A new addition on the cusp of Sydney’s Central Business District, The Eve Hotel Sydney is a brick and biophilic low-rise that showcases Australian art and design while celebrating its history and locale. Part of the TFE Hotels group, this new opening strives to be ‘a playground for the curious and creative’.
Wallpaper* checks in a The Eve Hotel Sydney
What’s on your doorstep?
With its lush canopy of oak trees, Baptist Street is a picture of tranquillity. However, it wasn’t too long ago that this area, along with the surrounding suburb of Redfern, could best be described as ‘sketchy’. As gentrification crept in, a run-down mall made way for the Wunderlich Lane commercial and residential development. A decade later, this once gritty patch of Sydney is now the city’s newest hospitality and retail darling.
Who is behind the design?
Adam Haddow, director of local firm SJB, the hotel’s principal architects, collaborated with landscape architect Daniel Baffsky and interior designer George Livissianis to bring the project to life. ‘The street-level entrance is deliberately immediate – there is no buffer. Guests step straight from the raw energy of the city into an experience heightened by contrast,’ says Haddow.
A vaulted Barrisol ceiling is emblazoned with a luminous abstract digital mural by artist Louise Olsen, co-founder of homeware and jewellery studio Dinosaur Designs. The reds and browns of Australian hardwoods, such as jarrah and ironbark, add tonal warmth to the floors, pillars and walls, which are adorned with eye-catching artworks by the likes of Richard Killeen, Robert Henry Dickerson and Angelo Savelli.
Contrast comes again in the cool, white lobby, its natural stone flooring and rendered walls softened by flashes of colourful upholstered furniture, the curve of a pair of mottled blue faience reception desks and sightlines to a garden courtyard. The lobby is restrained and meditative, acting as an architectural palate cleanser before guests continue along a cloistered corridor to the guest rooms. ‘The passageway serves as both a physical and psychological threshold, offering a moment of pause to engage with the courtyard’s landscape and subtly reorient oneself within the city,’ says Haddow.
The room to book
The 102 rooms and suites are dressed in the hues of the Aussie bush, from the shower stalls and bathrobes to the headboards and banquettes. All have balconies or terraces, which overlook rows of shingle and tin roofs and swathes of greenery. Haddow suggests taking time to admire the outlook, when ‘the city dissolves into a landscape that feels almost like the bush – a rare moment of retreat within the urban fabric’. In-room amenities, including glassware and olive oil-based bath and body products, are provided by lifestyle brand Saardé, whose first retail outlet is located on site.
Where to switch off
The hotel pool – on the rooftop – with its Sukabumi tiles and underwater speakers, is one of the hottest in town, while burnt orange sunloungers, umbrellas and cabanas add a retro LA vibe. It’s the garden, however, that steals the show. ‘It’s an eclectic mix of native and exotic flora, including edible species such as lilly pilly, feijoa and lemon myrtle,’ says Baffsky. ‘The landscape is sometimes tidy and refined, sometimes wild, resilient and a bit rough and ready, a mix that reflects the vibrant characteristics of the neighbourhood.’
Staying for drinks and dinner?
Dining and drinking options abound at Wunderlich Lane. Sharing the rooftop space is contemporary Mexican restaurant and mezcaleria Lottie, which offers a wraparound terrace and sublime sunset views. Also on site are Regina La Pizzeria, high-end Japanese diner R by Raita Noda, and Island Radio, a Southeast Asian noodle bar (with a resident DJ), the last housed within a heritage-listed former bank building alongside Baptist Street Rec Club, a cocktail bar that channels the flamboyance of 1980s Sydney. Then there’s Olympus Dining, a circular 200-seater Greek arena that’s proving very popular with the city’s hipster gourmands. In the centre sits a 50-year-old bougainvillaea tree beneath a retractable glass-domed roof, which shelters diners from, or exposes them to, the elements as they tuck into taramasalata, dolmades, grilled octopus and roasted milk-fed lamb.
The verdict
It’s a far cry from Redfern’s murky past, but Haddow believes The Eve Hotel Sydney ‘speaks to its surroundings with clarity, authenticity and a profound sense of belonging’, bringing a welcome new lease of life to this colourful neighbourhood.
The Eve Hotel Sydney is located at 8 Baptist St, Redfern NSW 2016, Australia; theevehotel.com.au
A version of this article appears in the May 2025 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands from 3 April, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today
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