The Empire Hotel (also known as the Empire Tavern) is a historic building at 396 Princes Street, Dunedin, New Zealand, located some 700 metres southwest of the city centre. It served as a public house from the 1850s until the 1990s, then underwent restoration and conversion to apartments in the 2010s.
- Venue
- Empire Hotel
- Address
- 396 Princes Street, Dunedin
- Town
- Dunedin, NZ
The Empire Hotel (also known as the Empire Tavern) is a historic building at 396 Princes Street, Dunedin, New Zealand, located some 700 metres southwest of the city centre. It served as a public house from the 1850s until the 1990s, then underwent restoration and conversion to apartments in the 2010s. It has a New Zealand Historic Places Trust category 1 listing. The Empire Hotel has long played a major role in Dunedin culture. Originally established by J.W. Feger and named The Queen's Arms, it was built on its present site in 1858, only 10 years after the founding of Dunedin. At that time, before much of the harbourside land was reclaimed, its site near the city's main wharf made it a central gathering place providing accommodation, food, and drink. When the Otago gold rush broke, three years later, it became the central building in a thriving entertainment district. The current brick building, designed by Thomas Bedford Cameron, replaced the original structure in 1879. The name was changed to the Union Hotel in 1890, and then to the Empire Hotel in 1898. The tavern became a pivotal venue for the development of Dunedin's distinctive music scene of the 1980s, known worldwide as the Dunedin sound. Under the ownership of John and Maureen Simpson, the upstairs bar became a principal venue for performances by such bands as The Chills, The Verlaines and The Clean. Even now, several years after the closure of the venue, the Empire is still regarded by many as the home of the Dunedin sound: "It is to this city what the Cavern Club is to Liverpool in terms of what it helped spawn, even if compared to the Beatles neither the bands who played in it, or the venue itself, is a household name…it cannot be underestimated the role the Empire played in nurturing a local music scene that is acknowledged within alternative music circles around the world." (Graeme Downes, founder of The Verlaines) The Empire Hotel is part of a historic precinct containing numerous Victorian and Edward