Today, Surry Hills is known as the bougie heart of Sydney’s inner suburbs, a place where artisan bakeries, single-o coffee roasters and independent boutiques line leafy streets and rental prices reach the edge of space. But this wasn’t always so. The neighbourhood has gone through many eras, from its inglorious years as the crime-riddled slums of the 1920s when the rag trade and razor gangs ruled the roost, to the bohemian artist influx of the ‘60s, the emergence of the gay solidarity movement in the ‘70s, and its blossoming into the multicultural melting pot of Surry Hills today.
This rich history of social and aesthetic evolution has been the inspiration behind the design of the Ace Hotel Sydney, the first of this luxury accommodation brand’s Australian outposts. Situated in the renovated and extended Tyne House brick factory, the site of Australia’s first industrial ceramics kiln, the 264-key hotel will also feature a ground-floor all-day eatery, a lobby cocktail lounge and a rooftop restaurant and bar.
Flack Studios, the interior design team behind the hotel’s fit-out, have summoned various design epochs via the custom lighting, joinery and furnishings in every room without the combined effect becoming an overt pastiche. The ochres and greens of the bedding and window seats, the acoustic textured walls and terracotta bathroom tiles channel distinctly retro vibes, but the attention to detail and in-room amenities are firmly planted in the 21st-century.
According to David Flack, founder and director of Flack Studio, “Surry Hills has been home to so many culturally important movements and people, and has always been a home for creatives and migrating cultures. We wanted to preserve the creative, slightly renegade energy of the space since its origins as one of Australia’s early brickworks.”
Behind the hospitality offering, Ace has recruited celebrated chef Mitch Orr and drinks expert and sommelier Mike Bennie to helm its food and drink menus. Set 18 stories above Surry Hills, the fire-powered restaurant Kiln, will feature a glass-walled dining room complete with two spacious terraces with fully retractable ceilings. At Kiln, he’ll harness the open flame, smoke and smolder of the kitchen’s wood-burning grill – a wink to the building's past as a brick firing factory. The full menu is designed to be shared, and ingredients will follow the seasons and be sustainably sourced.
"Cooking with fire is the most elemental part of cooking, and something every chef loves doing, whether on a hibachi grill in your garden or on a live-fire grill that’s the centrepiece of the restaurant," says Orr.
On the ground floor, there will be a relaxed, all-day menu of local and regional seasonal produce, and sustainable meats and seafood. LOAM will offer breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. The coffee shop features Sydney’s own Mecca Coffee, as well as draft wine. Continuing a longstanding Ace Hotel tradition, the Lobby aims to be a welcoming community hub for locals and travelers alike. The bar menu will offer wines by the glass, craft beers and cocktails in addition to snacks and shareable small plates. The lobby will also regularly feature open-to-all arts and cultural programming.
Mike Bennie is a connoisseur of all things brewed, distilled and fermented. He is co-founder and partner in the landmark P&V Wine + Liquor Merchants, co-founder of the Drink Easy Awards and is a prolific wine and drinks writer. At Ace Hotel Sydney he will bring his extensive experience to the curation of opening day drinks menus for each of the hotel’s four food and beverage venues. Mike also has plans to collaborate on beverage-centric events.
The Ace Hotel Sydney will welcome its first guests from May 18, 2022.