[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ link=” linktarget=” link_hover=” padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background=’bg_color’ background_color=” background_gradient_color1=” background_gradient_color2=” background_gradient_direction=’vertical’ src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=” mobile_breaking=” mobile_display=” av_uid=’av-dfs1m’]
[av_heading heading=’Destination Art: The Surry Hills Way’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote modern-centered’ subheading_active=” show_icon=” icon=’ue800′ font=’entypo-fontello’ size=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” subheading_size=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” icon_size=” av-medium-font-size-1=” av-small-font-size-1=” av-mini-font-size-1=” color=” custom_font=” icon_color=” margin=” margin_sync=’true’ padding=’10’ icon_padding=’10’ link=” link_target=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-ktb4919l’ admin_preview_bg=”][/av_heading]
[/av_one_full][av_one_fifth first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” row_boxshadow=” row_boxshadow_color=” row_boxshadow_width=’10’ custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ mobile_breaking=” border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ padding=’0px’ column_boxshadow=” column_boxshadow_color=” column_boxshadow_width=’10’ background=’bg_color’ background_color=” background_gradient_color1=” background_gradient_color2=” background_gradient_direction=’vertical’ src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ highlight=” highlight_size=” animation=” link=” linktarget=” link_hover=” title_attr=” alt_attr=” mobile_display=” id=” custom_class=” aria_label=” av_uid=’av-1fx6zuu’][/av_one_fifth]
[av_three_fifth min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” row_boxshadow=” row_boxshadow_color=” row_boxshadow_width=’10’ custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ mobile_breaking=” border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ padding=’0px’ column_boxshadow=” column_boxshadow_color=” column_boxshadow_width=’10’ background=’bg_color’ background_color=” background_gradient_color1=” background_gradient_color2=” background_gradient_direction=’vertical’ src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ highlight=” highlight_size=” animation=” link=” linktarget=” link_hover=” title_attr=” alt_attr=” mobile_display=” id=” custom_class=” aria_label=” av_uid=’av-11v2ehy’]
[av_textblock size=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” font_color=” color=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-jgw048t9′ admin_preview_bg=”]
With a carefully curated and constantly rotating art display, Sydney’s Paramount House Hotel in inner-city Sydney, is an urban sanctuary for art and design lovers. Jo Higgins takes us inside. Photography by Nick De Lorenzo.
[/av_textblock]
[av_hr class=’default’ icon_select=’no’ icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ position=’center’ shadow=’no-shadow’ height=’50’ custom_border=’av-border-fat’ custom_width=’50px’ custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ custom_border_color=” custom_icon_color=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-2mw5′ admin_preview_bg=”]
[/av_three_fifth][av_one_fifth min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” row_boxshadow=” row_boxshadow_color=” row_boxshadow_width=’10’ custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ mobile_breaking=” border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ padding=’0px’ column_boxshadow=” column_boxshadow_color=” column_boxshadow_width=’10’ background=’bg_color’ background_color=” background_gradient_color1=” background_gradient_color2=” background_gradient_direction=’vertical’ src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ highlight=” highlight_size=” animation=” link=” linktarget=” link_hover=” title_attr=” alt_attr=” mobile_display=” id=” custom_class=” aria_label=” av_uid=’av-k12ow6′][/av_one_fifth]
[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ link=” linktarget=” link_hover=” padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background=’bg_color’ background_color=” background_gradient_color1=” background_gradient_color2=” background_gradient_direction=’vertical’ src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=” mobile_breaking=” mobile_display=” av_uid=’av-fbgru’]
[av_image src=’https://artedit.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/051_.jpeg’ attachment=’31975′ attachment_size=’full’ copyright=” caption=” styling=” align=’center’ font_size=” overlay_opacity=’0.4′ overlay_color=’#000000′ overlay_text_color=’#ffffff’ animation=’no-animation’ hover=” appearance=” link=” target=” title_attr=” alt_attr=” lazy_loading=’disabled’ id=” custom_class=” av_element_hidden_in_editor=’0′ av_uid=’av-keat3oik’ admin_preview_bg=”][/av_image]
[av_hr class=’invisible’ height=’50’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’ custom_border=’av-border-fat’ custom_width=’50px’ custom_border_color=” custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ icon_select=’no’ custom_icon_color=” icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-jgwymecw’ custom_class=” admin_preview_bg=”]
[av_textblock size=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” font_color=” color=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-jgvzw7no’ admin_preview_bg=”]
When owners Russell Beard, Mark Dundon and Ping Jin Ng imagined the experience of staying at the boutique Paramount House Hotel in Sydney it was important to them that it was a distinctly Surry Hills experience. As Aimee Bayliss, Paramount House Hotel executive explains, this design philosophy shaped not only the architectural approach to the building and the use of light spaces, large windows and heritage features, but everything from the coffee to the contemporary art as well. “The owners wanted it to feel like Surry Hills; for guests to wake up and know exactly where they were… the artwork in each room speaks to that.”
