The Hotel Rose Bay Provides a Repeatable Example of a Traditional Pub

Influenced by the desire to be at the vanguard to capture an untapped market, the lifecycle of hospitality interiors is often short-lived. What is refreshing about Hotel Rose Bay is its untapped market was already there; a proliferation of locals waiting to feel welcome.

The Hotel Rose Bay provides a repeatable example of the gentrification of a traditional pub and marks a time in history when pubs have become outward-looking, engaged with the street, and offer a restaurant-like family experience. In considering this course, the architects have engaged in delivering an outcome in the form of a theatre set, responding to historical precedent in contemporary ways to reveal a sustainable and durable position in its universal theme. The compartmentalisation of uses appears seamless and yet there is a retention of the old-pub values and program of ‘drinking at the bar’. 

This work is one of detail; precise consideration of colour; and composition of spaces in relation to these elements. Some locals may lament the missing model-train which once adorned the old pub’s ceiling, but it is better lived in folklore – a memory of a time when the hotel needed trinkets to draw patronage. Today the interiors spill onto the streets, welcoming all who walk by and the trinkets are of another time. 

Project Information

Architect: Richards Stanisich 

Photography: Felix Forest