Hannah St Hotel turns Melbourne CBD into a maximalist design playground
Melbourne’s new Hannah St hotel blends bold art, vibrant colour and design-driven spaces into a playful new CBD stay.
Artist Jazz Money’s light installation spelling out “These Infinite Beginnings” in the lobby exemplifies a new era in Melbourne’s Southbank.
Welcome to the new 188-room and suite Hannah St Hotel — a riot of intense colour and texture; part contemporary art gallery, part hip dining destination and a fully blown celebration of adventurous interior design.
All hail the king of considered maximalism, interior designer David Flack.
His Flack Studio — the team behind The Ace Hotel in Sydney and the musician Troye Sivan’s Melbourne home — went into intricate detail at Hannah St Hotel, down to designing each piece of furniture, bespoke lighting fixtures, and even touches like brass handles, hooks, and doilies.
ROAM. Landing in your inbox weekly.
A digital-first travel magazine. Premium itineraries and adventures, practical information and exclusive offers for the discerning traveller.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.
“Every space in the hotel is an invitation to make yourself at home. Nothing in the hotel is about big spaces. It’s about small spaces that feel comfortable, lived in and intimate,” Flack tells ROAM.
One could say Hannah St Hotel evokes a feeling of a home away from home — if said home was owned by a well-travelled, wealthy, creative that loves to play David Bowie and Gil Scott-Heron records in equal measure.
Think: Memphis Group (the Ettore Sottsass-led Milanese geometric and colour-popping design of the 80s) meets Charlotte Perriand-style custom joinery (timbers, stainless steel, polished brass mesh). Animal-print pouffes coalesce with Carrara marble, and hand-loomed colourful rugs intermingle with curved banquettes.
Flack Studio also curated the Art Program featuring 13 female Australian contemporary artists, including Wiradjuri poet and artist Jazz Money’s work and, greeting each guest at the entry, a giant and joyful futuristic figure armed with three safety mirrors, Mirror Sheila by Justene Williams.
At Hannah St Hotel, all the senses are fired. The hotel worked with artisanal luxury fragrance brand The Raconteur on three different scents, the one wafting through the lobby has light citrus and spice notes interwoven with cues of urbanity — rubber, steel, rain-washed concrete. And the soundtrack is also a mismatch that seems to work; Lou Reed might rumble in after Bronski Beat, then onto Afrobeat from Ghana.
It’s a destination you want to linger in. Onsite there’s a DJ booth, a co-working space and even a podcasting studio.
The attention to detail is inimitable, down to the bowl of welcoming Polly Waffle chocolate balls in ROAM’s spacious Terrace Balcony Suite, with a handwritten note detailing that the chocolates were invented in 1947 in a factory nearby in South Melbourne.
The local flavour continues with a minibar stocked with sodas from Ordinary Beverage Co, Popkins artisan popcorn and Noisy Ritual wine.
The suite has a separate sitting room for lounging and working. Underfoot, the carpets are a soft blush pink and next to the bed is a giant round bath framed in black and white striped tiles.
That same pattern extends to the welcome 20m pool area on the ninth floor and which boasts city views, a steam room and sauna as well as a fitness studio.
As for dining, five Mulberry Group venues are onsite, including Coupette Corner Bistro & Bar, an all-day European bistro offering excellent steak frites and Fraser Island crab salad with green apple lardo.
For coffee and pastries, there’s the well-named Hannah St Coffee. And then there’s a choice of three bars — the highlight being the leafy Terrace Lounge, a rooftop bar and lounge with a Parisian-style conservatory, perfect for an aperitif with sunset views across the Melbourne skyline.
HANNAH ST HOTEL 19 Walker Street, Southbank, VIC 3006
PRICEFrom $295 a night
THE INSIDERThe hotel in the Queensbridge precinct is located at a nexus joining Melbourne’s CBD, the Yarra, South Melbourne and the transforming Arts Precinct. Catch the Rei Kawakubo & Vivienne Westwood exhibition at the NGV then wander across the Yarra to shop in Melbourne’s laneways. The hotel is within 15 minutes’ walk of more than fifteen green spaces and maps are available for cycling and jogging routes. hannahsthotel.com
