Arabic version: فندق كورنوال يعود إلى السوق وسط عقبات تراثية

According to ABC News, the heritage-listed Cornwall Hotel in Boulder, Western Australia, has been listed for sale with an asking price of more than $1 million. The nine-bedroom, two-storey building was constructed in 1898, five years after gold was discovered at Kalgoorlie, using locally quarried stone.

The hotel is being offered for sale for the second time in the past decade. It last operated as a pub in 2010, when a magnitude-5 earthquake badly damaged it. After negotiations with insurers, the building was propped up and fenced for four years before a settlement in 2014. Its owners later received $992,090 from the WA government’s Goldfields Earthquake Restoration Fund, with structural repairs beginning in 2016.

Real estate agent James Brennan said the interior still required substantial work and that the property needed an owner who could restore it. He identified workforce accommodation for a mining company as one potential future use, citing accommodation shortages in the city. Heritage restrictions, however, can deter buyers.

The building has a long and difficult history. Former licensee Evan Clarke turned king’s evidence after the 1926 murders of Inspector John Walsh and Sergeant Alexander Pitman, who had been pursuing gold thieves. The hotel was also damaged by fire during Kalgoorlie’s 1934 race riots. Retired stonemason Ken Ball said it was increasingly difficult to find tradespeople, particularly those qualified for heritage work.

Kalgoorlie builder Tim Matthew said heritage projects often require specialised architects and like-for-like replacement materials. He noted that karri timber, once used for structural roof beams, has become more costly and harder to source since the ban on commercial native forest logging in WA. The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder offers grants of up to $50,000 to private owners of heritage-listed buildings, while the state says more than $27 million has been awarded to nearly 930 projects since 1997.