From left:
hotel guests are
ofered a drink
on arrival; the
adjoining Golden
Age Bar; the
vanity in an
Everyday room.We want ours to be the opposite of that. There need
to be a few key elements that remind guests of the
place they’re in.”
A brief written history of the studios is embossed
above the original roof line of the lobby and, in
a neat marriage of old and new, two fire vaults
originally used to store film now hide guests’ luggage
behind doors crafted from the same copper panels
that clad the façade.
The rooms also mix heritage features – high
ceilings, bare walls and exposed brickwork, original
sash windows and heavy old rafters – with contemporary
comforts such as luxe Jardan sofas and Pakistani
kilim rugs. Showers have copper pipes and are tiled
in terrazzo, and vintage-style bathroom vanities sit
handsomely within the bedroom space. Some rooms
have freestanding Japanese-style wooden baths, created
by boutique carpenters Wood and Water.P
aramount’s owners believe hotels should
give guests space to think, and to that end
most rooms have internal terraces, sunny
indoor-outdoor alcoves partly screened by
the façade’s herringbone finish and softened by
potted devil’s ivy and fiddle leaf figs.
A host of Australian makers are featured, too.
Beds are dressed with stonewashed linen by Cultiver
and Seljak merino blankets from Australia’s oldest
mill. Linen bathrobes are by Worktones, toiletries
by Aesop, and the art throughout the hotel is
curated by the nearby China Heights gallery.
Though smart design and good looks in a hotel
are important, says Beard, “the recipe is a mixture
of service, quality and place”. He cites Fleet, a 14-seat
restaurant in Brunswick Heads, northern New South
Wales, as a fine example of a place where many small
things are done right. “They never alienate anyone and
always know your next move,” he says. “That’s what
we’re going for – getting the DNA right.”
Beard is a Surry Hills local himself, having opened
his first café, Reuben Hills, in the suburb six years ago.“The hotel is our way of inviting guests to experience the
’hood we love, through our eyes,” he says. “I enjoy its
proximity to the city, the beach, and an endless supply of
restaurants, cafés and bars.” Staff might hand you a tote
bag with directions to Carriageworks Farmers Market or
a Jac & Jack beach towel for a dip at Gordon’s Bay.
Had you not been so keenly aware of all the fun
that lies on the doorstep, though, you’d be tempted
not to leave your casting couch. The minibars are
stocked with the likes of mortadella by LP’s Quality
Meats, a pet-nat by South Australian maverick label
Yetti and the Kokonut, and tinnies by Yulli’s Brews.
Within Paramount House, the spotlight turns next
to Poly, a ground-floor restaurant and bar by the team
behind Chippendale’s Ester; it’s set to open soon, and
hotel room service is part of its brief. Big night? Staff
will leave a thermos of the café’s daily batch-brew on the
doorstep. When you’re ready, breakfast is served at the
Coffee Project, where regulars pick up pre-ordered vegie
boxes on Saturday mornings and stay for waffles with
buttermilk fried chicken. Later, linger over a Hollywood
Highball cocktail at Golden Age Cinema and Bar while
waiting for a cult documentary screening or a director’s
cut in the pint-sized cinema. Even better, the choc tops
are by Gelato Messina.●
Paramount House Hotel opens this month. Rooms
from $290. 80 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills, NSW,
(02) 9211 1222, paramounthousehotel.com166 GOURMET TRAVELLER