Former Bathurst wool store transformed into 'five-star luxury accommodation'

New York City might sound like a long haul from Bathurst. And it is: more than 16,000 kilometres. So, if you bought a former wool store in this NSW central tablelands city of 42,000 residents, you’d think it unlikely that the US metropolis – home to 8 million – would be your inspiration.

But for Hamish Keith, it was. Looking to renovate the run-down 1875 building he picked up in the middle of last year, the local tourism operator and farmer saw a prime opportunity to bring a slice of the Big Apple to Bathurst.

“I wanted to give it that New York loft-style-meets-industrial feel,” Keith says. “My wife and I lived in New York and, like all New Yorkers, we lived in a tiny flat paying exorbitant rent. Our dream was to live in a New York penthouse with an industrial feel.”

There was more to it, though, than simply fulfilling a lifestyle choice. Keith viewed the three-level building he had fallen in love with when he was 18 as an extension of the family farm – Wilga Station, near Bathurst at Evans Plains – which he ran as a luxury stay.

“The plan was to make it our CBD offering equal to Wilga Station,” says the third-generation sheep farmer. “We are a sheep station and this was a former wool store, so it had that shared history and connection.”

Keith also spied an opportunity to add some needed luxury accommodation to a regional city that was “booming”, celebrated for its history, arts and culture. Oh, and a car race.

Keith set out to transform the triple-brick building, used most recently as budget lodgings, into “five-star luxury accommodation”: a four-bedroom penthouse and loft, five apartments – a mix of one and two-bedroom units and studios – on the lower two levels, and potential commercial space on the ground floor.

Much attention was given to upgrading the amenities: new kitchens and bathrooms were installed; windows were replaced and some internal walls were removed; while electrical wiring, cabling and plumbing were overhauled. There was also a range of cosmetic touch-ups, like fresh paint, carpets and flooring.

But the penthouse was Keith’s main labour of love. While not a trained designer, he was raised in a family who valued design and he had an eye and feel for it.

With the help of Bathurst Constructions, the original timber beams and gabled ceiling were sanded and oiled, the floorboards restored and several layers of paint stripped to expose the brickwork underneath.

A workbench was upcycled as an impressive island kitchen bench, while five tonnes of hardwood from the family’s shearing shed and an industrial staircase were trucked in.

For Keith, it was all about accentuating the building’s original industrial features.

At the same time, designer appliances, including a Lopi fireplace, and bespoke furniture were sourced to soften the penthouse interior’s heavy-duty bones with a layer of Manhattan chic.

Keith also sourced some original Bathurst brick, which he used to create floating feature walls to break up the building’s large volumes – a neat touch that melded old and new.

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121A Keppel Street, Bathurst NSW 2795

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Having given the property a luxury makeover, Keith shifted his priorities earlier this year. Instead of running high-end accommodation in town, he decided to develop Wilga Station.

He has plans to build a high-class wedding venue and, over the next few years, add immersive architectural accommodation to the existing curved green-roofed Farmers Hut and five-bedroom Shearers Hall.

“People pay for quality,” he says. “It’s more rewarding than farming.”