Feb 24, 2019
In recent years, developers have been converting a string of historic structures into imaginative lodgings.
The latest is the Paramount House Hotel (paramounthousehotel.com; doubles from A$240), located within the 1940s former offices of Paramount Film Studios. In addition to the 29 industrial-chic rooms, the Surry Hills property has a movie theater screening films six days a week and a buzzy coffee bar (the hotel owners run a group of popular Sydney cafés). In nearby Chippendale, the boutique The Old Clare (theoldclarehotel.com.au; doubles from A$299) has rooms inside a renovated brewery, with a busy retro-chic pub called Kensington Street Social attached. In the heart of the city, QT Sydney (qthotelsandresorts.com; doubles from A$260) is in a neo-Gothic department store dating from the 1930s, while the Ovolo Woolloomooloo (ovolohotels.com.au; doubles from A$350) sits inside a salvaged wooden “finger wharf” warehouse jutting over the harbor, with a vegetarian-friendly restaurant opened by American celebrity chef Matthew Kenney. The dish to order? Kimchi dumplings with red cabbage and ginger foam.
The newly opened Paramount House Hotel, set in the film studio’s former Aussie headquarters. 
The Gilt Lounge at QT Sydney.
