Already on the land was the Sisters of Mercy convent and school, on South Street, and the York Mechanic’s Institute on Avon Terrace (where the Town Hall is now situated).
James Grave and Edward Keane acquired Lots 12 and 13 on the corner of Avon Terrace and Joaquina Street, which led directly to the railway station.
On 18 December 1885, Grave, Keane, William Mumme and Frederick Monger obtained a £4,000 mortgage from the Bank of New South Wales, presumably to pay for part of the cost of construction of the hotel.
The licence application notice revealed that Pamment was leasing the hotel from Keane, Monger, Grave and Mumme.
Manufacturing Company, has had a stiff week of it in making preparations for the opening.....Adjoining the Hotel there is to be a large music hall 70 x 50 feet in the clear and material is now being carted for its erection.
The hotel was opened on 8 July 1886, but the event received only a brief sentence in the local newspaper with the comment that the place "seems to be favoured with a fair share of public patronage".
[16] On 10 February 1894, around midnight, a fire broke out in a group of shops in a galvanised iron building immediately adjoining the Imperial Hotel to the north.
[17] The shops were Hillman & Co’s furniture and upholstery warehouse where the fire started, and north, Mr Lewis’s tailoring and fabrics establishment.
Furniture was removed out into the street, the spirit room emptied, while horses and vehicles were taken from the stables and placed in safety away from the premises.”[18] Charles Playter normally lived in North Fremantle but was a lodger at the Imperial Hotel in February 1898.
At his home in North Fremantle, on a hot night, Playter was used to stepping out through his window onto the verandah so he could breathe the cool air.
[21] A single-storey building adjoining the Imperial Hotel, York on the Avon Terrace frontage is shown in a c. 1900 photograph of the town.
Material that was not destroyed, including the hewn timber horse troughs, was removed leaving only the stone walls standing.