For around $300,000, buyers could secure a home on Tasmania’s West Coast, with a well-known historic hotel ruin effectively thrown in for free.
The former Royal Hotel at Gormanston, a striking concrete shell that has stood empty for more than 70 years, has been listed for sale alongside an adjacent residence that most recently operated as a café.
Selling agent Dominic Romeo said the asking price reflected the value of the liveable building, meaning buyers were effectively paying for the residence, with the historic hotel ruin included in the sale.
“The cafe can be used as a home and just even as a residence, you’re pretty well there anyway, so you’re kind of getting the hotel for nothing. I know it’s a shell, but still,” Romeo told Pulse.
The adjoining building operated as a café until its closure last year and is currently being used as a residence.
The hotel has become a landmark for travellers on the Lyell Highway, with many stopping to photograph the imposing ruin on their way to or from Queenstown.
Originally built as a weatherboard hotel in 1901, the Royal Hotel was destroyed by fire in 1910 before being rebuilt in reinforced concrete.
“You’ve got to remember that area was very remote then,” Romeo said.
“So he’s built it out of concrete and it was a thriving hotel till 1952 when there was kind of a downturn in mining.”
The hotel closed that year and has remained abandoned ever since.
Today, the roofless building is a registered ruin.
Romeo, who specialises in selling historic properties across Tasmania and Victoria, said the listing had already generated strong interest.
“There’s interest in reviving the cafe and keeping the building as a tourism drawcard,” he said.
“I just got off the phone with someone who is potentially looking at restoring the hotel … as well as running the cafe.”
The 2,266-square-metre property borders Linda Creek and includes a residence with a commercial kitchen, plus a separate two-room shed that could be used as a workshop or studio.
Romeo said restoring the former hotel would be no small task.
“It’s missing a roof, there’s no flooring, there’s ferns growing through it,” he said.
The property’s location, about 10 kilometres from Queenstown and close to Lake Burbury, the Franklin-Gordon wilderness and growing mountain bike trails, has also attracted buyers interested in tourism opportunities.
“People drive past and they just stop and go, ‘What, what’s this?'” Romeo said.
“It’s attracted a lot of interest.”
