Broken Hill pub made famous by Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, on the market

The pub played a major role in the Priscilla, Queen of the Desert movie.

THE iconic Australian pub made famous by Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is up for grabs for $3 to $4 million.

Originally built as a coffee palace in 1889 for a mere £12,190 pounds, The Palace Hotel in Broken Hill has become internationally renowned as the setting of the 1990s landmark Australian film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Designed by Melbourne architect Alfred Dunn, the three-storey heritage property houses 48 rooms including the Priscilla Suite, the room the movie characters stayed in during the film.

The Palace Hotel in Broken Hill is set to hit the market with a $3 to $4 million price guide.

Plenty of characters at the pub. Picture: Chris Pavlich

The hotel is the nation’s only licensed year-round venue to allow the game of Two Up, outside of Anzac Day celebrations, and also boasts the longest pub balcony of its kind in the southern hemisphere, and an underground tunnel which used to lead to the mines.

The Palace is now owned by three parties, couples, Selina La Rovere-Nagas and Fisk Nagas, Todd and Kellie Spain, Katie and Dave Shoobridge, and Esther La Rovere.

Heritage interiors at The Palace Hotel.

The hotel boasts the longest pub balcony of its kind in the southern hemisphere

Palace Hotel managing director, Esther La Rovere, said the pub will hit the market in a few weeks and is set to 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 said.

“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.”

Ms La Rovere has confirmed the hotel will sell via a private sale, with a profit set to reach of $3 to $4 million.

An original image of the The Palace Hotel, built in 1889.

After an unprofitable attempt as a coffee palace, the hotel became a licensed venue in 1892.

Through the years, the venue served as a returned soldiers hostel, after it’s sale to a group of mine managers in 1919, and reverted back to being a country pub in 1946, after it sold to the SA Brewing Company.

After a rumoured pub discussion at the hotel, Mark Cello, who has since passed in 2005, became the venue’s new owner in 1973, and turned the miners pub into the colourful attraction that it is today.

Mr Cello painted a copy of Botticelli’s Venus on the ceiling, which he reportedly remarked was a “a pain in the neck”, and later commissioned indigenous artist Gordon Waye to paint a series of murals throughout the hotel.

Former owner, Mario Cello, was the inspired creator of the hotel’s many colourful attractions.

Today, the iconic hotel now runs it’s own Broken Heel Festival, three days of ‘drag, divas, disco, and dress-ups, set this year for September 9-11.

Now a landmark of Australian history, The Palace Hotel has attracted many notable characters in it’s time, including actor Hugo Weaving, former prime minister Harold Holt, and American author Mark Twain well known for his novel the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.