Allan McAskill built the 30 room Albion Hotel in 1879 on a half-acre block on the north-east corner of Firebrace and McLachlan Streets.
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At the time of its construction the hotel was on the northern margins of the township of Horsham.
It had a large yard with about a dozen stalls for horses and space for buggies and gigs.
He may have chosen the location because it was relatively close to the newly constructed railway station.
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In any event, his choice of site was prescient as a year later the Horsham Post Office was constructed directly opposite his hotel.
Con Curran purchased the Albion Hotel from McAskill in October 1885. Curran remained the owner/licensee of the Albion until September 1902.
By all accounts Curran was a genial host, well-liked by his patrons. He became a member of the Horsham Borough Council in the mid-1890s. The Albion Hotel was the venue for many sporting club meetings including football and coursing.
A 2.30am closing licence was granted to Curran, beginning in 1887, to allow for passengers arriving on the express train from Melbourne.
Mr Seery timed his supplies with very fair accuracy.
The Albion Hotel, due to its location opposite the Post Office, attracted many semi-permanent boarders who conducted business from the hotel.
In mid-1903 the hotel's new owner, John Thomas, engaged contractor F W Allan to construct a decorative timber verandah on both the Firebrace and McLachlan Street frontages of the hotel.
Thomas also arranged for a row of four shops facing Firebrace Street, to be built on part of the stables land.
These four shops were later purchased by John Curran in about 1911, who replaced them with three two-storey shops in early 1919. Two of these shops remain to this day at 19 and 21 Firebrace Street.
James O'Farrell became the new owner/licensee of the Albion in 1906. Five years later he became seriously ill and sold the hotel to Patrick Seery in mid-1911 for 14,000 pounds (equivalent to about $10 million today).
Seery held the licence for only three and a half months before leasing the hotel to Charles Edward West in mid-December 1911. West became ill, probably from tuberculosis, and died in March 1914. His widow, Alice Maud West, took over the Albion as licensee for a further six years until her death in 1920.
The executor of her estate sold the licence back to the owner, Patrick Seery, in January 1921.
It was becoming a difficult time for hotel owners and licensees. In 1915 an Act of Parliament forced all hotels to close at 6pm.
Later, in 1922 when the Temperance Movement was at its peak, a further Act enabled a poll to be taken amongst the townspeople to see if fewer hotels were desired.
Such a poll was conducted in Horsham, when the population numbered about 4000.
The poll, while inconclusive, meant the matter went before the Licensing Court which determined that the Albion Hotel and one other (the Club) were to be deprived of their licences at the end of 1922.
The then-Horsham Times (now The Wimmera Mail-Times) reported the last day of the Albion thus: "Mr Seery timed his supplies with very fair accuracy. He emptied his last cask of beer at 10 minutes to six o'clock, and on the stroke of the closing hour, as though entering uncanningly into the spirit of the new order, the old venetian blind at the bar window dropped down of its own accord, thus drawing the curtain finally over the memorable scenes of more than one generation".
The building was sold to Fred Tucker and Son as a furniture warehouse, from where they conducted their business for 12 years until selling to a Melbourne firm, Pears Furniture, in 1935.
In 1938 Patersons Pty Ltd bought out Pears and built a two-storey "Furniture Emporium" on the site of the Albion Hotel, opening in February 1939. By about 1975 he found the Horsham store was no longer profitable and sold up.
Dennis Witmitz took over the ground floor for his sewing machine business. The upper floor was used for dance classes for some years.
In about 1992 the ground floor was converted into a hot chicken shop, "Zorba's BBQ Chicken". Food businesses have occupied the site ever since.
In 2007, Sue Farnham leased the building for her successful "Paraphernalia Cafe" until selling the business in 2011 to Mick and Helen Harris, who currently operate the "Cheeky Fox Cafe". The upper floor is presently leased to bedding business, "Onya Back".