New Life for Old Treasury

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Old Treasury’s Victorian façade.

BACKSTORY

New Life for Old Treasury Perth’s CBD undoes its top button as the COMO The Treasury hotel knocks the dust off of three heritage buildings and ushers in a new era of glitz, glamour and creativity. STORY AND PHOTOS BY MONSICHA HOONSUWAN TR AV EL ANDLEISURE ASIA .COM / DECEMBER 2015

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/ beyond /B A C K S T O R Y to the middle of Table Zero. There, now it’s in the very geographic center of Perth. My drink sits at the crossroads of history, balanced on the crest of a new wave of culture and innovation that’s about to wash over the Central Business District of Western Australia’s capital city.

When I arrived, the tension between old and new hit me straightaway. I came to explore the new COMO The Treasury hotel, a central piece of a project to revive the CBD, and the Singapore-based hospitality group’s first Australian property, which opened in October.

Based on the COMO brand’s new builds, I was picturing something ultra-modern, but after 10 minutes, the driver pulled up to a façade of faded brick. Oh right, this is a refit of 1800s heritage buildings, once government offices.

And it’s a genteel understated beauty, a reflection of Perth’s golden age. The CBD was once a thrumming city center. Men in suits and boater hats picked up newspapers on their way to work. Women in long dresses milled through the laneways, chitchatting while their children followed in tow. Music spilled out of jazz bars after work came to a close each day, as friends talked into the wee hours. But when iron ore was discovered in the 1960s, a mining boom attracted international investors who set up headquarters in the CBD. Many of the iconic structures, like the American Romanesque Moir’s Chambers and the beloved Adelphi Hotel, were bulldozed to make way for offices.

The Old Treasury complex, once one of Perth’s most important sites—the group of three buildings had served variously as a cabinet office, post office, the land titles office and the

I NUDGE MY COCKTAIL

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treasury—survived but were abandoned, and time’s heavy hand pulled the block to crumble. Families moved to the suburbs and the city became eerily quiet outside of work hours, and all but deserted on Sundays.

For the past 50 years, the 283-hectare area has been all work and no play, with creative types congregating in hipper ’burbs like gritty Northbridge to the north and bohemian Fremantle to the south. “The city doesn’t have much to offer,” a local friend had warned. “Even Perthians themselves complain.” And as the mines run out of ore and the boom slowly dims, it is more important than ever to turn the page on a new chapter for the city.

Enter developer Adrian Fini. Fini knew it was time for a fresh start. “The objective of this development was to restore the buildings back to their 1800s character and architecture,” Fini says, “and in doing so reignite a level of pride within Perth.”

Fini grew up here, in a family of real estate developers, and became very passionate about art, urban design and city planning.

“The majority of the community would have visited the buildings through their previous lives and uses,” Fini says, “so the opportunity to open them to the community was a significant one.”

He proposed a restoration plan—at A$110 million, the most expensive among all bidders—to return public access to the Old Treasury. These three buildings would be completely restored and transformed into a contemporary multipurpose space, offering dining, shopping, nightlife and five-star accommodation. The top two floors would be luxury-hotel guest rooms, while at street level would be the hotel’s lobby and a variety of restaurants, bars and independent retailers. Keeping offerings local would be a dominant concern, which explains the labels at Petition Wine Bar & Merchant, the produce at Post bistro, the stems at the florist and the beans roasted in the coffee bar. The basement would be converted into late-night hangout Halford bar and David Thompson’s Thai restaurant Long Chim, as well as house a vegansoap store, Fremantle’s famous Honeycake outlet, a cupcake bakery, and a chocolate boutique. That’s a lot to pack into three heritage buildings, but Fini’s never been short on ambition. The Old Treasury complex, now renamed the State Buildings, would act as a showcase and a magnet for creative locals.

DECEMBER 2015 / TR AV EL ANDLEISURE ASIA .COM

BOT TOM: ANDREW SMITH

Architect Simon Cundy.

Torched ocean trout at Petition.

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