On 20 June 1884, Antonio acquired a large interest and the proprietorship of The Sydney Coffee Palace Hotel Company at 393 George Street, Sydney. His good friend, Martin Arenas became a partner. Martin was a cousin-in-law of the Parers and also a relative of the San Miguels through marriage, and had lent him money back in 1877 to take over the Australian Hotel.3 The Sydney Coffee Palace Hotel had originally opened on the 2 October 1879 as a temperance hotel. The idea was not to serve alcohol and create a sober environment for their uppercrust clients. This movement failed and when Antonio took over, he applied for a Publican’s licence to continue his importation and selling of wines and spirits.
It was a grand building of eight floors, each 18 by 70 feet with a large ground floor frontage on George Street. There was an entrance for carriages to discharge under and the façade had high Victorian architecture. Antonio made plans to do extensive alterations and improvements and obtained a license to sell postage stamps. The building comprised of a basement that housed a very modern kitchen, with a lift to the numerous dining saloons. The ground floor housed an elaborate bar made of oak wood and marble-topped. Bronze statues and decorative busts were in abundance, and immediately in front of the bar, tables and morocco lounges were provided for the patrons’ comfort. On the ground floor was a dining room to accommodate one hundred persons. Each table was marble-topped with ornamental iron stands, and had room for six diners. Large gilt mirrors with one above every table complimented the white and gold surroundings and linoleum floors.
On the first floor were a gentlemen’s dining hall and a ladies dining saloon, the latter admitting gentlemen if accompanied by a lady. The men’s reading room contained large comfy armchairs and the lavatories all over the establishment were marble-topped. Close to the ladies dining area was a reading room where ladies arranged their toilet, read, wrote or gossiped in large, light and airy conditions.
The second floor contained a billiard room with oak ornamentation and Australian landscape scenery. Vienna billiard seats surrounded the tables. Adjoining the billiards room was a charming and comfortable smoking room where men could relax with a brandy, pipe or cigar. Gas lights and electric service bells were on every floor, and the fifty bedrooms on the remaining floors provided accommodation for both single guests and married couples. The Coffee Palace soon became a booming, busy and profitable establishment, attracting the aristocracy of Sydney.
Antonio regularly dined in the ground floor saloon and one evening in 1885 he noticed a large family enjoying the cuisine. His gaze fell on one of the daughters, 20-year-old Rebecca (Birdie) Albon. Glistening fair hair, azure blue eyes and an English rose complexion, Antonio was mesmerized by her beauty. He made his way over to their table to make his acquaintance and inquire if everything was to their satisfaction. 20-year-old Birdie, as she was affectionately called, blushed when her eyes met the striking Spaniard. At the table that night, Antonio met her parents, James and Rebecca Albon (née Poulter), and her siblings: 22-year-old Grace, teenagers Jesse, Annie, and Maud, and little 9-year-old Geseyne.
Originally from Bedfordshire, England, and having lived at Lambeth and Surrey, the family and their 18-year-old servant girl, Harriet, had arrived from Plymouth, England on the ship the Pericles, on 5 December 1877. Birdie’s father James Albon was a successful builder, plumber and home decorator, skills he had learned from his own father. Birdie’s other brother James Jr, had returned to England after a short stay in Australia.4 John, the first born son, had died at around nine years of age. The remaining children, Jane (known as Jenny) and Thomas, had both recently married and remained in England.5 The youngest, Geseyne, was not blood related, and had been adopted as an infant when her birth parents, friends of the Albons, tragically died. They now lived at Glebe Point, Sydney, where James Albon carried on his profitable business.
Birdie’s older sister, Jenny, often wrote to the family of her life in England.
29 May 1878
Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire
Beloved Mother and Father,
For these last two months I have anxiously been looking out for letters from you. The last I received was 20 March, and the last I sent out to you was on 12 April. I hope, dear Mother, that you have received all my letters. I feel I want another letter from my precious mother. I find it is very trying to my health when I am expecting news and hear of the mails coming in and then to be bitterly disappointed. But I am trying to learn the lesson of patience, and I bless God I have again experienced the faithfulness of His precious promises to His tried ones has thy day thy strength shall be. I hope, darling Mother, that this will find you with dear Father quite well, also James Jr, Birdie, Jesse, Annie, Big Babe [Maud] and the dear precious Little Baby [Geseyne]. Give my fondest love to them all, kiss each dear one for their sister Jenny [Jane], not forgetting you and my dear Father. How I long to see you all once again, will it ever be? Do you know, loved Mother, now that I am absent from you I often find myself thinking of the many ways in which I could have contributed to your comfort and happiness while I had you with me? I often feel that it is but few returns I have made you for the unearned love and kindness you have ever shown me.
I have very little news to give you this time. Of course, you may have heard about dear Grandfather who is still alive. I think you may be prepared for what I am about to tell you since I wrote this letter a telegram from Shillington on Monday that dear Grandfather has gone home to God. He passed away ten minutes to six that evening. I can’t give particulars at present. Do not fret of his great happiness, for some of us will see him again. God bless you and comfort you with His abiding love. I do not forget to pray, so does my dear husband.
I must tell you, we had Daisy Browning here for a week at Easter and she is coming again a week next Friday 7 June and will stay with us another week. She likes to be here at Bushey and she is very fond of my dear husband. Daisy sends much love to you all. We often talk together about you. Poor girl, she is not very strong; she tells me one of her lungs is gone and the other she feels is going but she is under a good doctor and does not want for anything. I try to persuade her to give up school life but she does not seem as though she would. On Easter Tuesday I had Martha and her mother to see me, and also Mrs. Thorogood — she has sold her business and says she would like to live in the country. She wishes she could get a shop near us. She wants to have a week in Bushey and thinks it would do her good, but Uncle Tom hardly knows how to spare her.6 They have got a very nice shop and I think will do well. A week last Friday I had Sarah Ann for a few days. She returned the following Tuesday.
I have had Miss Hills here — poor girl, she has been very ill and has had to go under a most painful operation. The doctors spent two hours taking a cancer out of her right side. What they took from her weighed 3 lbs! They had to strap her down as they would not give her ether or anything to make her insensible to the pain, poor thing. Her sufferings have been something fearful and she is only twenty years old. She sends love to you, Mother.
And now I must say goodbye. I don’t have anything more to say. I hope you get this letter safe with fondest love and kisses.
Ever your loving daughter,
Jenny
PS I forgot to tell you: Jenny Moss sends love to you all. She and Mr Moss send much love to you with kisses to all the dear children and both temporal and spiritual love. 7
A year later after the birth of her son, Jenny wrote again to her parents in Australia.
22 April 1879
Beloved Mother and Father,
