Sydney landmark hotel reveals its $70 million facelift

The name “Wentworth” figures greatly and controversially in Australian history and its legacy is writ large, particularly in NSW, where there are namesake streets – Wentworth Avenue, Surry Hills – a namesake town in the far south-west of the state, and spectacular falls bearing the moniker in the Blue Mountains. Wentworth is also an electoral division and even a famous fictional TV jail.

The new lobby features check-in stations and a guest relations lounge.

In Sydney it was also the name given to the city’s grandest hotel, which opened in the mid-1800s when its namesake, the statesman (among other occupations) William Wentworth, was still alive.

Torn down in the 1960s, it was replaced by Australia’s first international hotel, a distinctively curved modernist building designed by a consortium of architects. Also called the Wentworth when it swung open the doors in 1966, it was the largest brick building in the southern hemisphere.

The all-weather Wentworth Bar.

The Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, as the five-star establishment is now known, has just reopened after a $70 million top-to-toe refurbishment, ensuring longevity for the name, at least into the foreseeable future.

The place where Princess Diana (and her then husband, the current King) stayed in 1983 as well as being the Harbour City haven for many other A-list celebrities, the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth has had a revamp fittingly created by another superstar, this one in the realm of design: the studio, FK (formerly Fender Katsalidis). They’ve leaned into the 1960s vibe while showering the property with up-to-the-second technology.

House Made Hospitality have opened four new venues for drinking and dining.

The aesthetic changes begin from the entrance, where the exterior has been clad in bronze and leads to a lobby full of cosy “pockets”. The lobby also features check-in stations and a guest relations lounge.

All 436 rooms and suites have been refurbished and include the wellness bag, containing exercise gear for use in room or in nearby outdoor harbourside locations.

The Wentworth Bar.

A large part of the reworked hotel is the expansion of its culinary outlets.

Prominent Sydney-based House Made Hospitality (Lana, Grana, Promenade at Bondi Beach) was tasked with creating a dining offering to invite locals in as well as guests.

Tilda restaurant “channels a laid-back yet elegant Australiana vibe”, while Bar Tilda serves nostalgia-inspired cocktails as a nod to the hotel’s history. Delta Rue is a French Vietnamese eatery. But the real honeypot for Sydney’s social scene may be the Wentworth Bar, inhabiting the level-five outdoor space that sits within the curve of the main building above the lobby and function spaces. It offers an all-weather terrace and could help start a new life for that Wentworth name as a catchcry: We went and it was worth it, perhaps?

See sofitelsydney.com.au