Above the roofline of a brick building on Commonwealth Street in Sydney’s Surry Hills sits a surreal, two-storey copper crown-like extension. The contemporary structure was added to what was once the outpost of the Hollywood Paramount Picture Studios but which is now the Paramount House Hotel, a regal new hospitality venture in a city that’s short on fresh hotels.

The hotel sits within the historic building, which is already home to Paramount Coffee Project, a collaboration between the site’s owner and developer, Ping Jin Ng, and Russell Beard and Melbourne-based Mark Dundon. Together the trio runs the coffee shop as well as a string of other café projects, and Beard and Dundon travel extensively while sourcing beans. And now they have a hotel too. “We wanted to build a place where you feel at home and looked after,” says Beard. “Our best experiences have been hotels that gave us a sense of place.” Dundon agrees: “Service and attention to a guest’s needs are as important to us as the room.”

The pair tapped architect Jeremy McLeod of Melbourne practice Breathe to design the place. McLeod has previously designed their cafés, coffee-roasting spaces and the duo’s respective homes in Sydney and Melbourne. “None of us had worked on a hotel before though; this is everyone’s first foray into the business,” says McLeod.

“Because we’ve worked together a lot, this was a project designed by friendly committee. As a client they had an incredible level of authorship,” he adds. “I fielded calls from all three partners and I presented more than 10 rounds of drawings before we settled on final plans.”

The site is a complicated jigsaw of heritage buildings. Number 76, a 1920s warehouse (and once a Paramount Studios film-storage unit) became the hotel but two additional storeys were added. On the ground floor will sit restaurant Poly, a sister restaurant to Chippendale’s Ester; above, 29 guest rooms are spread across four floors. On the rooftop, a garden with views across the city includes a workout space.

Beside the four-storey hotel lies the grander Paramount House. Built in 1940, it served as the studio’s southern-hemisphere HQ, complete with a screening room in the basement. That building holds Paramount Coffee Project, a bar and a cinema. An adjacent wing is home to a co-working outfit, The Office Space, where hotel patrons can access desk space or a meeting room.

“The challenge was to make two heritage buildings, housing multiple businesses, feel like one,” says McLeod. “We had to find a way to sew them together yet still give the hotel a sense of independence.”

Each room has a unique interior and most have outdoor space. “We had a policy that any architectural element or artefact we uncovered had to be made into a feature,” says McLeod.

Plump Jardan sofas, bold textured rugs and wall hangings soften the concrete walls, recycled timber and tiled floors. The bathrooms feature terrazzo walls; in some suites Blackbutt timber has been fashioned into vast Japanese-style baths.

“Each room is a little apartment with its own personality,” says Dundon. “I am hoping that guests will find their favourite. Stay 29 times and have 29 different experiences.”
paramounthousehotel.com