The Denver City was the first hotel in Coolgardie and the first building on the site was in 1894. A more substantial building was constructed by the firm of Philip and Doyle in and was destroyed by fire in 1897. The current building of two stories in the Federation style was built in 1898. It was of brick and Ashlar stone and had no balcony or veranda. The first licensee was J Elliott and the first joint owners were harris and Collett.
By 1927 the 26 hotels of Coolgardie had dwindled to four. The licencing board asked the four publicans to ‘show cause’ as to why their licesnces should be revoked. The licensing court would have asked them to show cause why their licences should not be revoked. The Denver City and the Railway hotels were able to keep their licences but the Westral and the Marvel Bar had their licesnces cancelled.
In 1934 the balcony and verahdah were added to the building.
The following photographs of the hotels various incarnations are, I hope, in chronological order:-
After the fire 1898
Moya Sharp
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Great work Moya and thank you for your tireless work
Thank you Allan
My Mum worked at the Denver City Hotel. It was a nice hotel, and used to have paying guests that came through. You could do a pub crawl, from the Denver City Hotel to the Railway Hotel. I lived in Coolgardie and met and was married there to the Post man at the time, and loved the country way of life. I finally ended up living at the Post Office Quarters, but previous to that we lived in the Law Court Building, which had a flat at the back, and this was next to the Police Station, and then shifted to the other side of the Police Station. I lived across also from Ben Priors Museum.
I always enjoy a Coldie in the Denver,an owner is so friendly!!!