Home Away From Home: Paramount House Hotel is reminiscent of a golden era

Paramount House Hotel is one of those places that resist the classical notions of a hotel, in that they greet you like it’s a (very stylish) home away from home.

The hotel’s story begins with its unusual setting – an 80-year-old warehouse in the heart of Sydney’s heritage suburb, Surry Hills.

The building was host to the former Paramount Pictures Studio, and the golden era of film rings throughout the hotel’s modern interpretation of design.

Run by hospitality (and coffee) gurus Russell Beard, Ping Jin Ng and Mark Dundon from Sydney’s Rueben Hills and Melbourne’s Seven Seeds, they employed Breathe Architecture to bring the site to life again.

Inside the atrium-style lobby with restored ceilings, windows, and old brick walls, the owners’ love of hospitality is reflected in the brass taps on the front desk to “ensure every check-in is done with a drink in hand”.

Of the 29 rooms, no two are the same, as the architects wanted to honour the quirks and individuality of the building. Such as on level one, where the rooms are marked with solid timber columns. “Columns appear in different locations, [with] remnant building features celebrated,” Bettina Robinson, an associate at Breathe, says.

“Some suites express the patinated brickwork, parapet and gable ends, while others reveal remnants of former stairwells, aged joists and struts.”

“A copper, chevron screen crowns its brick shell and converses with the neighbouring art deco context,” she adds. “The building is a gilded nod to this former filmic glory of its surrounds and the adjacent Paramount House.”

There are five bedrooms for guests to choose from; the Nook, Everyday, Sunny or Loft rooms as well as two “Mack Daddy” suites. Each space offers a “warm, lived-in experience” with Cultiver French linen in indigo and dusky pinks and Seljak recycled wool blankets which, Robinson says, “were an inverse reaction to the clinical white cotton sheets typically found in a hotel”.

“Suites have been designed to include an external terrace along the street interface tucked behind the existing brick envelope or new copper screen facade,” Robinson says. “This provides guests with the opportunity to interact with both streetscape and climate while maintaining a comfortable level of privacy and a space to retreat.”

Each room features useful designs like under-bed drawers and the bespoke brass Vide Poche by Studio Henry Wilson where guests place keys or spare change.

The Japanese-style timber baths featured in select rooms were handmade in Australia (with Australian timber) by Wood & Water, as continually making sure they used locally sourced furnishing, materials and artwork was a huge driver for the owners and the architects.

While in Surry Hills

Have a bite at Paramount Coffee Project

Pick up breakfast and a Paramount home brew coffee from the lobby cafe but the all-day menu might have you coming back for lunch as well.

Enjoy a cold drink at Dear Sainte Eloise

Dear Sainte Eloise, on a corner spot near Kings Cross, is a favourite with the locals. And with hundreds of wine varieties and small plates to choose from, it’s a perfect spot to watch the city go by.

Shop at Provider

Provider brings the best of Japanese and Scandinavian designs to Surry Hills. The friendly staff will talk you through their treasured pieces, and you may even get to meet Pocari, their Shiba Inu dog.

Visit 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art

A quick walk into Chinatown brings you to Sydney’s contemporary art gallery which pioneers conceptual exhibitions from Australian-Asian artists or well-known artists from the Asia-Pacific.