Paramount House Hotel, Sydney- The Past Restored, The Present Reimagined

Paramount House Hotel rises from an 80-year-old warehouse in Sydney’s Surry Hills, its brick shell now crowned by a delicate copper chevron screen that glimmers against the neighbouring art deco architecture of this former film precinct. The hotel is a story of artefact and ornament, of memory and reinvention, expressing the raw, honest fabric of the existing warehouse while capturing the spirit and excitement of the golden era of cinema.

The project introduces 29 individually designed suites, no two the same. Each room embraces the imperfections and patina of the building, celebrating traces of its history—a column that interrupts a corner, remnants of stairwells, the expressive brick parapet. Layers of time are both preserved and revealed, while generous winter decks open the interiors to Sydney’s mild climate and the rhythm of the streets below.

Materiality grounds the hotel in tactility and truth. A jewel-like copper screen crowns the parapet, catching northern light and casting soft, dynamic shadows across the balconies. Concrete defines the new interventions- its slabs and cuts carving quiet new pathways through the warehouse. Recycled Tasmanian oak floors lend warmth and familiarity to the suites, giving them the feel of lived-in spaces that welcome rather than impress. Robust steel windows and detailing frame the city views, their surfaces designed to patina gently over time, recording the movement of guests in the building’s ongoing story.

Across the hotel, key details anchor the experience: the former film vault reimagined as a reception lounge; lush greenery softening edges and blurring thresholds; and freestanding solid timber bathtubs and brass joinery offering moments of indulgence and pause. Paramount House Hotel is as much about the lived experience of the guest as it is about the continuing life of the building and its street.

The process of adaptive reuse brought structural, fire, and acoustic challenges, but it also gave rise to the project’s greatest strengths- its tactile honesty and unconventional rhythm. Paramount House Hotel sits at the intersection of old and new, of heritage and future. Guests arrive through a hidden entrance filled with daylight and creative energy and leave feeling looked after, restored, and intrigued enough to return, knowing no two stays will ever feel the same.

Paramount House Hotel rises out of the 80-year-old warehouse that occupies the site, with a copper chevron screen crowning the building in direct dialogue with the art deco context of the neighbouring Paramount House, once home to Paramount Pictures Studio. The conceptual approach was about marrying these two ideas—the artefact and the ornament. It is an expression of everything old, true, and raw about the existing warehouse, and a celebration of the spirit and excitement of the golden age of film.

There are 29 rooms in the hotel, each distinct and layered in its own way. The building’s imperfections are embraced rather than hidden. Columns appear in unexpected places; details and artefacts found on site are preserved and celebrated. Some rooms reveal the patina of brickwork, others expose remnants of old stairwells or traces of the historic brick parapet. Ornamentation is embedded throughout, sometimes bold, sometimes quiet—from the freestanding timber bathtubs and brass joinery to the presence of greenery that softens the industrial lines.

Copper, concrete, steel, and recycled Tasmanian oak define the project’s material language. The delicate copper screen rises from the parapet of the warehouse like a crown, catching northern light and casting a play of shadows across the balconies beyond. The hotel entry unfolds as a hidden journey- guests move through Paramount House, past the Paramount Coffee Project, into a foyer carved out from the heart of the building. Concrete and brickwork reveal their history in places where time and intervention have cut away the old fabric. Large in-situ concrete slabs mark new structural directions, contrasting against the existing surfaces. In keeping with the building’s raw honesty, recycled Tasmanian Oak flooring runs throughout the suites, adding warmth and a sense of home. Counterweighted, gridded steel windows enclose the balcony spaces, forming a robust edge between the old and the new. Architectural metalwork features throughout—folded soap trays, bedside tables, bathroom enclosures, and furnishings—each designed to develop a patina over time with the movement of guests.

Amid a cluster of heritage and inter-war buildings in Surry Hills, the hotel occupies a three-storey 1930s brick warehouse adjacent to the historic Paramount House, built in the 1940s. Completing an irregular city block once associated with the pioneers of Australia’s film industry—Paramount Pictures Studio and the 20th Century Fox Film Association—the hotel embraces both the historical weight of its setting and the cultural energy of the neighbourhood.

At Design Diary International, we find the Paramount House Hotel to be a rare example of adaptive reuse done with restraint and respect. It neither glorifies the past nor overwrites it. Instead, it allows history, material, and memory to coexist with quiet confidence—proof that the most powerful architecture often comes not from invention, but from listening to what already exists.

Design Firm: Breathe Architecture

Photographer: Kat Lu

Builder: Calida (Hotel) | Promena Projects (Lobby)

Location: Surry Hills, Sydney, NSW, Australia