Priscilla Queen of the Desert hotel up for private sale
The owners of Broken Hill’s iconic Palace Hotel have put the venue on the market.
The pub, immortalised in the film Priscilla Queen of the Desert, is expected to fetch somewhere between $3 and $4 million.
The venue was originally built as a coffee palace for only £12,190 in 1889. It became a licensed hotel in 1892 and was turned into a returned soldier’s hostel in 1919.
No one outside Broken Hill knew about it until 1990 when it featured in the landmark film that put Australia on the map.
Still running nearly 30 years later, it offers a restaurant, bar and space for the Broken Heel drag festival plus accommodation.
There are 48 rooms in the three-storey heritage property, including the Priscilla Suite, the room the movie characters stayed in during the film.
The walls have vivid murals and there’s a copy of Botticelli's Venus on the ceiling painted by the hotel's former owner, Mario Celotto,
It boasts the longest pub balcony of its kind in the southern hemisphere, an underground tunnel which used to lead to the mines and Australia’s only licensed year-round venue to allow the game of Two Up, outside of Anzac Day celebrations.
The Palace Hotel is owned by three couples: Selina La Rovere-Nagas and Fisk Nagas, Todd and Kellie Spain, Katie and Dave Shoobridge, and Esther La Rovere.
They purchased the hotel in 2009.
But with one of the partners leaving Broken Hill, the others are now reconsidering their commitment to the pub.
Palace Hotel managing director, Esther La Rovere, said it will be an emotional sale.
“It’s a reluctant sale, however, after taking over the hotel in 2009, it’s just time to move forward,” Ms La Rovere told Perth Now.
“The hotel is such an iconic building, and through the years business has grown steadily, and we continue to see such incredible characters arrive, from all over the world.”
by Leon Gettler, March 22nd 2017
