Phil Brown - Travel Stories
THE PERFECT SYDNEY HOTEL FOR CITY SLICKERS
August 1, 2023
By Phil Brown
I have a fantasy about living downtown and I reveled in that fantasy in Sydney recently. We stayed for a few days at The Porter House Hotel Sydney – MGallery, situated on Castlereagh Street in the CBD. It’s close to our favorite shopping destinations, the Queen Victoria Building and, just across the road, The Galeries, home to two stores we love – the funky Japanese shop Muji (it sells everything from clothing to stationery and homewares) and Kinokuniya Sydney, a bookstore you could spend days browsing in.
In fact, The Porter House is close to everything.
I know some people like hotels by the sea with palm trees but I enjoy a more urban experience. Growing up in Hong Kong turned me into a dedicated city slicker which is why this property appealed to me – to us – so much. My wife loved it too, which helps.
It feels like you are a resident of the city when you step straight out of the hotel front door and onto the sidewalk. They describe is as a “stylish urban sanctuary in every way” and I have to agree.
Actually, it ticks another box because I love heritage properties and this is a restored 1870s heritage listed building. It was originally commissioned in 1876 by Australia’s leading tobacco manufacturer Hugh Dixson, a man who was also a notable philanthropist and horticulturalist.
It started life as Dixson & Sons tobacco factory and warehouse and in 1891 furniture manufacturer WW Campbell & Co and famous leather merchant George Johnson & Sons leased the building from the Dixson family further cementing the site and now the hotel’s historical association to quality artisanship.
The hotel’s GM, Joleen Hurst says the hotel development “plays with the concept of intriguing contrasts”. The old and the new.
The hotel occupies the first 10 floors of a 36 stories multi use tower within the reimagined Porter House precinct, there are 131 residential apartments (with their own private entry via Bathurst Street) sitting above the new signature MGallery hotel, part of the ACCOR network.
The MGallery Collection brand selects and creates unique properties around the world, forming a storied collection of boutique hotels. There are more than 100 and The Porter House is one of the latest additions opening around 9 months ago. It is the 11th MGallery property in Australasia.
It is designed by award winning architect Angelo Candelapas of Candelapas Associates. He designed the modern tower to be built around the heritage-listed Porter House.
The 1870s brick walls remain a highlight and inside hardwood flooring and elegant fixtures in gold and brass create a subtle opulence. There are many other aspects that nod to the past with some interesting juxtapositions. Ceiling-fixed bed lamps are playfully mismatched for effect – one vintage, one more modern.
The hotel has 122 rooms and suites and some of the suites give green glimpses across to Sydney’s leafy Hyde Park which is a short walk away. As I said, it’s very urban but if you want to enjoy nature there is Hyde Park and it’s only a short stroll to the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and the Art Gallery of New South Wales is nearby too. It’s also just a brisk ten-to-15-minute walk from the hotel down to Circular Quay.
On the ground level is Henry’s Bread and Wine, a lovely bar-cum-café where they serve a killer wagyu pastrami Reuben. The hotel restaurant, Dixson & Sons, named after the Porter House’s founding merchant family, features a menu championing local produce by executive chef Emrys Jones who started out working alongside Gordon Ramsay. He imaginatively mixes Asian and western culinary influences. On the hotel’s top level is the Spice Trader cocktail bar.
The staff is youthful and friendly and they make you feel like you are a resident in some swanky downtown apartment building. And you kind of are, for a little while at least. I love that. Can’t wait to go back.
By Phil Brown
