Inside Hannah St Hotel, Melbourne

At street level, arrivals are welcomed by the ‘Queensbridge Owl’, a bronze guardian sentinel by Melbourne artist Joelle Mayberry perched above the clock on Queensbridge Street. Stepping inside, reception is deliberately integrated into the ground-floor social spaces rather than presented as a dominant feature. The lobby establishes Flack Studio’s material language immediately: 200x200 terrazzo flooring in a warm latte tone meets burnished brown Venetian plaster walls, Grand Constantine and Carrara marbles, aged brass, and deep burgundy banquettes. A fluted brass reception desk sits above a playful black-and-white marble ‘piano key’ kicker, set beneath a Calm Green high-gloss gridded ceiling. Furniture blends bespoke Flack Studio pieces with a Martin Eisler-designed Reversivel armchair by Tacchini, upholstered in Kvadrat’s Divina Melange, and a Fontana Arte Luminator floor lamp.

It encapsulates Flack’s approach: less a rigid, coordinated scheme than a carefully orchestrated conversation between materials, periods, and objects. Inspirations draw on French and Italian modernism of the 1920s, 1930s elegance, 1950s curves, and 1980s blush tones. The intention, Flack explains, was to create something “part grand hotel, part underground bar, part cultural clubhouse”. Art is integral to the architecture rather than decorative. Justene Williams’ monumental sculpture ‘Mirror Sheila’ – crafted from resin, fibreglass, glitter, Australian pennies, and convex safety mirrors – greets arrivals in the foyer. Wiradjuri poet and artist Jazz Money’s site-specific poem ‘These Infinite Beginnings’ acts as both an artwork and a wayfinding system. Its words glow in neon across the Upper Ground lobby, are heard in Money’s voice inside the lifts, and appear in text fragments along guest-floor corridors. Inside Coupette, Mikala Dwyer’s suspended sculpture ‘Warning’ directly bookends Williams' entrance piece.

Hospitality and culture converge across five distinct F&B experiences operated by The Mulberry Group, led by founder Nathan Toleman. Bar Hannah reimagines the classic lobby bar with black Vixel glass tiles, antique brown granite, ribbed brushed stainless steel, and a hand-painted Burnt Umber bar, furnished with custom walnut and Calacatta Viola stone tables alongside Featherston Re chairs by Grazia & Co. Then there’s The Carriage Lounge – an intimate, living-room style space – doused in high-gloss Buckskin paint, furnished with pale-green leather Banana chairs by Thonet, Grazia & Co Reeno armchairs, and contemporary artworks by Mia Boe and Kat Shapiro Wood. Elsewhere, serving an all-day menu by Executive Chef Andrew Beddoes, the Coupette Corner Bistro & Bar is a European-inspired neighbourhood bistro featuring travertine, timber, and leather accents. Tucked beside Coupette, there’s Hannah St Coffee, a Melbourne hole-in-the-wall coffee window, and finally, The Terrace Lounge is an elevated indoor/outdoor rooftop space with sweeping Southbank views, running from daytime spritzes and long lunches to evening cocktails and private events.