The Station Hotel.
Oban, Argyll.
A handsome and imposing structure, The Station Hotel, was right opposite Oban's railway station and pier, in the very centre of Oban. It was opened in 1881 as a strictly first-class hotel, its success from the beginning was phenomenal; and in 1886, only five years after it was built, it was necessary to build a large extension in order to accommodate the increasing number of guests.
The business carried on is that of a high-class hostelry, the guests comprising the members of the aristocracy and high-class families, for whose comfort and convenience, taste, and capital could secure had been provided. The hotel was managed by Mr Frieshman.
Mr Frieshman was born in Kraftshof, near Nuremberg, and received his education in his native village. Nuremberg, as all Continental travellers know, is the most interesting town in Germany, teeming with old traditions of the past, and it is the oldest city in Bavaria.
After his education Mr Frieshman joined the Trade and learned thoroughly the wine business with Mr Carl Giesing, with whom he remained for four years, and received an education which had stood him in good stead and caused his opinion on wines to be sought after and appreciated by his friends and patrons. Determined to qualify himself to take the highest position obtainable in hotel-keeping, he did not spare himself, but travelled extensively, making himself familiar with the mode of conducting the best hotels on the continent and this country.
He joined the staff of the Hotel de Baviere in Munich, from whence he went to Lucerne, Switzerland, to the hotel which was owned by Messrs Hauser Frere & Schweizerhof, and stayed here for eighteen months. He then proceeded to Cannes, where he remained for six months, and was for two Years in the famous Hotel de las Paix at Geneva. After being for six months in the Hotel de France at Nice, he came to London, at the Alexandra Hotel, where he remained for two years.
Coming north, he joined the staff at the Edinburgh Hotel in Princes Street, Edinburgh, where he stayed a year, and came through to Glasgow to the George Hotel, where he remained for six years with the Mrs Lachlan. The years afterwards he journeyed still further north, to Oban, and opened the Station Hotel for Mrs Campbell, with success.
Mr Frieshman married in 1887 to Miss Campbell the daughter of his employer and owner of the Station Hotel.
End.
