office Directories Seagren was listed as a cabinetmaker and furniture dealer and upholsterer, general importer, and a furniture, glass and china dealer. In August 1889, Seagren advertised as a cabinetmaker and upholsterer, whose furniture warehouse and china and glass bazaar was located near the Queensland National Bank in Charlotte Street, the principal thoroughfare of Cooktown. This equates with the position of the present building.[1]
By 1898, PE Seagren had acquired the adjoining northern allotment, containing two shops, and c. 1900 an upper level verandah was added to the northern side of his shop-house. This was enclosed below as shop space. Seagren acquired the adjoining southern allotment, which contained a small shop, in 1915.[1]
By the early 1900s, output from the Palmer goldfield was declining, and Cooktown's significance as a regional port correspondingly decreased. The Charlotte Street building survived the cyclone of 1907 and the 1918 fire which destroyed the buildings on the opposite side of the street, but following PE Seagren's death at Cooktown in 1934, aged 88, the furniture warehouse was closed. Seagren-manufactured furniture reputedly became collector's items.[1]
PE Seagren was one of the earliest settlers of Cooktown, a substantial landholder in the district, a resident of Cooktown for 60 years, and a prominent and highly respected member of his community. He was keen to encourage Cooktown's progress, and was actively involved in municipal work for many years, beginning with three years on the Daintree Divisional Board (1892–95) prior to being elected to the Cooktown Municipal Council in 1895. He served as mayor of Cooktown for two terms: 1898–1901 and 1905–1908.
Seagren's contribution to his community has been described as follows:[1]
"He has laboured for the improvement of the town with unsparing energy, and the excellent condition of the streets, footpaths, and other public works is due to his progressive methods when mayor.[2]
Seagren was a Justice of the Peace, and held positions on the Hospital Board and School Advisory Board.[1]
In 1924, title to the Charlotte Street property was transferred to Seagren's only surviving child, Mrs Gertrude Blanche Muller, and following her death in 1949, to her children Mrs Malvine Rosetta Blanche Johnson and Erick Seagren Muller, who sold the building in 1952. Little has been recorded of the use of the building between the mid-1930s and the late 1960s, when Margaret Edmonds and Adrienne (Bobby) Gravenor established a newsagency, boutique and tourist information centre in the downstairs shop. They acquired title to the property in 1973, and by 1975 had converted the building into the Motor Inn Motel.[1]
Later it operated as a hotel under the name Seagren's Inn. In 2016, the building is for sale.[3]
