Aside from enormous faux bronze mock-baroque urns outside, the neat row of Victorian terraces along Albion Street in Surry Hills offers little clue they are home to the city’s oldest brothel.
However, after decades servicing the carnal desires of this town (About $230 per 30 minutes), the future of Tiffany’s Girls is uncertain. The site is for sale – one of several brothels open to offers as developers circle prime real estate and owners weigh up the viability of the bordello business model.
Billed as Sydney’s oldest brothel, the future of Tiffany’s Girls in Surry Hills is uncertain.
As Linda Pickard, owner and operator of La Petite Aroma brothel in Chatswood puts it succinctly: “The old days are over, the ‘game’ has changed.”
Brothels are facing economic headwinds in the post-COVID era, where business is increasingly cashless and competition comes via online sex directories.
Smartphone apps, from hook-ups via Tinder to virtual encounters on OnlyFans, offer instant – and often cheaper – sexual gratification.
Rather than split earnings with a brothel operator, a growing number of private sex workers now opt to run their own business, with a few taps on their phone making transactions as easy as ordering an Uber.
Sydney sex worker Darcy says the cost of living crisis has had an impact on the industry.Credit: Louie Douvis
For the past nine years, Darcy, a 27-year-old sex worker whose name we have changed to protect her identity, has worked in both brothels and privately. She agrees the industry is changing, but exactly how depends on the individual.
“ Working out of a brothel I don’t have to worry about overheads, bother with advertising and payments … but working privately means I can choose to work when I want, just like any worker in the gig economy,” she said.
“The cost-of-living crisis has impacted the business; people are not spending as much on sex services, just as they aren’t dining out as much. For sex workers, having an option to work privately or out of a brothel means we have flexibility when business is quiet.”
Long-time sex worker, advocate and brothel town planning adviser Julie Bates estimates 60 per cent of Sydney sex workers were operating privately 20 years ago.
Julie Bates, sex worker rights activist and principal of Urban Realists Planning & Health Consultants.Credit: James Brickwood
“Today it’s more like 80 per cent. But it’s not for everyone. For some it’s better to drop the kids off at school and do a shift at a brothel, for others, their business is their body, they want agency over that in their work environment … thanks to COVID they’ve learnt how to run their own show.”
A private sex worker operating out of their home or rented premises is considered to be running a brothel under NSW law. But rather than the police vice squads of yesteryear, they are only subject to council rules and regulations.
Some, but not all, councils require a development application for home-based sex work businesses, while others prohibit sex work in residential areas.
Parry Bitsikas
It remains illegal in NSW for a third party to make money off a sex worker. Larger brothels effectively rent rooms to sex workers rather than make money from the sexual services being sold.
From his “muscle car” business in Kogarah to a slew of property investments – including the Tiffany’s site since 2006 – Parry Bitsikas fits the bill of a “colourful Sydney identity”, the sort that have long gravitated to the brothel business. Not that he is keen to talk about it.
When the Herald eventually tracked him down he declared: “This town is a f---en jungle, I don’t want any trouble!”
A month ago Bitsikas put the Tiffany’s site on the market. Surrounded by new luxury apartment developments, it was previously owned by one of the city’s biggest racehorse owners, Nick Vassiliadis. It has long featured in Sydney’s rich social tapestry, not in the least the credit card scandal which engulfed former union boss Craig Thomson who reportedly had a penchant for the red turbo spa room.
“I’m getting too old for all of this,” Bitsikas said when asked why he was selling, at the age of 56 and after nearly 20 years’ ownership. He maintains while the business has changed, there is still a future in brothels.
Grecian goddess statues, flocked wallpaper, velvet throne chairs and an equally rich history are behind the doors of Tiffany’s Girls.
“It was the world’s first business, and it will be the last.”
Developers have other ideas for the 687 square metre site expected to fetch at least $13 million and comprising five terraces and adjoining corner building.
In total there are 14 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, and the interior is bedecked in red velvet curtains, flocked wallpaper, party-sized jacuzzis, grecian goddess statues, gold-trimmed throne chairs, oversized cherubs and mirrored ceilings.
“I don’t know what will happen to this site, to be honest. It’s a true island in Surry Hills, it wouldn’t take much to have it rezoned for high-rise apartments,” Bitsikas said.
Recently, Tiffanys’ long-term madam retired, prompting a re-evaluation for Bitsikas, who said he was not involved in the day-to-day operation of the business. Australian Securities and Investment Commission records reveal the site is leased to another company associated with the businessman.
“During COVID, brothels went through a big transition. Now the girls want to do their own thing on OnlyFans, run their own businesses in their own flats … but a brothel provides the one thing a phone can’t: security in a safe environment.”
Over in Chatswood, Pickard, shares Bitsikas’ sentiment.
“This site has approval for a 44-storey tower, it’s only a matter of time before someone comes along and does that, and I’ll be happy to sell at the right price,” she said.
Pickard started working at the brothel 30 years ago as a receptionist and saw the potential in the business. She bought it and expanded to become one of the largest operations on Sydney’s north, replete with leopard-print bed linen and lurid wallpapers.
“I’m in my 70s now, I can see a day coming when I don’t want to be doing this any more,” she said.
Arguably the biggest brothel owner in Sydney is the enigmatic Mark Gray, formerly known as Mark Gdanski. For years, he owned Liaisons in Edgecliff. In April, the multimillion-dollar site was sold to developers whose plans do not include a brothel.
Gray also owns Stiletto on Parramatta Road in Camperdown, which bills itself as “the largest and most luxurious 6-star brothel in the world”.
Eddie Hayson arrives at Sydney Airport after his extradition from the Gold Coast following his arrest for a large commercial supply of ice and MDMA.Credit: Nikki Short
Stiletto was formerly owned by racing identity Eddie Hayson, who is behind bars awaiting trial on drug importation charges. Gray is also behind The Golden Apple, and arguably Sydney’s most famous brothel, A Touch More Class, in Surry Hills.
The late Kerry Packer’s biographer Paul Barry claimed the billionaire once hired the entire brothel so his polo buddies could be entertained by “some good, clean girls”.
A Touch More Class in Surry hillsCredit: Nick Moir
Brothel staff said Gray was overseas. He did not respond to questions from the Herald.
Last August, Gray appeared as a witness in the Supreme Court of Victoria during the murder trial of his “soulmate”, exotic dancer Ellie Price, 26. Her former boyfriend, Ricardo Barbaro, was found guilty of Price’s murder.
Brothel owner Mark Gray leaving the Victorian Supreme Court last August.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
The exact number of sex workers in NSW is difficult to verify. According to a 2012 Kirby Institute report, there were between 1500-10,000 female sex workers across NSW.
At the time of the report there were at least 101 brothels operating within 20 kilometres of the Sydney CBD, and about 1000 female sex workers worked in these brothels in any week.
In NSW street soliciting is allowed provided it is away from dwellings, schools, churches and hospitals.
A spokesperson for the City of Sydney said the council “supports a sex industry that is safe, legal and regulated” for the protection of workers and customers. There are 62 approved brothels or sex services premises in the council’s area. However, the brothel business appears to have stagnated within the municipality. The most recent development application for a new brothel was nearly five years ago.
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