Abandoned Broadway Hotel, Brisbane, Australia

The abandoned Broadway Hotel in Brisbane has been protected by the Queensland Heritage Register since 1992, but that hasn’t deterred arsonists, graffiti artists, squatters and urban exploring photographers like me! :) 

Sadly, the building has been destroyed by three fires and much of the structure, walls and ceilings are totally dilapidated. The ground floor is still mostly intact whereas the upper floor required a lot of caution. Due to the fires, many of the upstairs rooms and corridors end abruptly with a gaping, charred hole leading straight down to the ash-covered ground floor.

Broadway Hotel, located in Brisbane’s inner-south, was designed by John Hall & Son and built from 1889 to c. 1942 by Wooley & Whyte.

Its architecture and interior, or what is left of it, is interesting and beautiful to photograph. I only wish more of the building was still intact!

The hotel was the third building I tried to photograph in one day and I was delighted to find a way in, as the first two buildings didn’t work out.

The first attempt was the abandoned Wolston Park Hospital (otherwise known as Wacol Lunatic Mental Asylum, Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum or Goodna Mental Health Hospital) and the second was the abandoned Rocklea Spinning Mill textile factory in Brisbane.

Both attempts were futile and involved me getting told very firmly to leave. I was particularly annoyed I couldn’t get into Wolston Park Hospital because it’s the oldest mental hospital/institution in Australia. However, where there is a will, there is a way and I will be back to try again!