The State Heritage listed Rising Sun Hotel is Kensington’s most prominent building with grand sandstone frontage and a central position at the intersection of High and Bridge Streets.
The showy new establishment for Kent Town Brewery magnate Sir E T Smith was designed by architect William McMinn as a 34-room hotel incorporating three shops. When the hotel was built in 1882, Sir E T Smith transferred his licence from the original Rising Sun Inn at 60 Bridge St to the new building. Sadly business didn’t thrive and in the local option poll of 1909 the Rising Sun Hotel at 46 High Street lost its licence and became a boarding house.
On 27th November 1982, KRA organized a ‘one day licence’ to celebrate the centenary of the hotel.
Historic photograph and facts from the Kensington Village Historic Walk brochure compiled by Denise Schumann
Centenary celebration photographs and recent photograph of the hotel’s exterior from Andrew Dyson/ KRA archives