Brutalist yet homely, that’s just how interior design studio Fiona Lynch Office envisioned St Ali & The Queen, a newly opened hospitality concept within the Munro Site community hub, part of Melbourne’s revitalised Queen Victoria Market. This all-day local providore and café – also a cocktail bar by night – is the result of the collaboration between artisanal coffee roaster St Ali and award-winning mixologist Orlando Marzo.
St Ali & The Queen by Fiona Lynch Office
Many storied cultural influences envelop St Ali & The Queen – the market and food hall’s heritage and vibrant sense of community, Melbourne’s modern edge and passionate coffee culture, the feeling of warm European hospitality and the client’s Italian roots among them. Taking a cue from these, the space features an inviting deli, a coffee window for takeaways, a sociable counter bar, relaxed café seating indoors, and tables spilling outside to the pavement.
The design elements that make up the space, which embrace flow for staff and diverse guest encounters, consist primarily of polished raw materials and detailed joinery. ‘We wanted to embrace the traditional food hall’s classic design language of box aluminium stalls and channel its raw, brutalist feel into our design while also creating a space that cultivates the spirit and warmth of European hospitality,’ shares Fiona Lynch.
Complementing the interior’s soaring arched industrial windows and exposed concrete floors by Six Degrees Architects are raw wood, stone and brass. The furniture was custom-designed by Lynch and crafted by Geelong-based Ross Thompson using sustainable Oregon timber, as seen across the face of the bar and for high-top tables, sofas, bar stools and portable low stools.
This tactility and inviting sense of community are further carried out throughout the open plan via European-style leather-upholstered benches overlooking the market and the feature lighting, such as the counter lamps designed by Fiona Lynch and made by Melbourne’s Volker Haug, and a wall lamp by Milanese architect Paolo Rizzatto for Flos.
Italian marble and blocks of travertine and Afrodite stone on the counter, along with honeyed wood shades, add sophistication to the bar and help transition the space from a modern coffee shop by day to a sleek neighbourhood bar by night.
-
A major Frida Kahlo exhibition is coming to the Tate Modern next yearTate’s 2026 programme includes 'Frida: The Making of an Icon', which will trace the professional and personal life of countercultural figurehead Frida Kahlo
-
Stay at Nujuma, a forward-facing sanctuary in the Red Sea regionNujuma, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, sets the bar high as one of Saudi Arabia’s ultra-luxury destinations
-
Pierre Yovanovitch’s set and costumes bring a contemporary edge to Korea National Opera in SeoulFrench interior architect Pierre Yovanovitch makes his second operatic design foray, for The Marriage of Figaro in Seoul
-
Five influential women hoteliers reflect on the changing face of hospitalityAs women continue to gain ground in the hotel sector, despite still being underrepresented in senior positions, five female moguls share their experiences of the past and projections for the future
-
Wallpaper* checks in at Melbourne Place: ‘an alchemy of colour, texture and personality’Designed by Kennedy Nolan, Melbourne Place is the Australian city’s newest independent hotel, oozing creativity and urban energy
-
All aboard the world’s most luxurious train journeysStay on track with our pick of the most luxurious train journeys around the world, whether in 1920s-style opulence or contemporary chic
-
Six hotels where you’ll find the winter sun this FebruaryFrom intimate seaside inns to lush tropical resorts, here are six Wallpaper*-approved winter sun escapes
-
2025 getaways: where Wallpaper* editors will be travelling to this yearFrom the Japanese art islands of Naoshima and Teshima to the Malaysian tropical paradise of Langkawi, here’s where Wallpaper* editors plan to travel to in 2025
-
The world’s most enticing new hotel openingsExplore the best new hotels in the world, from the revival of a grande dame in Madrid to the restoration of a gothic beauty in Prague
-
Australian surf culture merges with the charm of the Mediterranean at Il DelfinoIl Delfino, designed by Sheree Commerford, is a restored 1940s seaside inn nestled on the Yamba coastline in Australia
-
Layover in style at Melbourne Airport’s new hotelIbis Styles Melbourne Airport hotel by FK brings together elegant rooms, co-working lounges and leisure facilities in a striking aircraft wing-inspired design
