Former Southern Highlands pill factory to be reborn as boutique hotel

“It had basically been in a state of disrepair for five years when we bought it in 2014,”  said its current owner, Sydney architect Brent Marvin, a director of MD+A Architects. “But it’s a heritage item and a beautiful building.

“There’s nothing more depressing than a neglected, decrepit old building, especially for the local community, so everyone has been very positive about seeing it restored to its former state.”

Mr Marvin and his partner Claudia Araya-Marvin have been operating The Pill Factory as group accommodation, sleeping 36 people, with 14 bedrooms, five bathrooms, sitting and family rooms with fireplaces, and a lawn and barbecue area.

But plans for the building’s future are far grander, with a development application for a 12-room boutique hotel conversion recently given the green light.

The building has been well known to locals over the generations. In the 19th century, it manufactured 22 lines of homeopathic “Golden Cross” medicines, rumoured to be laced with opium, then regarded as the prince of pain-killers.

Owned and run by Welsh-born homeopath and vet William “Gus” Nicholas, also a bookseller and photographer known for taking a photograph of the inspector of police Sir Frederick Pottinger, who arrested the infamous bushranger Ben Hall, he was said to have effected some startling cures.

In 1892, the grateful parents of a boy sent to Bundanoon to die after three doctors in Sydney pronounced his illness incurable presented Mr Nicholas with a valuable clock after their son recovered under his care. A public meeting was also held by residents planning to gather subscriptions to thank him for all his help to the community.

He died in 1921 and in 1930, the two-storey factory was converted into the three-storey Bundanoon Guest House, with an upstairs ballroom, then, between 1960 and 1970, changed again into the kitsch mock-German “The Old Heidelberg Gast Hof Restaurant and Hotel”.

The 450-square-metre building on 1170 square metres of land on Anzac Parade was then bought for $680,000 in 2014 and its frontage was stripped back and restored to its original look.

“It’s perfect historical accommodation for big groups,” said Ms Araya-Marvin. “While we didn’t have much demand during the bushfires and the start of COVID, we’re now being inundated by families or friends wanting the chance to reconnect.”

People love the sense of history while staying there, with the building’s heritage statement of significance saying it is “a highly significant and iconic building not only in Bundanoon but the broader district”.

It’s described as a highly eclectic building of the mid-Victorian period that doesn’t conform to any particular style, with random rubble walls of Bundanoon sandstone, a jerkin head gabled roof, paired arch headed windows and an industrial/commercial design reflecting early industry in Bundanoon.

In its day, the business produced mixtures and ointments for coughs, colds, piles, chilblains, asthma, tumours, stiff backs, blood poisoning, pain alleviation, sprains and wounds, with plans to also manufacture blood purifier and liver extract.

Historian and heritage consultant Dr Caroline Cosgrove wrote the heritage impact statement for the The Pill Factory, which is located within the Bundanoon Conservation Area.

“Both the factory and Gus Nicholas were very prominent in the community,” she said.

“As well as being a homeopath – although we don’t think he had any qualifications – he also took a lot of photographs and the Bundanoon History Group has a big collection of his early works.”

With the development application to convert it into a 12-room boutique hotel now approved, the heritage-listed skin of the building will be maintained, but there’ll be work done to the interiors.

It will provide refurbished hotel rooms with en suites, and now has permission for a restaurant or cafe and a small bar.

Mr Marvin sees it as helping play a role in the village of Bundanoon’s renaissance into a food, wine and experience destination. Ninety minutes’ driving time from Sydney and Canberra, it already has antique and craft shops, wineries, spas, bushwalking, village markets and festivals and scenic drives.