Hostel Milligan Pearl Villa

The latest development application for the Hostel Milligan site replaces an earlier approval from 2020, which allowed for a 37-storey hotel and 22-storey office tower. That project never proceeded and the approval has since expired.

The new proposal, dated 15 November 2025, takes a different approach. The office tower has been dropped entirely and replaced with a 50-storey student accommodation tower, alongside a smaller 27-storey hotel.

The heritage buildings, including the former Hostel Milligan and Pearl Villa, are still being retained and reused, but this time they’re more clearly integrated into the hotel with active, publicly accessible uses.

Over the past few years, Perth has seen an unprecedented surge in student accommodation towers, beginning with developments like the Switch Perth City Central student tower at 555 Wellington Street. That project marked a turning point, proving that high-rise, purpose-built student housing was viable in the CBD.

With the new ECU City campus opening, proposals and construction activity have accelerated rapidly. What was once a niche building type has quickly become a dominant feature of inner-city development, reshaping the skyline and signalling a broader shift away from offices toward a city increasingly built around students living, studying and spending in the CBD.

From the photos circulating in Facebook urbex groups and TikTok videos, Hostel Milligan is now completely trashed, stripped, vandalised and covered in graffiti.

There’s little reason to believe an overseas owner would genuinely care about local history or heritage. In this case, the site is owned by the Singapore-based Fragrance Group.

Over the years, proposals have been dragged out, revised, delayed and quietly stalled. Whatever the excuses, the reality is simple: the more degraded Hostel Milligan becomes, the easier it is to justify demolition when development eventually moves forward. If it ever does.

The original cottage is said to exist within the walls of Hostel Milligan but at this rate, we’ll never see it. It’s being steadily destroyed by neglect and vandalism.

The City of Perth appears powerless. Whatever protections exist on paper clearly mean little in practice. The architect responsible for the site before the surrounding buildings were demolished, reportedly sought help repeatedly from both the City and WA Police. He got nowhere. Even when photographic evidence of an extensive meth lab operating in the neighbouring DOJO building was provided prior to its demolition, police reportedly said there was nothing they could do.

So this is how it ends. Not with a decision, not with accountability but with slow abandonment.

Just another piece of history quietly destroyed.

Every day, thousands of people pass this old hostel in the city. Few would likely know anything about it, let alone notice it, judging from its rather bland appearance. Boarded up windows, faded paint and certainly nothing remarkable about this building, that stretches far back into the history of Perth.

Built from 1886 to 1930, it appears to have had a colourful history, judging from the few recorded anecdotes. Originally known as Pearl Villa, it was built as a residence by pearler Joseph Clarkson, whose family were amongst the first few settlers in the Swan River colony (Grant & Bell, 2019).

The hostel was added in 1930 and is what we can see today, if we look up as we pass. Within the walls of Hostel Milligan, remnants of an earlier pioneer cottage are said to still exist.

Lodgers were forced out in September 2019, to make way for a new $180 million mixed use development. The proposal encompasses a 52-level residential tower, with 359 apartments and a 37-level hotel, containing 406 hotel rooms. Seventeen months later, the site remains boarded up.

Inside the hostel, the accumulation of furniture was extensive. Like the internal décor and architecture, much of it was borderline vintage, particularly items that was built into the structures. Everything felt old and juxtaposing it with modern life aspects, certainly made me feel out of place.

A few rooms were full of possessions, obviously rummaged through, by what could be assumed as squatters.

An old meth lab was identified by one of my fellow explorers, who’d previously studied clandestine drug labs. Another makeshift lab was later located in an abandoned shop, at the back of the property. It appeared to him that both had been destroyed by someone other than the authorities.

With the amount of clothing hanging on a makeshift clothesline, as well as a collection of potentially stolen bicycles and empty handbags littering a small path in between an exterior section of the hostel, we decided to make this explore a brief one. Just in case some squatters suddenly decided to come home.

Lodgers were forced out in September 2019, to make way for a new $180 million mixed use development. The proposal encompasses a 52-level residential tower, with 359 apartments and a 37-level hotel, containing 406 hotel rooms. Seventeen months later, the site remains boarded up.

Inside the hostel, the accumulation of furniture was extensive. Like the internal décor and architecture, much of it was borderline vintage, particularly items that was built into the structures. Everything felt old and juxtaposing it with modern life aspects, certainly made me feel out of place.

A few rooms were full of possessions, obviously rummaged through, by what could be assumed as squatters.

An old meth lab was identified by one of my fellow explorers, who’d previously studied clandestine drug labs. Another makeshift lab was later located in an abandoned shop, at the back of the property. It appeared to him that both had been destroyed by someone other than the authorities.

With the amount of clothing hanging on a makeshift clothesline, as well as a collection of potentially stolen bicycles and empty handbags littering a small path in between an exterior section of the hostel, we decided to make this explore a brief one. Just in case some squatters suddenly decided to come home.