Built-in 1861 and designed by Samuel Coleridge Farr (1827-1918) at 208 Hereford St, Perry’s Occidental Hotel and livery stables were popular with the wives and families of the members of the nearby 1862 Christchurch Club. The hotel became known as the Occidental in 1889.
The house contains thirty-five rooms, including the large dining room, a commercial room, and several private sitting rooms. It is handsomely furnished throughout, and every attention is paid to the comfort and convenience of guests.
There were stories that the 35-room hotel in the middle of town was haunted by the ghost of Jane Jollie, the wife of Captain Francis Jollie of Peel Forest, who died while a guest at the hotel in 1869.
Renowned author Janet Frame was a housemaid/waitress at the Occidental in 1947.
By 1998 it turned into a backpackers hotel and soon after started to become very run-down. It closed in August 2006.
The Occidental Hotel was demolished in 2011.
