Centennial Park ranger’s residence turned in to boutique hotel by Hughenden Hotel team

For the first time in its long history you can stay the night at the ranger’s property in Centennial Park. It’s been vacant for more than a decade but now houses a high end hotel.

A hotel inside Centennial Park has become a reality after boutique accommodation became available at The Residences.

The team from Woollahra’s Hughenden Hotel have renovated the 19th-century Rangers Residence and Superintendents Residence to provide the park’s first hotel experience.

Hughenden executive director James Ruben gave the Courier a sneak peek inside the luxury digs before putting on a star-studded launch last week.

The luxurious bathroom at the new Centennial Park hotel.

Chandeliers are a feature at Residences, a new hotel in Centennial Park.

The bedrooms are decorated with high end furnishings.

“It wasn’t pretty when we got in here, but what we’ve been able to achieve is really something special,” Mr Ruben said.

Both premises had been used sparingly recently and nobody has lived in either property since 2001.

The Superintendents Residence was briefly used for a gallery and visitors’ centre, but park authorities could not pay for renovation and maintenance alone.

Chess sets and hardwood desks feature in the bedrooms.

An entrance area at the Residences.

Wedding parties are expected to make up the bulk of bookings at the venue.

“This is a new way for people to experience the park, one which they have never had before,” Mr Ruben said.

● Centennial Park takes up 189 hectares in the east of Sydney

● It stands on traditional Gadigal land but plans to build a park for the people weref formed in 1886 with the park opening in 188 to celebrate the first 100 years of European settlement

●In 1851, the park hosted a duel between the first Premier of New South Wales, Stuart Donaldson, and the Surveyor-General, Thomas Mitchell. Both men survived.

The kitchen in the new hotel in Centennial Park.