Old Identities Hotel - Perrett's Corner - Manners Street, Wellington

Old Identities (Albert) Hotel, on the corner of Boulcott and Willis Streets, Wellington
photo: Tyree Brothers, circa 1900. Alexander Turnbull Library

The Old Identities (Albert) Hotel, technically neither on Perrett's corner nor Manners Street but on the the southwest corner of Willis and Boulcott streets facing Perrett's. It was on the site later occupied by the Hotel St George from the early 1930s.

John Plimmer built the hotel in 1879, dedicating it to "the old identities" of the city and colony.

A sculptured head of an old identity sits above each window, looking down on those passing through Perrett's corner. On the skyline to the left, on the hotel roof, can be seen a statue of Edward Gibbon Wakefield instrumental in the establishment of the New Zealand Company that organised the European settlement of Wellington and other cities in New Zealand in the 1850s.

The Old Identities hotel was demolished in 1929 to make way for the new Hotel St George. Some of the sculptured heads of the old identities are today held by Te Papa, the national museum.