Some buildings hold a significant place in public memory despite the fact – or perhaps because – they no longer exist.

In Brisbane this seems to be particularly true for community meeting places such as hotels. Cloudland Ballroom, Bellevue Hotel and Canberra Hotel were all demolished during the 1970s – 1980s and have been heralded as lost icons.

Bellevue Hotel took its name from a school that previously stood on the same site. It opened in 1886 on the corner of George and Alice Streets and featured striking wrap-around verandas, captured by Joan Ricketts in her watercolour Queensland Club and Bellevue Hotel (c1969).

Positioned directly across from Queensland Parliament House, it was a favourite watering hole for politicians and out-of-towners. Here, Queensland’s elite met visiting notables, and country politicians kept it as their Brisbane base.

It attracted celebrities including Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Katherine Hepburn and Johnny O’Keeffe. The hotel had refined furnishings and hosted many of the city’s most lavish dinners, formal dances, conferences and weddings.

Bellevue Hotel was bought by the Queensland Government 1967 with plans to demolish the hotel to make way for government buildings. Public objection put a temporary halt to demolition, which left the building abandoned until it was suddenly knocked down overnight on 20 April 1979. Public outcry surrounding the demolition led to the eventual introduction of Queensland heritage legislation in 1992.