The Palace Hotel in Perth, Western Australia, is a landmark three-storey heritage listed building located in the city's central business district.

Originally built in 1897 as a hotel during the gold rush period of Western Australia's history, it was converted to banking chambers and offices in the 1980s and now accommodates the Perth headquarters of Woods Bagot, Adapptor and Hatchd.

[6] In the period leading up to and during the 1980s redevelopment, lobbying from The Palace Guards, the National Trust of Western Australia and the public at large pushed for the retention of some elements of the original building.

[7] Due to its ornate and grand style, its prominent position within the city, and being the only building of its type and scale in St Georges Terrace, the hotel has been an important landmark in Perth for all of its life.

[1] In its early years, the hotel afforded commercial travellers a high level of opulence and comfort while visiting the city and offered a tangible reminder of the wealth and prosperity of the state during the gold-boom period.

Prior to the construction of the Perth Town Hall in 1870, the site (which then housed the Freemasons' Hotel) was the pre-eminent social and political focus of the town—important decisions such as the establishment of a local police force in 1851 were made there.

At this time it was known as the Freemasons' Hotel[13] with a number of other proprietors running it in the intervening years, including the wife of future Premier Sir Walter James and George Towton, a prominent horseman and hotelier.

American real estate investor and former hotelier John De Baun purchased the property from Leeder's widow for £14,000[8] in 1894, along with several other sites along St Georges Terrace.

He engaged architects Ernest Saunders Porter and Edmond Neville Thomas to design the new Palace Hotel[nb 2] for the site with no expense to be spared and many of the construction materials imported.

[15]De Baun died in 1911 and ownership passed to the West Australian Trustee Executor and Agency Company Limited, although Glowrey's lease was maintained until his death in 1921.

[16] Soon after, a public campaign developed, with a group known as The Palace Guards becoming a strong lobbying force, focussing on the state government and heritage organisations and pushing for the building's preservation.