Rohan Luttrell - The Carlton Hotel

The Carlton Club Hotel, (J. D. Rivers, properietor), corner of Heretunga Street and Karamu Road, Hastings. The Carlton Club Hotel is one of the finest and best known hostelries in the province of Hawke's Bay. It is built on modern principles, with the view of obtaining the greatest amount of comfort, convenience, and sanitary efficiency. The ground floor is approached from either thoroughiare, and contains a commodious commercial room, comfortably furnished with writing tables, and every convenience for the transaction of business: a large, handsome, and well-appointed dining room (a most popular place for luncheon), capable of seating eighty guests; a first-class billiard room, fitted with one of Burroughs and Watts prize tables; a number of comfortable card rooms and sitting rooms; public and private bars, supplied with choice wines, liquors, and cigars, for which the Carlton Club Hotel has maintained a good reputation; an efficient office, fitted with a large safe for the convenience of guests; a lavatory, with hot and cold water service; and the quarters of the Heretaunga Club. The latter are luxuriously furnished, and include a billiard room, a reading room, a writing room, a sitting room, and a club room. At the rear of the building there is a large and well-appointed kitchen, a scullery, a storeroom, a laundry, and offices. A number of sample rooms, conveniently fitted up, adjoin the hotel. The upstarirs portion of the house is reached by a fine staircase, and is devoted to bedrooms and private sitting rooms, which are furnished with the greatest luxury and good taste. There is also a handsome drawing room, and a travellers' writing room. Numerous bathrooms and lavatories for ladies and gentlemen respectively, are conveniently placed throuhout the building, and every precaution has been taken for escape in case of fire. The hotel is lighted all through with incandescent gas light, the main entrances are fitted with large incandescent are lamps, and the rooms are supplied with electric bells. The corridors are wide, and furnished with excellent taste. The office is connected by telephone with Napier, and the reading rooms are supplied with all the leading Australasian weekly and daily papers, and the latest directories. The cuisine of the “Carlton Club” is excellent, and the services of a first-class chef, with a number of assistants, have been retained by the proprietor. The hotel is one of the most popular places of resort in Hastings, and is largely patronised by tourists, commercial men, and the travelling public. It is the meeting place of the Hastings Farmers' Union, the Hastings Golf Club, and the local volunteer corps. Mr. J. D. Rivers is ably assisted in the domestic management by Mrs. Rivers, and both host and hostess co-operate in making things pleasnt and satisfactory for all who are visitors or guests at the Carlton Club Hotel.

Mr. J. D. Rivers, the popular proprietor of the Carlton Club Hotel, was born in Wellington on the 5th of June, 1864. He was educated at the Thorndon public school, under Mr. Mowhray, and was afterwards employed for about five years by Mr. McKenzie, as a drover in the Manawatu district. Mr. Rivers subsequently gained considerable experience in the fellmongery trade in Wellington, Hawke's Bay, and Gisborne, and was then employed as barman by Mr. Jull, at Hastings. Five years later he took up a similar position in the Albert Hotel, Hastings, which hotel he afterwards acquired, and conducted on his own account. He then disposed of this house, and took over the Carlton Club Hotel, which he has since successfully conducted. Mr. Rivers is married and has one son and two daughters. He is further referred to as Quarter-master Sergeant of the Hawke's Bay Mounted Rifles.

Rohan Luttrell is the first speaker for the Landmarks History Group for 2010, and he will give a history of the Carlton Club Hotel (now the site of Breakers on the corner of Karamu and Heretaunga Streets).
The Carlton Club Hotel was built in 1882, and survived the 1931 earthquake because of its wooden construction. The Luttrell family took ownership in 1933 and the hotel was kept in the family until the building was demolished circa 1970 to make way for the present building, now occupied by Breakers.
Rohan Luttrell lived in the Carlton Hotel as a child and witnessed some of the unusual goings on that occurred. These include the antics of a touring French Rugby team staying at the hotel and the 1950s Blossom Festival riot in Hastings, which started in the Albert Hotel across the road.
The talk promises to be entertaining and informative, with Rohan recalling his memories of growing up in the hotel in Hastings.