Through the adaptive reuse of a heritage-listed building, the three-level Imperial Hotel in Erskineville, Sydney reveals itself as a chapel of the LGBQTI sanctuary.

On the ground floor a 250-seat restaurant ‘Priscillas’ has been conceived as a lost palace, a cabaret dreamscape of haphazardly replaced stone floor tiles and detailed timber work. Various hand forged steel-framed glass houses and skylights throw shadows over broken brickwork, hand laid masonry arches and bespoke tile patterns. The melted wax from the central fireplace and hearth in contrast to the vivid colour ways of the furniture and the dirty pink tones of the detailed ceilings and walls.

The main bar features a bespoke cathedral-esque ceiling mural with the adjoining cocktail bar opening out onto a glazed enclosure with inner courtyard and winter garden. Amongst the colour and shape lays the gravity of its legacy, the shadow of history cast upon its many surfaces. This is a place to celebrate and rediscover, but also a place with significant legacy, grit, sometimes even heaviness.

Throughout this project our role was to create legacy and inclusivity for a community in need of a safe haven. A cultural icon, it was the birthplace of the movie Priscilla and plays a pivotal role in the greater Sydney community as a historic theatre and event space. The project is careful to reimagine this icon as a place of fantasy whilst respectfully acknowledging its LGBQTI custodians.