The Paramount House Hotel may have only opened in 2018 but the building and its surrounds are steeped in the history of Surry Hills as the former headquarters of the Paramount Picture Studios. The hotel, which was designed by Melbourne-based Breathe Architecture, is built in what was once the heritage-listed building’s film storage warehouse and each of the hotel’s 29 rooms has its own layout, style and original art that makes the most of the bones of this art deco gem.
The hotel’s art and design are an integral part of the guest experience of the building – from the lobby to the rooms – and in setting out to create a quintessentially Surry Hills hotel, the owners looked to collaborate with their Surry Hills neighbours, including Edward Woodley’s China Heights Gallery.
“The owners are really great at recognising other people’s strengths and since the beginning have been keen to collaborate with people who’ve been doing what they’ve been doing for a long time,” explains Bayliss. Woodley had in fact been involved with the building in its pre-hotel life, hosting exhibitions and events there and when the hotel development got underway he and owner Russell Beard struck up a friendship. That friendship became a collaboration. For Woodley, besides the platform it offers to China Heights Gallery represented artists, “the partnership creates a wider community, not only with the displayed art, but by offering artists and like-minded creatives a sanctuary. It also offers an immersive experience for people to enjoy the artwork [outside of the gallery].”
One of the hotel’s first commissions was two large-scale landscapes by painter Max Berry that rotate seasonally between the lobby and one of the upstairs nooks – which makes it one of Woodley’s favourite rooms in the hotel (the other is the Mack Daddy suite “for obvious reasons!”) Other guestrooms feature carefully chosen works by artists that have included Otis Hope Carey, Brooklyn Whelan, Jesse Lizotte, Ondine Seabrook, Lucy O’Doherty and Chris Yee.
When artists are in Sydney for an exhibition they’ll often stay at the hotel and use their rooms as studios to make work. Some, like Marty Baptist, have even been invited to paint site-specific, permanent works directly onto the walls. According to Bayliss, these kinds of opportunities and exchanges “speak to that really comfortable friendship between the artists and the owners and the gallery.”
Elsewhere in the building, in the hotel’s foyer, a gallery wall rotates new works every few months to help keep the space fresh and energised. The exhibition tends to complement whatever is showing at China Heights at the time and both Woodley and the hotel consider it a satellite extension of the gallery.
The hotel’s commitment to embedding art, design and creativity throughout the building has also meant commissions and commercial opportunities for creatives that go beyond what hangs on the walls. At nearly every touchpoint in the hotel experience, from the bed linen to the coffee mugs, you will find items by designers including Henry Wilson and Brisbane-based ceramics studio Commons.
Paramount’s beloved vending machine, nicknamed Lobby Boy, is covered with an original decal designed by Sonny Day and stocked with items that have ranged from face masks and Supreme socks to hand-painted artworks by Baptist. The hotel is currently collaborating with artist Poppy Williams to design a yardage print that will be used for new hotel pajamas.
It is conversation and a real commitment to creativity and community that drives this ongoing collaboration. Oftentimes the opportunity is not something the hotel or artist or gallery has set out to identify. Instead, they come about quite naturally as a result of the friendships and trust that have been built over the last three years and so, says Bayliss, “you end up getting something that actually you would never have commissioned and I think that’s the best way.” The Surry Hills way perhaps.
