Check in to Paramount House Hotel

Best for

Design lovers.

The Hotel

It’s the infinite tiny design details that elevate a stay at Paramount House Hotel from trendy to memorable. Don’t be distracted by the on-tap sour ale from Wildflower brewery served to you upon check in; look up and discover a short story about the original purpose of refurbished Paramount Pictures Studios snaking beneath the atrium-style roof in place of a cornice. See the bubblegum-pink scarves knotted jauntily around the concierge’s neck? Yes, it does feature the perplexing juxtaposition of a hibiscus and a diver, and it’s the same material that lines the city’s happiest elevator. Each of the hotel’s 29 rooms is designed with the same ethos – the devil is in the detail – but it doesn’t feel contrived. More like you’re spending the weekend in the converted-warehouse apartment of a friend with a great eye.

Image: Sharyn Cairns

The Location

Around five minutes’ walk from Central Station on a block becoming known for great food, including neighbouring restaurants Chin Chin and Longrain.

The Rooms

Along the grass-green carpeted halls are entry-level Everyday rooms, light-filled Sunny spaces, two-level Loft Rooms and two four-room Mack Daddy suites. No matter which you stay in, you’ll be inspecting tags and looking under chairs to find out who designed the furniture and artworks (the latter is curated by nearby gallery China Heights). Loft Room 402, for example, features crushed linen manchester in hues that match the speckled downstairs floor tiles and a deep, denim-coloured lounge five people could easily sink into. Add a riot of potted plants, a boxy bath made from honey-coloured blackbutt instead of porcelain, a flood of natural light courtesy of a skylight and an enormous glass sliding door (blackout blinds are operated via a bed-side switch) and you won’t want to leave the space for a moment.

Image: Tim Ross

Food and drink

Paramount Coffee Project has long been a mecca for Sydney coffee fiends and competition for a spot at one of the communal tables is fierce. Luckily, guests can enjoy signatures such as the Avo on Toast with an umami Vegemite cashew butter on their aforementioned lounge thanks to room service between 7am and 3pm weekdays and until 4pm on weekends.

After-dinner drinks can be taken downstairs in the velvety Golden age Cinema & Bar and the hotly anticipated, Ester-team-led restaurant, Poly, is due to open on the ground floor in June.

For business travellers

Wi-fi is free. Within the Paramount building you’ll also find Paramount by the Office Space, a co-working collective with a mid-century feel. Offices and meetings rooms are available for day hire and hotel guests receive 20 per cent off.

Image: Tim Ross

For wellness travellers

The Palm Springs-inspired interiors continue at the rooftop Paramount Recreation Club. A separate business to the hotel, guests receive 10 per cent off causal passes to classes, which include boxing and Pilates. The chance to exercise in this indoor/outdoor space – designed to evoke the sense of an empty pool, thanks to a whitewashed floor, low swimming-pool-blue walls and ladder reaching to the roof – and rinse off in the indoor/outdoor shower is reason enough to leave your bed before 6am.

The fab factor

An initialled leather luggage tag, stamped in-house, will be waiting in your room.

Number of rooms: 29

Rates from: $240/night

Wi-fi: Free

Parking: Short-term parking for a fee on the nearby streets; long-term parkers are advised to use the Goulburn Street Car Park two blocks away for $10 a night.

Address: 80 Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills

Top image: Tim Ross