Capella Sydney: Inside Australia’s most luxurious new hotel
Just-opened Capella Sydney has reimagined a historic sandstone building as a world-class hotel, boasting 192 spectacularly appointed rooms and suites, with a fascinating backstory.
As far as glow-ups go, the transformation of the 1915 Department of Education building into Capella Sydney is one for the history books – and buffs. The super-stylish hotel opens in the previously off-limits, heritage-listed building this month, almost seven years after the prestige site was secured by Singapore-based Pontiac Land Group.
But while its newest chapter offers 192 spectacularly appointed rooms and suites, including its uppermost jewel, the apartment-sized Capella Suite, the building’s story began over a century ago, long before a guest-only pool and Auriga Spa were deftly tucked beneath the restored “sky lanterns” of its sixth floor.
Occupying an entire city block just behind Circular Quay, the six-storey sandstone building once welcomed staffers of the Department of Agriculture to its southern side, completed in 1930, before it was absorbed entirely by educators.
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That’s an important bit of trivia for the detail-savvy as when guests enter the hotel’s opulent foyer from Farrer Place, the original directory boards bear the hallmarks of its agriculture era, repurposed by Australian Waayni artist Judy Watson as polished-bronze frames for her works on canvas.
Given that the building came together as two irregular U-shaped structures, erected in two stages 15 years apart, an open-air courtyard was created in its centre. As the city grew around it, the building and courtyard became pinboards for ramshackle rooms and shabby embellishments.
Peeling back those layers to reveal the original intent has been a monumental part of the building’s metamorphosis, its bare bones informing the placement of luxurious guest rooms, suites and services, as well as four new upper levels by Make Architects, whose offices span Sydney, London and Hong Kong.
Bestrewn with hand-carved details, the Edwardian Baroque-style facade and its internal workings were born from the creative vision of New South Wales government architect George McRae. His legacy lies in the completion of Sydney Town Hall and the Queen Victoria Building to name just two of his most famous remaining structures.
Slightly ahead of McRae in his career was colonial architect James Barnet, the man responsible for phase one of the Department of Lands building next to the hotel. The Lands building will shed its scaffolding as the hush-hush second site of Capella Sydney in the next two years, completing what is known as the Sandstone Precinct with an upscale mix of stores, eateries and interactive spaces.
For the uninitiated, Capella is a small but very high-end hotel group hailing from Singapore, with lodgings in Shanghai, Ubud and Hanoi, among other places. It has connections with developer Pontiac Land in that both Capella and Pontiac are owned by the Kwee family. They launched their debut hotel in Sentosa Island, Singapore, in 2009.
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“One part of our brief might have been to design the best hotel in world, but bringing the Capella touch to this site was always about opening the historic building to the public for the first time, taking it from being a closed-off government site to an open place for Sydneysiders and people from everywhere.”
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Integrating former military buildings from the 1880s, the hotel group demonstrates a track-record of working with heritage sites from the company’s earliest years. “Capella as a brand is very young,” says Marc von Arnim, Capella Sydney’s general manager. “What sets us apart, however, is our delivery of service. No matter which Capella you go to, we always try to do things a little bit differently.”
This desire to go off-piste is realised by the hotel group’s willingness to tap deeply into the stories of its properties and their locations, and to seek out team members who “want in” on the vision. “For Sydney, we’ve chosen personalities who are going to bring the heritage building to life,” von Arnim says. “They’ll deliver an authentic experience in every place they are with guests.”
All the spaces where guests might find themselves at Capella Sydney have been considered by expat Londoner and architect Michelle Evans of the Make Sydney office, who appears more proud than exhausted when sharing that she’s worked on the project from the very beginning. Seven years on, she’s now an Australian citizen.
Make was joined by Melbourne and Madrid-based interior designers Bar Studio, whose scope of work included, among many things, shaping the on-site restaurant, Brasserie 1930, named for the year in which the southern end of the building was completed, and McRae Bar, honouring the Scottish-born architect.
Over the past few months, Melbourne stylist Simone Haag curated a layer of intriguing objects to finesse just about every room, nook and shelf. “We’ve gone to vintage markets, op-shops and Australian makers to collect pieces to build on the design story,” Haag says. “There’s Murano glass, vintage cocktail sets and one-off ceramics on the way. The books we’re including were all hand-picked – we hope guests pick them up and flick through the pages.”
Evans, however, knows the building better than most and descends one of its immaculately restored marble-lined stairways listing countless colleagues and government organisations whose collaboration and consultancy were required during the project life, most notably for the delicate handling of the heritage site.
“One part of our brief might have been to design the best hotel in world,” she admits. “But bringing the Capella touch to this site was always about opening the historic building to the public for the first time, taking it from being a closed-off government site to an open place for Sydneysiders and people from everywhere.”
