The former Railway Hotel is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Inglewood, and was constructed in late 1876 as a general store for Mr William Carter. However, the building was too large for Carter's general store, and he soon relocated to a smaller building on Moa Street.
In May 1877, J. S. Dobbin, who had opened a commercial private hotel in a small building on Richmond Street in October 1876, transferred his hotel licence to the present building, and renamed it the Railway Hotel. With many different owners and proprietors, the Railway Hotel remained an Inglewood institution for over 130 years, before finally closing as a hotel in 2014; it is now occupied by a liquor store.
The building has had many alterations, although the original 1876 structure still remains - a notable addition about 1900, was an attractive wrap-around veranda, although this was later removed. The hotel has also been extended along its Rata Street frontage at some stage - possibly in 1891, when tenders were called for "additions and alterations to the Railway Hotel, Inglewood". Currently, the building has plaster cladding over its original weatherboards, although many of the original first floor windows remain.
The building is on a prominent corner site and is located within a precinct with a number of 1870s-1900s commercial buildings.
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