For bookings contact Paramount House Hotel, Sydney.
Featured image: A work by Brooklyn Whelan hangs at reception. Courtesy: the artists and Paramount House Hotel, Sydney.
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full][av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ link=” linktarget=” link_hover=” padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background=’bg_color’ background_color=” background_gradient_color1=” background_gradient_color2=” background_gradient_direction=’vertical’ src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=” mobile_breaking=” mobile_display=” av_uid=’av-5jx9′]
[av_hr class=’default’ icon_select=’no’ icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ position=’center’ shadow=’no-shadow’ height=’50’ custom_border=’av-border-fat’ custom_width=’50px’ custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ custom_border_color=” custom_icon_color=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-2mw5′ admin_preview_bg=”]
[av_masonry_gallery ids=’31976,31977,31978,31979′ caption_elements=’title’ caption_styling=’overlay’ caption_display=’on-hover’ size=’fixed’ orientation=’av-orientation-square’ gap=’large’ columns=’4′ av-medium-columns=” av-small-columns=” av-mini-columns=” items=’6′ paginate=’none’ color=” custom_bg=” overlay_fx=’active’ animation=” container_links=’active’ link_dest=” lightbox_text=” lazy_loading=’disabled’ id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-jgyb1oxr’]
[av_hr class=’default’ icon_select=’no’ icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ position=’center’ shadow=’no-shadow’ height=’50’ custom_border=’av-border-fat’ custom_width=’50px’ custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ custom_border_color=” custom_icon_color=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-2mw5′ admin_preview_bg=”]
[/av_one_full][av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” row_boxshadow=” row_boxshadow_color=” row_boxshadow_width=’10’ custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ mobile_breaking=” border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ padding=’0px’ column_boxshadow=” column_boxshadow_color=” column_boxshadow_width=’10’ background=’bg_color’ background_color=” background_gradient_color1=” background_gradient_color2=” background_gradient_direction=’vertical’ src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ highlight=” highlight_size=” animation=” link=” linktarget=” link_hover=” title_attr=” alt_attr=” mobile_display=” id=” custom_class=” aria_label=” av_uid=’av-vkcjc6′]
[av_heading heading=’More features from issue #29′ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote modern-centered’ subheading_active=” show_icon=” icon=’ue800′ font=” size=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” subheading_size=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” icon_size=” av-medium-font-size-1=” av-small-font-size-1=” av-mini-font-size-1=” color=” custom_font=” icon_color=” margin=” margin_sync=’true’ padding=’10’ icon_padding=’10’ link=” link_target=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-ktb4nx97′ admin_preview_bg=”][/av_heading]
[/av_one_full][av_hr class=’invisible’ icon_select=’no’ icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ position=’center’ shadow=’no-shadow’ height=’30’ custom_border=’av-border-fat’ custom_width=’50px’ custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ custom_border_color=” custom_icon_color=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-jgwymecw’ admin_preview_bg=”]
[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ link=” linktarget=” link_hover=” padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background=’bg_color’ background_color=” background_gradient_color1=” background_gradient_color2=” background_gradient_direction=’vertical’ src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=” mobile_breaking=” mobile_display=” av_uid=’av-bmqzu’]
[av_blog blog_type=’taxonomy’ link=’post_tag,4055′ blog_style=’blog-grid’ content_length=’content’ contents=’excerpt_read_more’ date_filter=” date_filter_start=” date_filter_end=” date_filter_format=’yy/mm/dd’ offset=’no_duplicates’ conditional=” bloglist_width=” columns=’3′ preview_mode=’custom’ image_size=’woocommerce_thumbnail’ items=’6′ paginate=’yes’ lazy_loading=’disabled’ alb_description=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-jgw0l1z3′]
[/av_one_full][av_hr class=’default’ icon_select=’no’ icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ position=’center’ shadow=’no-shadow’ height=’50’ custom_border=’av-border-fat’ custom_width=’50px’ custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ custom_border_color=” custom_icon_color=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-jgwymecw’ admin_preview_bg=”]