The circular glass restaurant atop the landmark "Roundhouse" building will be a spectacular addition to Newcastle's dining scene when it opens in April.
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Syrian billionaire Ghassan Aboud's conversion of the former council administration building into a 130-room hotel is taking shape in the civic precinct.
The Newcastle Herald took a tour of what will be the Kingsley, the city's first five-star hotel, on Wednesday.
The new ninth floor, which will contain a bar and restaurant with a combined capacity of 190 people, offers eye-catching views over the harbour, City Hall, Civic Park and south to Dudley through floor-to-ceiling windows.
"The kitchen staff will have the best views in Newcastle," architect Barney Collins joked as he showed off one of the more unusual projects his firm, EJE Architecture, has worked on.
"From restaurant and bar, the views are stunning."
Dubai-based Mr Aboud, whose Crystalbrook hotel business paid City of Newcastle $16.5 million for the building, joked when launching the project last year that the hotel rooms would look like "lovely pizza".
The rooms, which will be decorated with an art deco look, fan out from circular corridors wrapping around the building's core of elevators but appear more conventionally shaped than Mr Aboud imagined.
Mr Collins said the building's concrete exterior would be cleaned then stained with a protective coating which would return the surface to a shade close to its original, pale sandstone colour.
Another feature of the reimagined building will be a ground-floor dining terrace overlooking Wheeler Place.
The Brutalist building, variously nicknamed the Roundhouse, Champagne Cork, Wedding Cake or Shuttlecock, has received mixed reviews from locals since it opened in the 1970s.
Everyone saw this building as iconic, some for the wrong reasons, over 50 years, but since we started work people are incredibly interested.
- Architect Barney Collins
"Everyone saw this building as iconic, some for the wrong reasons, over 50 years, but since we started work people are incredibly interested," Mr Collins said.
"When the glass went on, people talked to us and go, 'Wow, didn't think that could happen.'
"It's one of the few Brutalist buildings in Newcastle, but of high quality.
"The architecture aficionados will debate the beauty of Brutalism, but if treated properly and treated delicately ... ."
Crystalbrook plans to offer 15 per cent discounts on the hotel's accommodation, food and drinks to residents of the greater Newcastle area, "between Anna Bay and Budgewoi", when it opens.
The owners dropped plans for a roof-top pool, and the council rejected EJE's original plan to have a ring of spires on top of the building.
Michael Parris
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
