Hilton Sydney's $25 million renovation spends big on sculptures, artworks
The hotel industry has rarely been as competitive as it is today, battling for every guest, every tourist, every conference and every event.
But apart from smart design, room comfort, atmosphere, renewed conference services and the breadth of facilities following a $25 million renovation, the Hilton Sydney has added a new weapon to its armoury: art.
Since the hotel’s launch nearly 50 years ago, it’s been gradually amassing a wide range of artworks for its lobby, corridors, public spaces and rooms, and now it’s collated and catalogued its collection – and added new pieces – to provide a tour of its treasures for guests.
“From our point of view, it adds another level to the experience of staying here,” said hotel general manager Hayden Hughes. “It’s an extra opportunity for our guests to become engaged with the hotel and it brings more substance to our offering, over and above the room and the other facilities like the bar, cafe and conferencing.
“People love to walk around big hotels and our artworks and sculptures add an extra element to their enjoyment of all the spaces, particularly now we’re bringing the stories behind the works, and their history, to life. It means those spaces aren’t impersonal; they have so much of interest to them.”
Of course, the lure of art to hotel guests isn’t new. The boutique Art Series Hotels feature artworks and prints adorning walls, halls and rooms, each named after a well-known artist. Accor’s newest and ninth property, the $90 million The Adnate in Perth, named after big-wall street artist Matt Adnate, also has one of the world’s largest mega-murals, spanning 25 storeys on the side of the tower.
Its other Art Series hotels in Melbourne include The Olsen in South Yarra, The Blackman on St Kilda Road, The Cullen in Prahan, The Larwill in Parkville and The Chen in Box Hill. In South Australia, it has The Watson in Walkerville and, in Queensland, The Johnson and The Fantauzzo in Brisbane.
But the Hilton Sydney is different in that it has collected a wide array of artworks, often especially commissioned, in a variety of styles, forms and materials.
Its largest piece is the $500,000 metal sculpture Vine by artist Bronwyn Oliver, commissioned in 2005 for the hotel’s previous renovation. It starts off thickly coiled at the ground and spirals up to the ceiling. It’s 16.5 metres high and weighs 350kg.
“It’s a magnificent work,” said arts and design writer Leeta Keens, who created the self-guided tour of the artworks and interviewed many of their makers. “It took the artist and a team of welders about nine months to make. She said at the time that she wanted it to echo the path guests might take as they wander through the lobby.
“One of Australia’s best-loved and most respected artists, she mainly worked in metal, and her sculptures are in many public and private collections.”
Another highlight is the etching Red Butt by former Kimberley stockman Patrick Mung Mung, the son of senior Gija leader George Mung Mung and a leading artist at the Warmun community in Western Australia.
The hotel’s historic, highly decorative Marble Bar, designed in the 1890s and reassembled in its current location by the hotel in 1973 when its original building was demolished, also displays a rich series of artworks around its walls.
“One of the Marble Bar’s most special features is the collection of commissioned artworks by Julian Ashton, an influential English-born artist, who migrated to Australia in 1878 and set up an art school in Sydney in 1890,” Ms Keens said. “It still exists in The Rocks today; the artist’s great-grandson Paul Delprat is principal.
“Many well-known Australian artists studied at Julian Ashton Art School, including William Dobell, John Olsen, Thea Proctor and Brett Whiteley.”
A much more recent addition came from Judith White when she was commissioned to create a major artwork in 2005 for the then soon-to-be-opened Glass restaurant, helmed by Luke Mangan.
“I called it Inside the Glass because it seemed to be a space between the Australian land and the water and it was caught behind glass as well as being in the restaurant,” Ms White said, looking up at her artwork 17 years on.
“But because it’s a restaurant and a place where people to come and eat and drink, I also had the idea it was inside a glass of something like Scotch with ice and water and bubbles and an orange swizzle stick. Some people look at it and say they can see the Australian ocean tides and coastline, and I’m happy about that too. You can’t tell people what to see in a picture.”
Most of the Hilton Sydney’s artworks and sculptures are now part of the tour via a QR code on guests’ room cards, although there are a few which can’t be seen on the tour. They’re some of the latest additions that came as part of the latest renovation of the hotel’s 547 rooms and 40 suites.
Three Australian female artists, Camie Lyons, Angela Hayson and Bec Tarrant, produced at least one work each for some of the property’s rooms … which can be booked on request.
