Palace Hotel, Broken Hill

Historic site in New South Wales, Australia

Palace Hotel

Location| 227 Argent Street, Broken Hill, City of Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates| 31°57′35″S 141°27′50″E﻿ / ﻿31.9598°S 141.4638°E﻿ / -31.9598; 141.4638

New South Wales Heritage Register

Official name| Palace Hotel; Mario's Hotel; Marios
Type| state heritage (built)
Designated| 2 April 1999
Reference no.| 335
Type| Hotel
Category| Commercial

Location of Palace Hotel in New South Wales

Palace Hotel is a heritage-listed pub at 227 Argent Street, Broken Hill, City of Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia. It has also been known as the Broken Hill Coffee Palace, Mario's Hotel and Marios. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.[1]

## History[edit]

The hotel was originally built as a Temperance movement coffee palace, the Broken Hill Coffee Palace. It was designed by Melbourne architect Alfred Dunn and built in 1889 at a cost of £12,190, opening on 18 December that year.[2][3] The coffee palace was not a financial success, running at a loss for its first three years, and by July 1892 media reports indicated the company and lessees were "stone broke".[4] In that month, the lessee applied for and was granted a liquor license, at which time it was renamed the Palace Hotel.[5][6]

Owner Mario Celotto painted a mural of Botticelli's Venus on a ceiling. This led to many more murals being painted both by Celotto and other artists, making the hotel a tourist attraction.[7]

The 1994 Australian comedy-drama film, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, filmed many of its Broken Hill scenes in the Palace Hotel, which producer Al Clark described as "drag queen heaven". The movie describes the hotel's murals as "tack-o-rama".[8]

## Description[edit]

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (June 2019)

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## Heritage listing[edit]

Palace Hotel was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.[1]

## See also[edit]

* New South Wales portal

## References[edit]

### Notes[edit]

1. ^ a b "Palace Hotel". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Department of Planning & Environment. H00335. Retrieved 1 June 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence.
2. ^ "History". The Palace Hotel Broken Hill. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
3. ^ "BROKEN HILL". Adelaide Observer. Vol. XLVI, no. 2516\. South Australia. 21 December 1889. p. 19. Retrieved 25 June 2018 - via National Library of Australia.
4. ^ "Yesterday's Brevities". Evening News. No. 7842\. New South Wales, Australia. 20 July 1892. p. 6. Retrieved 25 June 2018 - via National Library of Australia.
5. ^ "LICENSING COURT". Barrier Miner. Vol. 5, no. 1347\. New South Wales, Australia. 20 July 1892. p. 3. Retrieved 25 June 2018 - via National Library of Australia.
6. ^ "Advertising". Barrier Miner. Vol. 5, no. 1328\. New South Wales, Australia. 28 June 1892. p. 4. Retrieved 25 June 2018 - via National Library of Australia.
7. ^ Wainwright, Sofie (21 March 2017). "Broken Hill's iconic Palace Hotel, featured in film Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, up for private sale". ABC News. Archived from the original on 12 February 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
8. ^ Wadsworth, Kimberly (30 May 2014). "Shrines of Obsession: The Real-World Locations of 11 Cult Films". Atlas Obscura. Archived from the original on 12 February 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2019.

### Bibliography[edit]

* Appel, Greg (11 July 2021). "Broken Hill's Palace Hotel has welcomed gamblers, miners and drags queens throughout its long history". ABC Radio National. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
* Attraction homepage (2013). "The Palace Hotel".
* Destination NSW. "The Palace Hotel, Broken Hill".

### Attribution[edit]

This Wikipedia article was originally based on Palace Hotel, entry number 00335 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 1 June 2018.

## External links[edit]

Media related to Palace Hotel, Broken Hill at Wikimedia Commons