Lorne Chalet

Located at 4 Smith Street Lorne, originally built for Robert and Rita Sanderson in 1937, after the guesthouse boom era of the 1920s. It had a maximum capacity of 64 at the time. Later in 1951 the ownership of the business had changed hands to D. & K. Dawson. By 1961 the Dawsons had expanded their operations to take 71 guests. A verandah at the rear of the building was built in during the 1960s to create bedrooms with ensuites.

Chalet Lorne is reflective of the ‘second wave’ of guesthouses which feature more modern interiors and fittings.

The Chalet guesthouse installed a swimming pool. Guests were provided with bathing boxes on the beach, surfboards and other beach equipment. Lounge rooms, dining rooms and ballrooms brought guests together, often romantically. Many returned for their honeymoon, as did Robert and Pattie Menzies, later Sir Robert Menzies, Australia’s longest serving Prime Minister and Dame Pattie.

Chalet Guesthouse 1940s

The Chalet guesthouse was built in 1937 for Bob Sanderson and Jack Stirling whose properties it occupied. John McGregor of Colac was awarded the building contract and after the site was cleared and the old Mountjoy coach stables demolished, building work began in September.

It was near the end of the Great Depression and labour was readily available. Twenty-six carpenters using only hand tools really got into the work in earnest. Working conditions were very strict and McGregor wouldn’t even allow the men to roll their cigarettes on his time so they had to bring thin tobacco tins crammed with pre-rolled fags to work. Not even tea breaks were allowed during a forty-four hour week. The Chalet opened for business on Christmas Eve 1937.

In 2003,  development company Mirvac paid $5.2 million for the Chalet, a landmark building in the town for almost 7 decades. The original building was demolished in 2006 by “Mirvac” and replaced with 50 luxury apartments built over the 4069 sq. metre site in Smith Street.

Sources:

• Remembering Old Lorne Guest-Houses And Hotel, 2003 edition, by Malcolm Graham / Lindsay Braden
• Lorne A living History by Doug Stirling
• Moylan & Watt 1994