Reach Rock ’n’ Roll status at the Ace Hotel Sydney
Of all the places you might run into a live band checking in for the night, the hip Ace Hotel Sydney is it.
The guy on the front desk is puzzled. Staring at his computer as he examines the night’s bookings, he’s struggling with the reservation for the Americans beside me. “It seems everyone here is booked under the one name: Otis,” he says, perplexed. The three men are nonplussed, too. Dressed in black T-shirts and leather, they are toting large instrument cases, one seemingly a drum kit. It fits, of course. Of all the places you might run into a real live band checking in for the night, Ace Hotel Sydney is it.
I would love to hang around and see how this micro-drama unfolds but there are more pressing matters at hand after checking in. For one, a DJ is pumping chill rap beats from a deck in Lobby Bar, the clubby little leather-bound space next to Ace’s concierge area, and a cocktail bearing the moniker Never Envious is calling my name. And oh how its zippy mix of vodka, ginger, passionfruit and lime proves the perfect opener for an evening at this coolest of new Sydney hotels.
Ace Hotel Sydney opened in inner-city Surry Hills in May, the freshest property in an international hotel portfolio that stretches from Brooklyn to Kyoto. The Los Angeles-based brand’s philosophy is based on creating unique, fashion-forward properties that garner kudos from careful collaborations with creatives, and by embracing a different, cutting-edge style per destination – and its first southern hemisphere venue most definitely hits the brief.
Styled by Melbourne design house Flack Studio, Ace Hotel Sydney leans into a quasi-ironic ’60s-’70s sensibility – rooms kitted out in hues of brown, olive and tangerine, with tan mohair blankets replacing the regular ice-white duvet covers, and beds that rest on orange felt carpet. Bathrooms, meanwhile, are lined with terracotta tiles, the sort you thought you’d never see again in the wild, while each room has a working record player and a small collection of records. (We need help figuring out how to use ours; it’s been a while.) In our room there’s also a guitar, presumably a prop (unless, obviously, you’re with the band).
There are appropriate concessions to modernity: high ceilings finished in polished concrete, delightfully comfortable beds with plump feather pillows, and rainwater showers with the sort of water pressure that bathers of the ’70s could only ever dream about.
The common areas are an equally intriguing mix of retro and contemporary styling that makes the most of the building’s gorgeous heritage bones. Originally called Tyne House, the 11-storey “skyscraper” that forms the central pillar of the hotel was completed in 1916 as a factory and warehouse for pharmaceutical firm WH Soul Pattinson Co. Before that, the site hosted a brick factory and was home to Australia’s first kiln, worked in the 1820s by convict potter Jonathan Leak.
Those early roots are neither buried nor overlooked. Indeed, the new rooftop restaurant of chef Mitch Orr (CicciaBella, ACME), opening this weekend, has been christened Kiln, and there’s the added reference of a wood-fired focus across the menu. Check out, too, the quirky brick mosaic at the front desk that’s another nod to the site’s rich story.
That seven new floors have been added to the original 11 for the purpose of the hotel goes almost unnoticed under the careful layering of art, sculpture, lighting, brickwork, polished concrete, leather banquettes and, naturally, a fully stocked merch cabinet stuffed with themed goods; buy your own Ace turntable, $675, or Ace mug, $18.
Some may feel intimidated by Ace’s earnest and overwhelming pursuit of coolness. But resist the temptation to mock. Genuine thought and care has been put into creating a space that looks forward, and backward, to several different eras at once. It’s a lot. But it’s great. I’m most definitely on the band wagon.
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Perfect for: Coolhunters; groupies; travellers looking to step out of the ordinary.
Must do: Dine in the neighbourhood. Ace is directly across from Chin Chin, while nearby culinary stars include Pellegrino 2000, Paramount Coffee Project, A.P Bakery (on the rooftop of the Paramount House Hotel) and Alberto’s Lounge, an excellent Italian bolthole secreted down Alberta Lane, about 50m from Ace’s front door.
Dining: A ground-floor restaurant, Loam, has a contemporary menu and is a great spot for breakfast (try baked eggs with Tuscan kale, tomato jam, eggplant and feta or an OG breakfast roll). Mitch Orr’s new rooftop restaurant Kiln features dishes such as calamari with salmoriglio, grilled ocean trout with pistachio and dry-aged ribeye with ponzu, and promises to be a hotspot this summer. Lobby Bar is the place for an aperitif before heading out to dinner.
Getting there: Surry Hills is 20 minutes from Sydney Airport by taxi. Alternatively, take the Airport Link train that goes direct to Central Station; Ace Hotel is a five-minute walk from there.
Bottom line: Rates start from $349 per night.