The public art program, part of the rules for privatising the building, is perhaps the most interesting device for inviting people into its core. Works begin as intricate etchings and bronze lettering embedded in the sidewalk, honouring the heritage of the space, before leading into the stone-lined foyer and reception areas where Judy Watson’s paintings and sculptures take centre stage.
The program culminates dramatically with a lighting installation, titled Meadow, by Dutch artists Studio Drift. Their kinetic piece, crafted from fabric dyed to mimic the colours of Australian bushflowers, is suspended beneath a glass roof, filling the void of the original courtyard that’s now coined Aperture – a casual lounge area backdropped by an epic wall of native plant life.
It’s not so much about showstopping views around here. Arguably, though, the surrounding facade and rooftop perspectives framed by the old and new windows are more fascinating than a bridge or harbour aspect. (Admittedly, glimpses of the coathanger and its world-famous pond can be seen from some of the fanciest suites.)
In Aperture, however, it was very much about the sightlines, just in a less traditional sense. “We worked hard to reinstate the courtyard and to get those views up towards the sky,” Evans says. “That space had to do a lot of hard work from an architectural perspective and in terms of building performance.” She points to the new fish-scale vents – a nod to a heritage detail on the sandstone facade. “They bring all the air into the building. We were determined to do that in a beautiful way.”
Collaboration was key across the board, from fitting out the heavenly rooms and suites, where custom-made Italian Frette linen and seaweed-infused Haeckels amenities await guests, to the suspension of the 20-metre pool – “an engineering feat”, Evans says. It was also essential in the restaurant, where The Bentley Group was invited to do what it does best: irresistible food and drink in the heart of the city.
“We honestly couldn’t say no to working with Capella,” says one half of the Bentley duo, sommelier and co-owner Nick Hildebrandt. Standing in the lofty brasserie, his business partner, Bentley co-owner and chef Brent Savage, paints an appetising picture of what guests can expect.
“Imagine sitting in this beautiful heritage-listed dining room, eating grilled whole lobster, sipping on vintage Champagne at marble tables and finishing with a tipple from the digestive trolley,” he says. “This will be a truly grand experience.”
On what exactly will be plated up in Brasserie 1930, the team remains tight-lipped at the time of writing. But they have revealed the menu will celebrate stellar Australian produce. A main course preview, one of a mixture of large shareable dishes, showcases whole roast duck with duck sausage and roasted plum. An individually plated dish stars Borrowdale rare-breed pork chop with herb salsa and prune sauce.
The Bentley crew will also oversee the hotel’s snack menu, available in Aperture and across the foyer in McRae Bar. Presented as a throwback to Victorian-era drinking dens, the bar is modernised by an energetic mural painted directly onto the walls and mirrors by Gumbaynggirr and Bundjalung artist Otis Hope Carey.
The mood is intimate and elegant, with styling that connects guests to the action. “The head barman wanted the space to evoke nostalgia and the craft of cocktail making,” Haag says. The drinks list – the real drawcard – promises to celebrate the first golden age of fine drinking through a contemporary Australian lens. Instead of a sherry concoction, for instance, why not try an apera-laced cobbler, spotlighting the local fortified wine?
The building, the Gadigal land on which it sits and the renovation are the subject of regular storytelling. Tall tales of folk heroes are also a focus, including that of “graffiti pioneer” Arthur Stace, who scribed the word “eternity” on Sydney streets from the 1930s until his death in 1967. Capella culturists are the walking, talking fountains of this information, inviting guests to discover as much as they’d like through what they call “moments” and “rituals”, often held in the Living Room – a private escape for anyone staying in-house.
Think something of a first-class airline lounge for hotel guests. “Daily rituals could be soundscapes, sound immersion, sound meditation and Indigenous sound,” explains chief culturist Jonathan Fambart. “In Hanoi, their Living Room is taken over by a diva for about 10 minutes,” he says. “She’s sassy and quirky and elegant, and really rocks the room. We’re trying to have the same impact with our rituals.”
These experiences are part of a three-pronged guest program, capped off by a “curates” service – highly curated itineraries, as the name suggests, that might send guests around Sydney Harbour on a vintage ship, overland by chopper, into the best seats at sporting events or to a hard-to-nab table in one of nearby Quay Quarter Lanes’ dining establishments.
But what exactly is a culturist? Headquartered in the ground-floor Living Room, they’re the Capella brand of neighbourhood expert – a sort of ambassador for the city and the hotel itself – whose role combines concierge, pre-arrival management and cultural services.
“We want to get into the psychology of people’s travel,” Fambart says. “We’ll give guests VIP access and knowledge, but also empower them to focus on their experience in Sydney, in a tasteful and thoughtful way.”
Capella Sydney’s rooms start at $750 per night. 35-39 Bridge Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000. capellahotels.com
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